Madam, - Derek McDowell (May 6th) makes a strong pitch for Labour not to participate in a pre-election pact with Fine Gael. This important decision is one for Labour alone to take and the internal Labour party process must be respected. However, a number of political realities need to be borne in mind.
By the next election Fianna Fáil will have been in power for 18 of the past 20 years. In the past 50 years, Fianna Fáil has missed out on power on just two occasions. In 1973, in the aftermath of the Arms Trial and with the security of the State under threat, and with a united Fine Gael/Labour programme for government in the form of a 14-point plan, Fianna Fáil was defeated narrowly. And almost a decade later, at the height of the titanic Haughey-FitzGerald struggles, with a whiff of corruption in the air and Fianna Fáil suffering a large measure of internal strife, Garret FitzGerald was elected Taoiseach. Ousting Fianna Fáil from power has always been a mammoth task and has only ever been achieved by a Fine Gael-Labour alternative.
The sight of Fine Gael seeking to set the agenda for an alternative to the current Government seems to spook sections of the Labour Party. Derek McDowell, Mick O'Reilly and others argue that only Labour can provide ideological opposition to Fianna Fáil. This need not be the case.
The renewed "just society" leanings of Fine Gael and the "fair society" stance of Pat Rabbitte should be seen as a force for good instead of an obstacle as depicted by some Labour spokesmen. Many in Labour have forecast that Fine Gael will wither away, rather than recognising that conditions now exist for a broad Social Democratic alliance to change the Irish political landscape and have a lasting positive impact on society. Working together the parties can create an alternative which has really not existed in Irish politics from some time.
Fine Gael must not lock itself into the mean-spirited straitjacket of free-market economics as espoused by Harney and Ahern. Being a voice for "the coping classes" means a lot more than just low taxes and low interest rates. It is about justice, fair play and value for public money and helping to build the kind of society with a strong social dimension of which we can be proud.
Reading recent speeches by both Pat Rabbitte and Enda Kenny one must only conclude that they have much in common, particularly on the need for a fairer, values-based society and greater emphasis on a new social contract. The next election will be about how the fruits of our economic success can be used in the best interests of the whole of Irish society and not just the sectoral interest groups favoured by Fianna Fáil and the PDs. A clear alternative should be put forward.
In recent elections parties have negotiated power after the people have cast their votes. This practice is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic as programmes for government bear little relationship to party manifestos, thus essentially removing the people from the process and allowing parties carte blanche to abandon promises made to the electorate.
To restore real democracy to the process of electing a government, alliances should be formed before the vote and endorsed directly by the people, not cobbled together in secrecy after the event.
Democracy deserves balanced debate and real choice. People should no longer be asked to vote X and get Y. Mr McDowell neglects this point.
What I do share with Mr McDowell, however, is that both he and I were removed from the Dáil on the same day. The absence of a real alternative to Fianna Fail and the PDs in May 2002 sealed our fate. - Yours, etc,
CHARLES FLANAGAN, Glenlahan, Portlaoise, Co Laois.
Madam, - It is a pity that Derek McDowell (Opinion, May 6th) does not pursue his own logic about the independence of the Labour Party by advocating that Labour should seek sufficient votes to lead the next government.
Failing that, Labour could support from outside a minority government, on condition that it implement radical socialist policies to eliminate the shameful poverty of this most unequal country in western Europe. But Labour parliamentarians do not discuss this option, even though it would eliminate both their dilemma about propping up conservative governments and the understandable cynicism of voters about politicians and the system.
Has Labour the courage to appeal to Irish people's better instincts, rather than to perceived middle-class meanness and greed? - Yours, etc,
DAVID LAWLOR, Brendan Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Derek McDowell writes that "Labour must define itself unapologetically as a party of the left". He also states: "I have never met a single member of the Green Party who could not be accommodated in the Labour Party".
How then does he explain the fact that the cathaoirleach of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Niamh Bhreathnach, is so enthusiastic with regard to a proposed monstrous development plan for a 180-apartment high-rise block which is opposed by the Green councillors? - Yours, etc,
BOB WADDELL, Sandycove, Co Dublin.