Madam, - In her piece entitled "Floating voters like Government's record" (Opinion & Analysis, January 15th), the PDs' deputy leader, Liz O'Donnell, repeats the tired facile mantra so beloved of her party. All is well in our society because the economy is booming - or, as she puts it this time, "the biggest single achievement in politics in the last 10 years has been achieving full employment and record levels of growth".
After treating us to that old chestnut once again, she goes on to trumpet the many wondrous achievements with which her party colleagues should be credited during their time in the coalition.
I could fill the page (and raise my blood pressure no doubt) picking holes in so many of her arguments. However, I'll limit myself to the most glaringly incorrect claim, which flies in the face of all evidence. Ms O'Donnell berates Garret FitzGerald for writing about "the greatly increased inequalities that Fianna Fáil have allowed to distort our society, making it one of the most unequal in Europe". She claims that Dr FitzGerald's "assertion was baldly made without any supporting evidence".
I strongly suggest then that she get herself a copy of the United Nations Development Programme's annual human development report, which is published each November. The 2006 report placed Ireland 17th out of 18th Western countries for (relative) poverty. Once again, we were ranked second among these countries for inequality (The Irish Times, December 27th).
Ms O'Donnell concludes by saying that "governance, like life, is a fallible business" - finally appearing to allow that mistakes may have been made along the way. She could, indeed, have referred to specific shortcomings - such as how her party has been coalition partner in an administration which has squandered money on overpriced and over-running infrastructural projects - leaking port tunnels and aquatic centres and voting machines that gather dust - while some children are schooled in damp mouldy prefabs, stress and suicide levels have risen dramatically and we can boast a dysfunctional healthcare system far worse than anything in many third-world countries.
All this occurs alongside the "record levels of growth" to which she refers. The difference is that in life outside Government people must take responsibility for their mistakes and be held accountable. - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH, Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6w.