Masdam, - Jenny Mulvey (January 15th) claims there is hypocrisy in the Fianna Fáil stance that the DUP should share power with Sinn Féin in the North, while at the same time ruling the party out of coalition in the Republic. In fact no contradiction exists. The proposed government structure in the North will be a power-sharing executive; ministers will not be subject to collective cabinet responsibility and will not have authority over key decisions such as tax rates and the overall size of the budget. There will not even be a requirement for ministers ever to meet in one room as each minister (selected under the d'Hondt mechanism) is solely responsible for his or her own department.
The situation in the Republic is entirely different. The Taoiseach nominates each Minister and all members of the Government are collectively responsible for each other's decisions. On that basis it is perfectly reasonable for Bertie Ahern as leader of Fianna Fáil to say that the effective implementation of its manifesto could not be achieved in coalition with a party whose economic policies (particularly on taxation) are so much at variance with its own. - Yours, etc,
KEVIN BARRETT, The Sweepstakes, Ballsrbridge, Dublin 4.