LEO VARADKAR,
Sir, - I have read with interest the correspondence purporting to explain the reasons for Fine Gael's poor showing in the election. Most consist of an attack on one former party leader and the idolising of another (except for Michael Noonan, who has yet to be commended in your Letters page).
It seems to me that the Fine Gael members and supporters who have written these letters have learned nothing from our defeat. Alan Dukes, John Bruton and Michael Noonan, in their time, were all statesmen who made valuable contributions to the success of this State. Their record as Ministers of our Republic need no defence and I do not propose to offer any. But none of them was the Messiah for Fine Gael that their supporters claim.
Fine Gael's decline in recent years cannot be blamed solely or even largely on its leaders. It stems from a number of factors - organisational, strategic, demographic and political. Greatest among these is Fine Gael's internal conflict between its conservative Christian democrat base (which it is set on deserting) and its liberal, social-democratic base from the FitzGerald era (which deserted it some time ago). Fine Gael's resurgence will come from the realisation that the party must forge a distinct identity in its own right, rather than merely as the alternative to Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael should not seek a Messiah to lead it out of its difficulties. There is none and never will be.
As for the former special advisers and party workers from the 1980s who cannot see the party behind the party leader (or deputy leader as the case may be), they have two choices: to re-build Fine Gael politically and organisationally so that it can challenge for government once more, or to depart with their former masters to that wonderful Dáil in the sky! - Yours, etc., LEO VARADKAR, (Fine Gael Dublin West), Roselawn Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
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Sir, - Much has been written and said about the eventual extinction of Fine Gael, largely by those who said the same thing about the PDs only a few weeks ago. The reality is that the latest election was the best thing that could have happened to Fine Gael. The party's poor performance will force it to re-evaluate its position in Irish society. If they had returned to the Dáil with a similar number of seats, these important questions would not be asked nor answered.
Remember that in 1944 Fine Gael performed disastrously in the election and was facing extinction, yet it was in government four years later. In 1994 Fianna Fáil was in meltdown, yet it was in government three years later.
Here's looking to 2007. - Yours, etc., JASON FITZHARRIS, Carlow.
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A chara, - Mary Holland (Opinion, May 23rd) writes that there was "no evidence of any appetite for the politics of the right" in the general election. She does mention the rather modest performances of Áine Ní Chonaill and Ted Neville, both candidates of the Immigration Control Platform, to amplify her argument that the "right-wing" candidates of the election were given "such short shrift".
She omits to mention Noel O'Flynn's success in Cork North Central, where he topped the poll. This is the man who described asylum-seekers as "spongers and freeloaders" some months back. As Fintan O'Toole pointed out at the time, his outburst was a sick effort to win votes and to strike a chord with the seedy section of Irish society which supports such a view.
Of course his success was not unusual for a Fianna Fáil TD, but it illustrates that few if any of the party's supporters in the region were put off by his dangerous behaviour.
I would not be as optimistic as Mary Holland in her analysis, and would instead agree with the Green Party TD John Gormley, who claimed before the poll that a new far-right party could do well in Irish politics. - Is mise,
JOHNNY WARD, Gort an Iomaire, Béal Átha na Slua, Co na Gaillimhe.
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Sir, - The people decide that they no longer want to be represented by a number of high-profile politicians. So these politicians get Seanad seats instead.
Is this democracy in action? - Yours, etc.,
GARRY CLARKE, Spricklestown, Co Dublin.