Madam, - What is the point of Vincent Browne? His bias against the Progressive Democrats is irrational and illogical. Mr Browne is surely the foremost member of the "commentariat", those self-appointed analysts of society who inhabit the world of 1970s Ireland where they delude themselves that socialism can solve the country's ills.
Mr Browne is so blinkered he fails to see, or chooses to ignore, the huge achievements in social justice enacted by the Progressive Democrats in government.
The only real and substantial way to reduce poverty is to give people jobs. There are nearly one million extra jobs in the economy since 1997. The PDs introduced the minimum wage. This year they removed anyone on the minimum wage from the tax net. They also introduced universal medical cards for all those over 70. Later this year, Mary Harney plans radically to reform the subvention rules for care of the elderly.
The PDs have speeded up the entire asylum process and they were fully in favour of open borders between Ireland and the new states in the EU. The citizenship referendum closed a loophole in the process that was being abused. Eighty percent of the electorate agreed with them.
To be ideologically opposed to a party is fine, but to ignore their real and substantive achievements in improving the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Irish people is absurd. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNY, South Dock Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4.