Sir, – It is extraordinary that the decision by Brian Crowley ("Crowley no longer member of FF parliamentary party", June 24th) to move from one remote grouping in the European Parliament to another should provoke such focus on the precise political credo of these groupings. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, we remain all over the shop with regard to our relationship with politics, political parties and politicians. What on earth must the Europeans make of us as a result? Historically we have had right-wing parties that appeal to poor people, left-wing parties that serve the interests of the rich, and now a whole range of "Independents". One thing we can be sure about in mainland Europe is that politics is defined in left and right terms. Here, we still talk of "personal" votes, whatever the hell they are. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN DOYLE,
Lisdowney,
Kilkenny.
Sir, – I have been amused to hear Fianna Fáil members clamouring to the media to reassure us that their party has nothing in common with the far-right populists of the European Conservatives and Reformists group ("Brian Crowley's MEP group 'xenophobic', says FF leader", June 24th).
Fianna Fáil only joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in 2009, before which it was one of the two leading parties of the now defunct Union for Europe of Nations (UEN). Many of the constituent parties of the latter group were as right wing as they come. Indeed after the implosion of UEN, some of its adherents switched their allegiances to ECR, others to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group, now the furthest-right organised force in the European Parliament.
Up until five years ago Fianna Fáil didn’t seem to have a problem bedding down with the likes of the Danish People’s Party or Italy’s Lega Nord, nor indeed the charmingly named For Fatherland and Freedom, whose members march in Riga every year to commemorate Latvian Waffen-SS veterans. – Yours, etc,
JOHN CALE
Maiden Row,
Chapelizod, Dublin 20.