Sir, - John Bruton asks (Opinion, January 30th): "Will the career of every future leader of Fine Gael depend on the whim of one opinion poll?"
As young individuals in Fine Gael, we will be the people in the future who will decide the fate of many leaders to come and the answer to John Bruton's question is a simple no. Opinion polls will not decide the fate of any leader of Fine Gael, now or in the future. What will, however, are leadership skills that include vigour, inspiration and a connection with the common person on the street.
For us this is a very difficult letter to write, as we have respected and supported John Bruton over the years. As party leader, he has served the party, the country and especially Irish youth well over the past 10 years or so.
His achievements do speak for themselves, but both he and the party have been unable to make the people at large see this and it seems the disillusioned among us have decided they cannot or will work for him. That is reason to change in itself.
However, the time has now come for a new generation of leadership, which will have to be dynamic, brave, and inspirational. We believe that Fine Gael has some of the best and brightest people, especially in the ranks of its youth. It is now time to make their voices heard and allow this talent to shine. In this letter we speak for nobody but ourselves but we feel the comments echo those expressed over the past year by a vast number of ordinary members.
The decisions in the next few days will affect us, the younger members, greater than any other section of the party as we will be have to live and work with the outcome longer and harder than any other group. As a result, we have decided to be proactive in voicing our opinions. A change in leadership, we feel, will allow a start to other changes that have to occur. The changes must start now and not after an election that we lose. We are confident that we can and must allow such change to occur as soon as possible.
We, as players in the future of the Fine Gael party, have a responsibility to make our views heard and known. We must also play our role in effecting positive change, no matter how politically difficult it may be, for the sake of Fine Gael and the country as a whole. The future is our responsibility. We cannot, and refuse to, shy away from it. - Yours, etc.,
Shane Morris, Sandyford, Co Dublin; Cllr Diarmuid Scully, Limerick; Roger Sweetman, Wexford; John Cusnahan, MEP, Parteen, Co Limerick; Marcus Lynch, Howth, Co Dublin; Eoin Brazil, Euroville, Co Limerick; Liam Stapleton, Tipperary Town; Andrew Ryan, Limerick; AONGHUS Macdomhnaill, Tralee, Co Kerry; Michael Griffin, Castlemain, Co Kerry; Barry Mcloughlin, Limerick.