Madam, - It is poignant for a party of Fine Gael's historical significance that Terry Murphy, Fine Gael's Dublin director (May 23rd), should try to explain away his party's disastrous performance in the recent Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll by implying that there was some kind of conspiracy at play.
As a young voter, I would sooner see the party learn from such polls, rather than indulging in neurotic reactions.
Alarmingly for Fine Gael party members, it is also evident that Mr Murphy, who was Fine Gael's director of organisation during the last general election, was blissfully unaware that the "adjusted" weighting system had been introduced into Irish Times opinion polls over three years ago. Presumably this means that a prominent Fine Gael staff member was not accurately interpreting a whole string of significant opinion polls in the run up to, and during the last election.
If Fine Gael is to have any hope of recovering from the complete meltdown in its Dublin vote in that election, perhaps its Dublin director should pay closer attention to the nuances of opinion polling. - Yours, etc.,
ANDREW GREANEY,
Castle Avenue,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.