A Chara, - Leo Varadkar (June 19th) ought to direct his obvious frustration at the prospect of five years on the Opposition backbenches towards his party leader, rather than venting his ire at the Greens for opting to enter government with Fianna Fáil.
Had the newly-elected TD bothered to listen to Green politicians any time they were asked about a voting pact, he would have heard them reject one, clearly stating they were keeping their post-election options open. Given that FG-Labour failed again to achieve the numbers for government, it would have been utterly nonsensical for the Greens to pass up an opportunity to implement their agenda from seats at the Cabinet table, simply because their preferred option was not going to be a runner.
Perhaps the real lesson of this election is that the bitter, personality-driven politics of attacking a hard-working, popular Taoiseach and seeking change simply for its own sake is no longer going to be acceptable as a basis for seeking high office.
The continuing failure by Fine Gael and Labour to understand the pragmatism of parties which eschew this style of campaigning in favour of simply getting their policies put into practice - surely the raison d'être of any political movement - shows just how far removed from government those two parties really are, and deserve to be.
- Is mise,
DAVID CARROLL, Castle Gate, Dublin 2.
Madam, - One can forgive Leo Varadkar's disappointment at not being part of a new government led by Enda Kenny, but he is suffering from a bad case of sour grapes when he lashes the Greens for entering government with Fianna Fail.
To become Taoiseach, Enda would have been more than willing to seek the support of TDs such as Beverley Flynn (formerly FF) and Michael Lowry (formerly FG), not to mention as many "spare mudguards" as he could muster.
- Yours, etc,
PATRICK O'BYRNE, Shandon Crescent, Dublin 7.
A chara, - The constituency of Carlow/Kilkenny is now represented by four Government TDs (three FF and one Green) and one Opposition deputy. The reward for this from the Taoiseach is that we are now entering our 17th year without a place at the Cabinet table.
Is this a unique record in Irish politics?
- Is mise,
Cllr Seán Ó hARGÁIN, Deputy Mayor, Greenshill, Kilkenny.
Madam, - David Shiels (June 19th) chooses his words oddly when he warns the Government against "succumbing to the whims and fancies of the eco-lobby".
The distinguishing feature of the eco-lobby is long-sightedness. Its concerns boil down to one single point: if we fail on the environment, we fail on everything.
- Yours, etc,
ANDREW ROBINSON, Marlborough Road, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, 19th June) paints a dismal picture of a country suffering from planning and leadership neglect.
Perhaps none too soon has Fianna Fáil looked for Green faces to inject basic sanity into some very tired policy.
While debate rages in the more myopic journalistic and Fianna Fáil quarters about "fringe" Green ideas, the radical "burn it while you can" agenda continues. It is sobering to note that one of the the first scientists to warn the US Congress about global warming, James Hansen, director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, recently commented that "the earth is getting perilously close to climate changes that could run out of our control".
I wonder if today's children, as they grow into adults, will look back at a period in our history when we had the money but not the heart, the ingenuity but not the vision.
- Yours, etc,
DAVID O'GORMAN, Delgany, Co Wicklow.