Sir, Mr Sean & Riain (June 13th) makes quite valid points on the subject of the travelling people and halting sites. However his extrapolation that this was a significant factor in the defeat of Ms Eithne FitzGerald in Dublin South is wrong.
Notwithstanding the dramatic collapse of the Labour vote nationally, the significant factor in Ms FitzGerald's historic defeat lay in her handling of constituency matters. There was a massive reaction against her in the Knocklyon area in particular because of her arrogant rejection of this community's valid claim for a post-primary community school. Ms FitzGerald lectured this committee on several occasions about the need for high standards in politics while conveniently ignoring the blatant clientelism of her Labour colleague, the Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach, in securing favoured educational benefits for her own and Mr O Riain's constituency. So much for the disadvantaged!
Both Ms FitzGerald and Ms Breathnach defended a policy of spending £3 million on building extensions to single-sex neighbouring schools rather than proceeding with a co-educational community school in Knocklyon which had been sanctioned by her predecessor in Education (and fellow constituency TD), Mr Seamus Brennan. Furthermore, despite the fact that we have the largest primary school in Ireland, with our children travelling to a range of 20 different schools, Eithne FitzGerald mischievously proposed that three acres of the site reserved for our community school be given over to the building of yet another primary school, albeit a Gaelscoil!
It was this type of blatant politicking with the wishes of the Knocklyon community which resulted in her rejection by the voters in this part of Dublin South. - Yours, etc.,
Chairman, Knocklyon Post-Primary Committee, Glenvara Park, Dublin 16