Sir, - Any lingering doubts one might have had about Ireland's one-party political system must surely have vanished in the wake of Villagate. Much as one would like to think otherwise, it now seems painfully clear that the major political parties, together with the soi-disant Progressive Democrats, are all indeed tarred with the same proverbial brush.
Readers may recall that Ruairi Quinn, at the Labour party conference in Tralee earlier this year - having already joined forces with the Democratic Left - implied a willingness to merge, if necessary, with the PDs to form the next government.
It seems that in addition to Fianna Fail's Charlie McCreevy and the PDs' Mary Harney, Fine Gael's John Bruton, Nora Owen and Jim Mitchell are all good buddies of the McEvaddy brothers, who seem to have spread their largesse quite equitably across the political spectrum.
Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party got to the nub of the matter. He was reported to have pointed out that if members of the PDs, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Labour Party can happily accept an invitation to place their snouts in the feeding trough of a multimillionaire advocate of privatisation and deregulation, it is stunning proof that the Golden Circle continues to thrive.
Instead of a multi-party or, at a minimum, a two- party political system - in which there would be a real opposition party - what we have now, in effect, is a one-party system, which has an unhealthy and very close relationship with the business community. It is no wonder that the plain people of Ireland feel so alienated from the Government. - Yours, etc.,
Myles Crowe, Old Brewery Lane, Clonakilty, Co Cork.