MARY COUGHLAN, TD,
Sir, - The principle that voting decisions for this summer's election should be reached on the basis of considering the overall future of public policy through a balanced and sensible debate is absolutely sound. Unfortunately, your Editorial, "Options, Not Auctions" (January 23rd) chose to ignore balance in favour of a sweeping and superficial denunciation.
To describe the announcement of the next phase of a variety of initiatives, for which funding has been provided, as an "electioneering frenzy" and an "unseemly game of Dutch-auction politics" is at best over the top. This is particularly the case in relation to the misrepresentation and mischaracterisation of recent statements by the Taoiseach and a number of his colleagues.
Take for example the Editorial's attack on the Taoiseach's recent speech on a number of the priority issues for our schools. The full text of this speech was available to The Irish Times but clearly its true content did not fit in with the misleading thesis advanced by your Editorial writer.
In the interests of accuracy, I think it is important to point out that in his speech the Taoiseach outlined how he had set school building and renovation activity as a key priority for his Government. He showed how funding had been increased by over 350 per cent and reiterated that it was Government policy to build on this progress.
This involves compiling the first ever comprehensive inventory of the level and nature of school accommodation for all schools. Rather than representing an empty promise, as your Editorial writer suggests, this has been funded in this year's Budget. Similarly, this year's Budget includes a further increase in school building and renovation funding.
The criticism of the Minister for Health and Children announcing the details of where 709 acute hospital beds are to be located is also deeply flawed. The Editorial is right in saying that the figure is ahead of the schedule contained in the Health Strategy. But what exactly is wrong with delivering something ahead of time and within budget? Should the Minister have told his officials not to bother telling anyone where the beds were going, or to overspend? Your Editorial implies that the Government must stop all implementation of agreed and funded policies or that these should be equated with the likes of the once-off Eircom bribe proposed by Fine Gael's dream team of Noonan and Mitchell.
It also seems from your Editorial that if the Government should talk about priorities for the future, it must be condemned for not having done everything in one term. Yet, at the same time, any Minister who tries to point to real progress is to be accused of complacency.
The final insult is your Editorial's assertion that the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Quinn, made a "wise intervention" when he called on all parties to put a halt to auction politics. This seems to ignore the fact that the previous week he informed the residents of south Co Dublin that his party would build them a new general hospital "if it returns to government after the next election". It strikes this reader as somewhat odd that a Government getting on with the job of governing is accused of engaging in auction politics but an Opposition leader who makes promises dependent on him being thrust into a position of power is promoting "sane and sensible debate" on what the next Government should do. - Yours, etc.,
MARY COUGHLAN, TD,
Minister of State,
Department of Arts, Heritage,
Gaeltacht and the Islands,
Mespil Road,
Dublin 4.