Madam, - Barbara Leahy (May 30th) asks if anyone can explain "why a party with a mere 3 per cent support is effectively running the country".
I have heard otherwise sensible people assert that the PDs are brilliant politicians because of the way they wield such influence with so little support.
To me, this only goes to prove that the modern trendy tendency to discuss politics while denying oneself the use of the word "class" is like trying to eat a steak without using a knife.
The PDs simply represent the ruling class. The interests of these people will always dominate Government policy as long as we continue to pretend that politics is not principally about the conflict of classes.
The PDs are "successful" at advancing their policies because representing the interests of the ruling class in our society is about as difficult as kicking an open door.
If the PDs had never been formed, Bertie Ahern would still kow-tow to Ibec, Tony O'Reilly, Michael Smurfit et al. Only the wilfully naive could believe otherwise. - Yours, etc,
TIM O'HALLORAN, Ferndale Road, Dublin 11.
Madam, - Why is a party with 3 per cent support effectively running the country? The reason is that this tiny niche party is interested only in exercising power, while the much larger Government party is interested only in having the trappings and patronage of office.
No doubt both parties think this division of the electoral spoils is a very clever wheeze, but it does seem unfair for the electorate to be saddled with a right-wing ideology which has no proportionate democratic warrant. - Yours, etc,
HUGO BRADY BROWN, Stratford on Slaney, Co Wicklow.