Madam - At the recent Labour Party Conference, Pat Rabbitte proposed an alternative coalition government of Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens, christening it the "Democratic Alliance". Mr Rabbitte is an articulate political leader of considerable ability and intelligence, but with this proposal he seems to be demonstrating a serious lack of imagination.
There has been an effort to present this "alliance" as some sort of radical departure. However its hardly an original concept given the fact that in the history of the State there have been six Fine Gael/Labour Governments with someone else occasionally tagged on. At the end of each of those six coalitions with Fine Gael the Labour Party was weakened and Fianna Fáil was returned to power stronger than before. This is ironic, as the supposed rationale for these governments was to get Fianna Fáil out.
In his leader's address Pat Rabbitte spoke of "social democratic principles" and he is right: the Labour Party is a social democratic party. It has never been anything else, despite wishful thinking from the now extinct left wing.
But that is not its problem. Leave out ideology; take it in terms of pure psychology: Labour projects a second-division mentality to the electorate.
This has been recently underlined. Enda Kenny has said he wants to be Taoisech after the next general election - a legitimate aspiration for the leader of the seond biggest party in the Dáil. On the other hand, just a few seats behind, the leader of the third biggest party refuses to lay claim to that office. By not doing so, Mr Rabbitte is being deferential to Fine Gael and it sends out all the wrong signals.
Political commentators have ignored an interesting development that has emerged in a number of polls. Labour, Sinn Féin and the Greens combined have outpolled Fianna Fáil and are well ahead of Fine Gael.
Pat Rabbitte should take a closer look at these figures. I am not suggesting an alliance of the three - that would be impossible given the histories involved - but rather the potential that could come from that pool of votes which broadly speaking is of a "social democratic" hue.
As I said earlier, Pat Rabbitte is an impressive parliamentarian. It would be a shame if the summit of his ambition is just to be Mr Kenny's Tánaiste in another dreary coalition. - Yours etc,
GARY KING, Clareview Park, Ballybane, Galway.