Madam, - Richard Boyd Barrett's article on the fate of the left in Ireland (Opinion & Analysis, June 7th) constituted wishful thinking rather than a coherent analysis of the recent election.
He suggests that people are disenchanted with centre-right politics and that the decline of the PDs suggests "a strong rejection of such policies". Is he serious? In this election Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the PDs won a total of 131 seats, up from 120 in the previous election. In the six constituencies where the PDs lost seats the beneficiaries were Fine Gael (5) and Fianna Fáil (1) - hardly a rejection of the centre-right.
Mr Boyd Barrett later asserts: "The fact that Labour, the Greens and Sinn Féin all made clear that their ambition was only to act as a prop for one or other of the two major parties was the real reason the election was reduced down to a choice between Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny. Why vote for the left if in fact it is a vote for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael?"
This is a fantastical misreading of both the election results and the attitude of Irish people. Is he suggesting that had Labour, the Greens or Sinn Féin declared that they were aiming for an overall majority (!), or even a grand coalition of the left, people would have been more inclined to vote for them?
There are more realistic reasons for the left's unfortunate stagnation, such as its failure to articulate a viable alternative to the internationally prevalent economic orthodoxy, a fixation with marginal issues, and its manifest failure to mobilise working-class voters. The one accurate explanation he offers - the sectarian nature of left-wing politics - is ironic given his Socialist Workers Party's reputation for divisiveness.
If the left has a future in Ireland it must produce a more accurate analysis of contemporary politics than that proffered by Mr Boyd Barrett. - Yours, etc,
Dr AIDAN HEHIR, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, England.
Madam, - Richard Boyd Barrett claims that "against the background of a very poor overall performance for the left, the shock caused by the People Before Profit Alliance in Dún Laoghaire in coming so close to taking a seat may be a small but significant pointer towards a possible way forward." This assertion would be more credible if Mr Boyd Barrett had made Dún Laoghaire voters aware of his prominent role in the Socialist Workers Party and familiarised them with that party's Marxist economic policy.
I suspect that many middle-class voters in Dún Laoghaire identified Mr Boyd Barrett only with the public baths protest, without knowing of his SWP affiliation, and voted for him on that basis.
Next time he should run with his true colours flying and we can then assess more accurately the appeal of his politics and the effectiveness of the electoral strategy he espouses in his article. - Yours, etc,
PETER MOLLOY, Haddington Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.