Madam, - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern complained recently that the current Opposition was the most negative in recent history. His message was clear: there is nothing to be negative about.
Is he so aloof that he expects Fine Gael and Labour to lavish praise on the spectacular policy failures of his Government? To do so would be a dereliction of their democratic duty.
His criticism of the Opposition is all the more hypocritical in light of the negative and obstructionist stances he took during his own periods in opposition.
In 1985 he denounced the Anglo-Irish Agreement, one of Ireland's greatest diplomatic achievements, as a "disaster" which was devoid of "any positive aspects for either the nationalist population, the Irish Government or the country as a whole".
In Opposition in 1997 his party said that "crime in Ireland has become dramatically worse. Crime threatens us on our streets in our homes and in our businesses" - a curious statement, given that crime was falling at a rate of 11 per cent at the time. As leader of the opposition, he infamously said to Gay Mitchell in the Dáil: "You're a waffler, you're a waffler, you've been around here for years, waffling". Is this the kind of mature, constructive attitude which Mr Ahern now wants the current Opposition to display?
Mr Ahern's time in opposition was characterised not only by the kind of negativity which he now seeks to criticise, but also by the dithering and paralysis of decision-making which has become a hallmark of his time as Taoiseach - a key example being his own high-profile obfuscation in the run up to the 1995 divorce referendum.
- Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH, Castletroy, Limerick.