Sir, - I have read accounts by three different political correspondents of Tom Parlon's wish to run in Laois-Offaly for the PDs. Not one referred to the absurdity of a former farmers' leader running as a candidate for the party of the free market.
Politicians and political commentators continually bemoan the public perception that most politicians lack any real conviction. Yet what are the electorate to think when they read uncritical accounts of Parlon's ambitions? Here is a man gliding effortlessly from being an advocate of the most socialised industry in the world to being a spokesman for a party that whose only faith is in the magic of the market. For years now there has been a PD hopeful in Limerick who keeps advocating privatising Dublin Airport while keeping Shannon as a nationalised industry. Yet I have never heard a political correspondent question Mary Harney on why jobs in Shannon are more important than Dublin jobs.
Politicians everywhere would love to espouse a hundred contradictory positions, if they thought they could get away with it. Probably, every right-wing candidate anywhere would like to advocate that the free-market should apply to all of the economy, except where they have voters. What prevents this nonsense in other countries is that the media have the moral courage to ridicule these preposterous stances. Are our political correspondents happy to be glorified tally-men - or is it something demanded by their employers? - Yours, etc.,
Tim O'Halloran, Ferndale Road, Dublin 11.