Sir, – Your concern and confusion about the purpose of Fianna Fáil ("What does Fianna Fáil stand for?", Letters, July 14th) is reflective of the out-of-touch viewpoints of your newspaper's columnists who continue their campaign against modern Ireland's most successful and democratic political party.
Maybe you should engage the views of the thousands of ordinary Irish citizens who are members of our republican movement and who tire of the constant exclusion from the bubble of the opinion pages of The Irish Times. – Is mise,
Cllr JOHN MULLEN,
(Fianna Fáil),
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Tinahely,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole is licking his lips at the prospect of Fianna Fail's demise ("Fianna Fáil has had two long lives – there will not be a third act", Opinion & Analysis, July 13th).
He is not the first and he won’t be the last.
He dismisses a movement that has been at the heart of Irish life since 1926 and whose leader, Micheál Martin TD, leads Government today.
A movement that is represented by hundreds of local councillors, town and country, and which, even after a moderate general election performance, remains the biggest in Leinster House.
I joined Fianna Fáil in 1961.
I have witnessed the party’s contribution to Irish society in education, welfare, housing, agriculture, etc , and the huge advances we have made.
The colleagues I work with are not self-seeking oligarchs or venal opportunists. Most of them lost a lot more to politics than they could ever gain.
They are Irish men and women involved with their communities across the country, working for a better future for all.
We are not saints, nor do we profess to be, but the warped prism of Fintan O’Toole’s vision offers a caricature that is as biased as it is erroneous.
A political party that has consistently enjoyed the support of the people for nearly a century will not disappear to suit your columnist’s “woke” agenda.
I believe his article on Fianna Fáil, with its paucity of research and excess of language, will come back to haunt him. – Yours, etc,
Senator NED O’SULLIVAN,
Fianna Fáil,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2.