Sir - It is arrant nonsense for M. D. Kennedy (your issue of May 25th) to blame the Labour Party for going into coalition with Fianna Fail after the last election. Your correspondent, and others who think like him, suffer from a conveniently short memory about the events that occurred in the political arena after the last general election, and the role played by Fine Gael in those events.
The fact of the matter is that Fine Gael and its leader had the arrogance to insist that their proposed "Rainbow" coalition should include the "Thatcherite" Progressive Democrats and exclude the Democratic Left. This, coming from a party which had just lost ten Dail seats in an election which it went into from the Opposition benches, was to say the least high handed and presumptuous. However, this political leopard subsequently changed its spots, and Fine Gael became quite friendly with the party it had previously abhorred.
The Fine Gael attitude at the time left Dick Spring with two choices - either go into government with Fianna Fail, or cause another general election. If he "had taken the latter course, few would have thanked him for so doing. It is about time that people who rant on about Labour's betrayal of the electorate face up to the facts of what happened at that time. It was Fine Gael and their leader who were to blame. - Yours, etc.,
Inchicore,
Dublin 8.