Sir, - With reference to Joan Burton's article on October 4th one must feel she is still suffering withdrawal symptoms after the dismal showing of her Labour colleague in the by election in her own Dublin West patch. The article was pathetic scaremongering and, I suppose, gives us a flavour of the thinking of Labour Party Head Office and the tactics it intends to employ in the run up to the 1997 election.
Labour need have no concern about Fianna Fail commitment to social partnership and consensus. Indeed, after the inability of the 1982/87 Government - in which Labour participated - to work with the social partners, Fianna Fail from 1987, and Bertie Ahern in particular, succeeded in negotiating a series of national agreements. Joan Burton ought to be concerned with the ability of the current Government to continue the process, in the light of the opposition of the Taoiseach to previous partnership deals when in opposition.
May I remind Ms Burton that Fianna Fail introduced not some, but all, of the excellent benefits to our senior citizens. They know well that this Government, with several key ministries held by Labour, will go down in history for the miserable 2.5 per cent pension increase.
Joan Burton has some brass neck to trot out the accusations in her article, particularly in a week when Labour again betrayed the working classes with its approval for another 1,000 redundancies in CIE. Labour's overseeing of the dismantling of the semi states reflects how power has corrupted them. We now have 2,000 redundancies in the ESB, 1,500 planned in Telecom and 1,000 in CIE. Labour has allowed Minister Michael Lowry to run riot in Transport, Energy and Communications where his Labour minder, Junior Minister Emmet Stagg, is now an ineffective shadow of his past.
If Joan Burton keeps on pushing out this Labour propaganda, she may even convince herself that some of it is true. - Yours, etc.,
Dail Eireann,
Baile Atha Cliath 2.