Sir, - I was watching David Andrews's sorry performance on television the other night when I remembered that some weeks back, when he was taxed with the Fianna Fail flip-flop on the Partnership for Peace being completely at odds with its general election manifesto, he replied that this could be an issue for the local elections.
I don't know if he seriously thought it might be an issue in the local elections, but it seems to me that one consequence of the military intervention in Yugoslavia will be that we will actually have a debate on the Partnership for Peace rather than Bertie Ahern either looking into his heart or responding to US direction and doing an about-turn. This Government seems to be awaiting direction from somebody - anybody - on how to respond to the bombing of Yugoslavia. I wouldn't give very high odds on Ireland getting a Security Council seat when this Government is incapable of even forming an opinion on whether international law has been breached - unless dithering is regarded as a desirable attribute for Security Council members.
I hope that the bombing of Yugoslavia brings it home to the Fianna Fail members of the Oireachtas that membership or non-membership of the Partnership for Peace is about more than rhetoric. It is about principles, about commitment and about the deployment of personnel and material. The question is: in whose interest?
It doesn't say much for the Fianna Fail parliamentary party that, having been treated as sheep by Charles Haughey, there isn't a baa out of any of them when the current leader decides to do a 180-degree turn on neutrality, once upon a time a core value of Fianna Fail.
I wonder if the Fianna Fail candidates in the local elections will be just as docile as the parliamentary party. Meanwhile, to set the scene for a debate, maybe the Taoiseach or the Minister for Foreign Affairs can explain to us just why we should join the PFP and what exactly has changed in the 21 months since the general election to justify such a reversal of policy. - Yours, etc.,
Marian White, Labour Party candidate, Blackrock electoral ward, Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.