Sir, – Raymond Deane (June 15th) takes issue with my assertion that extremism on the left does poor service to principles.
This is the classic trapdoor of left-wing ideology that no conservative would ever fall into – that it is better to achieve nothing in order to have an unbending track record of rhetoric.
Having principles is easy; doing something about your beliefs is what politics and government are all about. It appears that some would prefer workers’ rights to be undermined, social protection to be savaged, social issues to be long-fingered, State assets to be privatised and the public sector to be demeaned as long as it gives us a platform to complain. I will never accept that the role of the left is to react.
The role of the left is to lead and to be persuaders for decency, social justice and equality.
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The British Labour Party has an ambition to govern. The Irish Labour Party has the same desire.
When others who describe themselves as left-wing have a similar aspiration, and the courage to put their rhetoric to the test, then all the social and economic advances we have made can be embedded for all and forever. – Yours, etc,
Senator AODHÁN
Ó RÍORDÁIN,
Seanad Éireann,
Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.