Labour And `The Establishment'

Sir, - Mike Allen, General Secretary of the Labour Party (February 12th) admits that the definition of "establishment" includes…

Sir, - Mike Allen, General Secretary of the Labour Party (February 12th) admits that the definition of "establishment" includes "the group, institution or people ... held to control public life and to support the existing order".The existing order, in this case and for the purposes of applying that definition to Ireland, is a Republic with a written constitution, a parliamentary democracy and a free market system. The Labour Party is clearly a part of that establishment.A desire on the Labour Party's part to change a number of policies does not put it outside the "establishment" - any more than a similar desire on Fine Gael's part does. Yours, etc.,Alan M. Dukes, TD, Tully West, Kildare, Co Kildare.