Sir, – Reporters and political opponents make frequent reference to the probable “decimation” of the Labour Party in the forthcoming election. More appropriate terms would be “meltdown” or “near-extinction”.
Decimation was a particularly unpleasant punishment for underperforming Roman armies whereby every tenth soldier was summarily executed. If I were a Labour TD facing “decimation”, I would be quietly confident as I would have a 90 per cent chance of being re-elected. – Yours, etc,
CHARLES DALY,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
