Sir, - Joan Burton's letter (February 6th) comparing election spending limits in British and Irish general elections appears oblivious to the many differences between our respective electoral systems.I would prefer to see the Labour Party attempt to mount an argument relevant to Irish political circumstances, instead of drawing inappropriate comparisons with a British first-past-the-post electoral system that limits electoral choice by limiting parties to running a maximum of one candidate.Once again, I fear the labour Party's real motive for keeping spending limits unsuitably low is to impede the development of new parties on the left, a wing on which the Labour Party is extremely vulnerable. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Ahern, TD, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.