Sir, - Your Editorial after the European elections (June 14th) referred to the Greens struggling to retain their seats. This was the impression given not only by The Irish Times but also by RTE. Both the paper of record and our national broadcaster have since had time to put the record straight, but have failed to do so. The facts are that I took the second seat in Leinster ahead of both Fianna Fail candidates and Patricia McKenna took the third seat in Dublin ahead of Labour's Proinsias de Rossa. In Leinster Liam Hyland (FF) and Alan Gillis (FG) struggled for the last seat.
That these facts are hard to assimilate for some political correspondents is clear. During a live broadcast on the Sunday of the count I myself had to question Brian Farrell as to why RTE had continued all day on Sunday to assert that I was struggling with Alan Gillis for the last seat, when its own news team in Gormanstown was providing contrary information. One gullible forecast claimed that "neutral Fianna Fail" was providing tallies saying that the Greens would lose. The idea that Fianna Fail is neutral in an election is a strange one. In fact at the time Fianna Fail was worried that Liam Hyland would lose to Alan Gillis.
These items are, of course, of passionate interest to many people who voted Green around the country, but there is also an important question of principle at work. While we are quite inured to the political spinning of current affairs, the news is different. It should be factual and must not be traduced. On the Monday after the count RTE was still failing to give details of the result in Leinster. Jack Jones on his explanatory piece in your paper on polling in the election again failed to give the correct order for Leinster.
While people in all of the Leinster counties are used to inaccuracy and neglect by the Dublin-centred media, it is nevertheless the case that they are entitled to accurate and informed news reporting of election results, a basic service in a democracy. If this is the best that RTE and The Irish Times can do on an election result, I will in future view their racing results with more than a shade of suspicion. - Yours, etc., Nuala Ahern,
Greystones, Co Wicklow.