Sir, - You carried a letter about electoral spending limits written by Mike Allen, general secretary of the Labour Party (January 25th). In the course of a lengthy explanation of Labour "overspending" on recent by-elections, Mr Allen engaged in a silly piece of old-style left-wing jingoism. Referring to discussions designed to clarify the regulations governing electoral spending, Mr Allen stated that "the Labour Party entered discussions with the two establishment parties .. ." This is pure jingoism, designed to pretend that the Labour Party is somehow apart from other parties and in some way better for not being involved in the "establishment". It is pretentious nonsense.
The Labour Party is actually older than either Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. Since the end of the second World War, Labour has actually been in Government for longer than Fine Gael (thanks to its unwise and electorally disastrous decision to form a Coalition with Fianna Fail in 1992). The Labour Party has always been an entirely constitutional and parliamentary party. It is part of the "establishment" in every civil and political sense of that word.
Mr Allen should look before he leaps and polish up his memory. Before he became general secretary of the Labour Party, he was general secretary of the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed. In that capacity, he campaigned long and eventually successfully for the inclusion of the INOU in the social partnership - another part of the "establishment".
No, Mr Allen, you cannot distinguish the Labour Party from other parties on the basis of a spurious claim that it is not part of the "establishment". On the basis of his current employment and his past activities, I deduce that Mr Allen agrees with my view that, in a democracy, there is nothing wrong with being part of the "establishment". - Yours, etc.,
Alan M. Dukes, TD, Tully West, Kildare.