Madam, - Hugo Brady Brown (September 13th) makes the usual lazy sneer about the Progressive Democrats being about selfishness.
What irritated so many of the PDs' opponents was that they were the first party to actually hold up a mirror to Irish society and show the Irish people the reality of themselves. Yes, we all preached high-spending social inclusion, but when it came to the crunch we voted for our tax cuts.
We all preached social ownership. But even the unions fought harder over the self-interests of their members (and their share options) in the soon-to-be-privatised public sector companies than they ever fought over the concept of privatisation.
In the last general election, Labour and Sinn Féin actually promised bigger tax cuts than the PDs ever dreamed of in their first manifesto in 1987. The anti-PDs actually ended up more PD than the PDs themselves.
The party looks like it has come to its end. It turns out the Irish people didn't really like what they saw in the mirror, so they tossed out the mirror. But the people remain the same, and the ideas of the party are now the mainstream of Irish politics.
Much as it may infuriate Mr Brady Brown, we are all Progressive Democrats now.
- Yours, etc,
JASON O'MAHONY, Coppinger Glade, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.