Sir, – Sean Leake (Letters, May 8th) promotes the line that the Green Party was punished by voters for propping up the coalition government that brought in austerity policies.
The Green Party was punished because of its insistence on carbon taxes at a time when people’s finances were already stretched.
Ireland is a country of comparatively low temperatures and, outside the major conurbations, poor public transport. To pile carbon taxes on top of already expensive fuel prices is more punitive here than in almost any other part of Europe, for example.
Rather than pontificate about prescriptive carbon emission reductions, the Green Party would gain more support from the public if it used its influence in government to address the fundamental infrastructure deficiencies rather than getting a moral kick out of penalising the poorest in society. – Yours, etc,
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KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.