Madam, - I disagree with Noel Fitzpatrick (June 19th) that the electorate were to blame for being deceived in the last election. Why do we always tend to blame the victim for the crime? Alternatively, Noel Fitzpatrick alleges, we "are as bent as the party is". That is as unfair to us ordinary yobs as it is to the vast majority of people who are members of the largest political party on this island.
The truth is that only a small number of people were involved in whatever deceit was perpetrated. They had access to endless funds to put the message across with the appropriate spin. They used all the media outlets - and here I attribute blame, because very many people in the media willingly participated in what they knew to be deceit.
Some of the worst offenders were large multinational media organisations, some of whose coverage of the election was scurrilous. Concern for the future welfare of Irish democracy or indeed for the dignity of the human person would not feature very prominently in the mission statement of these people.
If we continue to allow our political system to be manipulated by these small number of very wealthy supra-national moguls who have access to an equally small number of insider politicians, then we really will be to blame.
We have to get the funding of the political system out of the hands of multimillionaire manipulators who have nothing but contempt for ordinary people. - Yours, etc.,
A. LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin13.