Political Banners

Published in Today's IT - the writer is the architect I used almost 20 years ago to remodel the house. He's also a rabid Shinner (note the "a chara" etc). I'm sure he's delighted to score a "hit" on me.

A chara, - Peter Molloy (June 9th) is dismissive of Richard Boyd Barrett's impressive electoral result in Dun Laoghaire, insinuating that Mr Boyd Barrett deceived the "middle classes" by standing for a People Before Profit Alliance rather than the Socialist Workers Party.

I suggest that Mr Boyd Barrett was no more deceptive than those candidates who stood as members of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rather than a "Profit before People Alliance". - Is mise,


So I've banged off the following response, but I don't expect they'll publish.

Madam - E F Fanning (letters June 16th) justifies the action of the Socialist Workers Party in hiding behind the “People before Profit” banner during the recent general election by claiming that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael might have campaigned under a “Profit before People” banner.

In that scenario, the Sinn Fein banner would be “Pragmatism before Policy”, having ditched all their inconvenient tax policies in the weeks before the election. However, the winner would still be the Greens whose banner would proclaim “Pragmatism & Power before Policy & Principle“. Yours etc