Gilmore being set up as a messiah

YOUR columnist Fergus Finlay (June 21) once again promotes his erstwhile cronies in the Labour party.

With his usual disdain for any politician not from this party and ignoring, as usual, the stark realities of the world we now live in, he has the audacity to set up Eamon Gilmore as a messiah for our current woes.

He quotes the Labour leader as saying “we need a fresh start and new hope ... we need a government focused on three core tasks — creating jobs, reforming the way the country is governed, etc ... we need a government that understands what is happening in the global economy”. Unfortunately, Gilmore failed to mention that to achieve these goals we first have to put the economy in order..

When the IMF and the European Central Bank lauded our harsh budget of 2009 and deemed its measures absolutely necessary, Gilmore and his party voted against it. These two esteemed international bodies could be said to have some expertise of the global economy, but Gilmore and his party colleagues seem to think they are a lot more knowledgeable

We have yet to see one seriously costed policy document from Labour. Gilmore is brilliant at rhetoric and oratory and yet as someone who aspires to high office he cannot use these gifts to tell us what his plans are within the current fiscal limits. The Croke Park agreement could give a fresh start after being endorsed by a substantial majority of public service unions but it was not endorsed by Gilmore and Joan Burton. Why? Fergus Finlay is a gifted writer, but he should understand we are not all idiots.

Joe Kennelly

Bridgestown

Inniscarra

Co Cork