Plan for the largest party
Editor,
Nobody 'won' this election. It was always more about removing Fianna Fáil from power than about placing anyone else in. Ask anyone to name five policy differences between Fine Gael and FF and you will be lucky to get more than one. FG didn't earn this victory and must not allow their egos to be inflated by Enda Kenny's imaginary mandate.
Since the state was established, no FG government has won re-election. There is no room for cockiness here. In order to hold on to power they must buck an almost century-long trend of election followed by immediate ejection.
It is time for FG to give up the ghost of Civil War era politics and re-evaluate what they stand for. What we need is a real alternative to FF. The voters have repeatedly found that different governments have not led to different policies. If we are voting for FF policies either way, why not just vote FF?
FG must re-invent themselves as the antithesis of everything that was done wrong during the Celtic Tiger era. They must avoid the mistakes of their rivals and institute real consequences for the incompetence of those who would play fast and loose with other people's money. Lax regulation and cronyism cannot be tolerated during this period of national recovery.
They must stop talking about a 'knowledge economy' and build one. Restructuring the finance and delivery of third level programmes is priority one. Access to higher education for all and creating graduates with skills that modern industries will compete for is essential for Ireland's success. Today, while state-funded programmes continue to train future tradespeople for the unemployment line, hundreds of high earning IT jobs go unfilled for lack of candidates. Ireland needs a party that will represent the working and middle classes, those who have kept this country running while bearing the burden of other people's mistakes.
Yours,
Shane O' Connor,
Drumalee.
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