Sir, – I’m somewhat bemused and a little irritated with the way your columnist Stephen Collins regularly refers to the assorted left-wing parties in the Dáil as “Trotskyites”. No doubt the appellation is intended as an insult but it strikes me as unedifying. Of course, Mr Collins is perfectly entitled to disagree with the political views of these parties, their behaviour in the Dáil and he’s even entitled to dislike them personally but what he shouldn’t do is engage in infantile name calling.
How would members of Fine Gael feel if they were routinely referred to as “Francoists”! I’ve no doubt they would find it offensive and reject the comparison, and rightly so.
Political discourse is the very lifeblood of our democracy and there is always a place for those who wish to articulate their views in a forthright manner but please, can we desist from the kind of name calling that is more characteristic of a school playground? I thought we had left all that behind.
– Yours, etc,
KARL McGOVERN
Lucan, Co Dublin.