Attack politics an attempt to exploit insecurity

Dear Editor, Thanks to the spending by Libertas and their aggressive personal campaigning, the European Election in this region is already at a very high pitch.A good hard debate is healthy for democracy, but I don"t believe I am alone in being very uneasy about how things are unfolding.This isn"t about how much of Declan Ganley"s money he has put into Libertas or where he  that money from, these are things we"ll clearly never know ; but it"s everything to do with the way he is treating the voters and his fellow candidates.This is a time of great insecurity for people throughout this region.  We want a message of hope and yes we want jobs and wealth creation, but the sheer cynicism of Mr Ganley"s campaign is nothing but an attempt to exploit this insecurity.The claim on his poster to have created jobs and wealth may be true, but what is uncontested is that none of the jobs and wealth he has created has ever been in the North or West of this country.More power to him if he was successful in aluminium trading in the dying days of the Soviet Union, but how does this qualify him to present himself as our saviour?In fact, the Irish Times last week revealed that he has never had a company in Ireland which has declared a profit.Equally, he is right that lobbyists in Brussels are an issue, but he can"t just ignore his own well publicised record of employing lobbyists.If you add to this the incredibly negative, attack-politics which he is employing against all other candidates I would have to agree with him that he represents a new type of politics - but I question if this has anything positive to offer the people of this region.I think we can all be agreed that this region needs to push for a greater share of EU support funding. We need it to help build our infrastructure and help those who are suffering in the recession.Can someone please tell me how it increases our chance to get this investment if we send to Brussels a man who spends his time viciously attacking those who will make the key decisions?So soon after Easter maybe when we look at the huge campaign by Declan Ganley to present himself as our saviour we should remember the invocation to beware of false messiahs?Declan Ganley has so far managed to accuse his opponents of being in favour of abortion, euthanasia, the end of the CAP, massive waste and 'selling out' the Irish people. At the same time he has promised to create jobs, transform Europe, change the government and end waste while bringing in a new era for fishermen, farmers and turfcutters.Does he think we"re all fools? That he can exploit people feeling vulnerable to further his own agenda, whatever that may be?Yours, etc,Aisling Conlon.Finea Road,Castlepollard,Co. Westmeath.