Unwanted political church gate collections

Dear sir - Recently, I went to 11.30am Mass in Athboy. Outside the church, a political party was taking up a collection. I have no intention of saying who they were just in case other parties take cheap shots at them. One thing I will say is their leader was excellent in pointing out everyone else"s misdemeanours; at one stage, you would think he was the only honest man in the Dail. I am always surprised to see open buckets used in collections of any description but this was worse again. You laid your money on a card table; there was one on both sides of the church gate, each manned by two of the local handlers. Both would know at the drop of a coin how much the prospective applicant for planning permission had put on the table. To my mind, this is subtle intimidation, particularly in a small town where people imagine the local political parties have more power than they let on. Here, everyone knows everyone else and even I, a 'blow-in", recognised one of the handlers. It is akin to the old days when the priest would read out the contributions at Sunday Mass. This political party, like all others, is partly-funded by the taxpayer and still embarrasses them as they go to Sunday Mass. Why do we never see a political party collecting outside the house of worship of any other religion; are they afraid they might offend? The local party will say it is the national party which is funded by the exchequer. Then, perhaps, they should collect for the local group outside the party head office. What will they be at next - bag-packing in supermarkets? Yours, Paul Egan, Whitethorn, Tullaghanogue, Trim.