Besides stranded travellers, Dublin Airport last weekend was also a mecca for millennial Marxists, to use a mixed metaphor. Well to the fore was Carolann Duggan of the Socialist Workers' Party, who could be seen urging the masses to ever greater efforts in the struggle to overthrow capitalism. She is a candidate to replace Bill Attley, (salary £75,000) who is retiring shortly as SIPTU general secretary. Should she win, air travellers could be in for a rough time.
Odds at the moment have the two other candidates ahead - Dublin regional secretary, Brendan Hayes and south-west regional secretary John McDon- nell. The salaries of union leaders have been reduced of late to £51,000, but Duggan says if she is elected she will take only the average industrial wage and donate the rest to the union strike fund which, in the event of her victory, will certainly be in need.
Also to the fore at the airport last weekend was Clare Daly, the Socialist Party candidate in Wednesday's Dublin North byelection. She is also a member of SIPTU and works for Aer Lingus. She described the closure as "magnificent solidarity action" in an election statement and urged similar protests to stop the sale of TEAM, to prevent British Airways taking a stake in Aer Lingus and to oppose attempts by the EU to abolish duty-free.