TONY ALLWRIGHT,
Madam, "It is surely time for the Government of this island nation (that once built ships for half the world and bred seamen in all its many ports) to take steps to restore Ireland's maritime economy and stop leaving the seas to other continents", writes John de Courcy Ireland.
Instead of castigating the Government he should save his tirade for the executive managements of Harland & Wolff and the Irish Shipping Company. It is those individuals who, by failing to preserve profitability, ensured the downfall of the two companies and thereby failed their workforces.
These senior managers were delighted to take the fat pay and perks reserved for executives; taking the blame is the other side of that coin. Don't let them off the hook by blaming governments. - Yours, etc.,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.
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Madam, - John de Courcy Ireland (October 22nd) is full of praise for "one of the most remarkable firms ever engaged in the vital trade of shipbuilding".
He is also is critical of the Irish government after the second World War, saying that "when new ships were needed, it did not order them in Ireland at Belfast".
I fully support that Irish government's refusal to purchase ships from Belfast, because to do so would have been to endorse the sectarianism of those associated with Harland & Wolff.
Mr de Courcy Ireland must be aware that successive Stormont regimes, trade unions and Harland and Wolff management conspired collectively to exclude nationalists from employment at the shipyard.
As far as I am concerned, the two gantries which are visible all over Belfast are monuments to an era of bigoted sectarianism, and few tears will be shed at their demise by those who value equality of opportunity and respect for all, regardless of class, creed or gender. - Yours, etc.,
TOM COOPER, Delaford Lawn, Dublin 16.