TIM O'HALLORAN,
Madam, - Denis Kenny (January 10th) is right to point out that until smaller farmers split from the richer 20 per cent who grab 80 per cent of the subsidies, they will get no sympathy from the rest of us. Why should the hard-working PAYE worker worry about the job security of IFA members, while the ex-leader of the IFA is happily pontificating about labour market flexibility in his new-found role as a PD Minister?
"Labour market flexibility" is code for freeing companies to hire and fire at will in the American way. Farmers, large and small, voted overwhelmingly for this free-market Government, secure in the knowledge that they themselves were protected from the prospect of unemployment. It is simply immoral of them to demand socialist security for themselves while helping to impose an extreme variety of capitalism on the rest of us.
Irish political commentators never seem to question the right-wing politics of Irish farmers, somehow seeing it as a cultural inevitability. In many European counties (e.g. France and Spain,) smaller farmers regularly support left-wing parties. The united right-wing front which Irish farmers present to the rest of the community is mere selfishness, wrapped up as sentimental conservatism. Until such time as farmers show some concern for the problems of the rest of society, the rest of us are entitled to be indifferent to their problems. - Yours, etc.,
TIM O'HALLORAN,
Ferndale Road,
Dublin 11.
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Madam, - Once again we have another attempt to introduce the red herring of the "urban-rural divide". In this instance it is being applied to the current farmers' protest. Comments by several Fianna Fáil TDs from urban constituencies re-echo statements were made during the Objective One campaign some years back. That campaign, which was spearheaded by the Council for the West, sought to retain Objective One status for the BMW region for the present round of structural funds from the EU. At that time a number of Dublin TDs made a concerted effort to reduce the arguments presented by the Council for the West to an urban-rural debate. This was not successful, mainly because the council issued a joint statement with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in which the ICTU supported our legitimate case for Objective One status, while we in turn fully supported its efforts to deal with urban disadvantage.
At the time I, as chair of the Council for the West, clearly stated that we in the West of Ireland had no monopoly on disadvantage but that we had a genuine case regarding Objective One. This did not in any way subtract from the legitimacy of the case regarding difficulties faced by many urban communities. The attempt to reduce our campaign to one of rural gain at the expense of deprived urban areas was quite deliberate. If it could be seen as such, it would be easy to dismiss us as "whingers" from the West and there would be no need to deal with the real issues involved.
I believe a similar attempt is being made right now to portray the current farmers' campaign in the same light, in the hope that knee-jerk reactions will take over and that the real issues regarding farmer's incomes and the future of agriculture can be avoided. In this instance I want to say "well done" to Joe Higgins, an "urban" TD who did not take the easy option that might garner him a few extra "urban" votes, but who quite rightly labelled this as an attempt to drive a wedge between working people who just happen to live in different parts of the country.
In the final analysis what is needed is a Minister for Agriculture who will enter meaningful negotiations with the farmers, many of whom face a bleak and uncertain future. To quote statistics that best can be described as inaccurate and to engage in cynical nice guy/bad guy Fianna Fáil politics will do nothing to deal with the problem. It is most important that this further attempt to drive a wedge between urban and rural communities in this latest farmer-bashing exercise does not succeed. Instead, the Government must deal constructively with legitimate grievances, rural and urban alike, rather than engaging in spin-doctoring designed to exacerbate urban-rural tensions. - Yours, etc.,
MARIAN HARKIN, TD,
The Park,
Strandhill Road,
Sligo.
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Madam, - Market prices set centrally. Farm income derived substantially from government.System driven by producers rather than by consumers.
Communism by another name? - Yours, etc.,
SEÁN DOWLING,
Ardmore Cottage,
Timoleague,
Co Cork.