Sir, – In the past fortnight, leadership figures in both Fine Gael and Labour have used the impasse in Stormont over welfare reform as a stick to beat Sinn Féin ("SF control of economy like handing keys back to troika, says Burton", September 15th).
Not only are Charlie Flanagan and Joan Burton declaiming from positions of ignorance on the policy matter, they are undermining the functioning the NI Assembly in order to score points in Leinster House.
I was alarmed to hear the leader of the Irish Labour Party accept the spin of the Tories and their enablers that those opposed to welfare reform in the UK “seem relentlessly opposed to any measures to help people back to work”.
The trade union movement in Northern Ireland has been relentlessly opposed to these these flawed and vindictive proposals, especially since their disastrous enforcement in England, Wales and Scotland. We have led a major civil society campaign highlighting the injustice and unworkablility of the Tory vision of the welfare state. Alongside allies in the churches, academia, and the community and voluntary sectors, we have lobbied, leafleted, picketed and protested at these pernicious “reforms” – at least some of which will be abandoned after next year’s general election, unless the Conservatives pull off a most surprising win in the current political environment.
Every political party in Stormont has been on the receiving end of our campaign work, which has resulted in support from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Green Party and individual MLAs from the UUP and DUP.
The ICTU in Northern Ireland has never supported any particular political party. Trade unions that support working people are relentlessly opposed to policies that affect and afflict the working poor. That is our function.
It is a sad day when our work is undermined by politicians in the Republic of Ireland desperate for a cheap soundbite. – Yours, etc,
PETER BUNTING,
Assistant General Secretary,
Irish Congress
of Trade Unions,
Northern Ireland,
Carlin House,
Donegall Street Place,
Belfast.