Sir, - Frank Mulcahy attempts to draw some dark significance from his claim that I "seem to have chortled" at Billy Atley's comment that ISME were the "military wing of the Progressive Democrats" (March 24th).
I would like to point out that I could not have "chortled" at the remark "from the platform" of the ISME Conference, as I was not present at it.
Padraig Malone from our NEC represented the INOU at that occasion. He was treated with considerably more respect by members of ISME than the leadership of ISME has recently shown to the membership of the INOU. I would also like to point out that I am the national chairperson of the INOU, not the president.
There are, of course, serious issues about the quality of training available to unemployed people and about the exclusion of the long-term unemployment from the increased number of jobs. The INOU has been addressing these issues consistently and forcefully for a decade, never achieving the level of coverage ISME received for its "misfit" remark.
Two of the greatest problems facing long-term unemployed people, in finding decent jobs with small business, are misinformation and prejudice. Has the ISME report helped to overcome these? - Yours, etc.,
National chairperson, lNOU, (Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed),
6 Gardiner Row,
Dublin 1.