Sir, - Sinn Fein has agreed a new slogan: "Share the Wealth", The phrase sounds kindly until one asks what action it calls for in practice. Is it a call for handouts, as at Christmas, or for a tax of 80 per cent, or is it an imperative verb threatening us with a revolution?
To test the phrase against reality, indeed against Sinn Fein's own reality, we may ask where wealth and poverty are to be found. And we find that in Gerry Adams's West Belfast constituency, male unemployment during the past 16 months has remained between 22 per cent and 25.9 per cent, while the male unemployment of Jeffrey Donaldson's Lagan Valley constituency during the same 16 months has remained between 3.1 per cent and 4.4 per cent [Stormont statistics enclosed]. This is a very real difference of wealth, and one wonders what first step, if any, might be taken to encourage Jeffrey's people to share their wealth with Gerry's people. Or, since Sinn Fein is keen to increase its number of seats in the Republic, should Foxrock be asked to share its wealth with Darndale? - Yours, etc.,
Gerard Quinn, Ardagh Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.