Sir, - I refer to your report "Farmers' protest at Aldi store in Cork" (November 12th). If, as it is claimed, the Irish farmer is paid the same for his milk at the farm gate as his counterpart in Northern Ireland, then the IFA's protest should not be directed towards Aldi, which is acting in the consumers' best interests, but at the Irish dairies, supermarkets and shops which charge higher prices than Aldi. The IFA ought to be demanding to know why the Irish product is not reaching the consumer in Ireland at the same price as the Northern Irish product.
According to the logic of the IFA, when The Royal Bank of Scotland moved into the Irish mortgage marketplace, we should have shunned it in favour of our own home-bred and more expensive lending institutions, in order to preserve our sacred Irish products at whatever cost to the consumer.
Why did the IFA not drag an Irish mortgaged farmstead up to the steps of the Royal Bank of Scotland's premises in protest at the undercutting of Irish-produced loans? Was it because farmers may benefit from the foreign competition?
The consumer is being ripped off yet again and unfortunately I firmly believe that it is not just on the price of milk but on virtually every product we buy. - Yours, etc.,
Sean Wallace, Delgany, Co Wicklow.