Sir, - Peter Monohan suggests (March 14th) that "we should be eager to help our fellow countrymen in Belfast to preserve the great tradition of ship-building in that city". He requests the Irish Government to place an order for four naval vessels to patrol our waters. Sounds fair enough, until one looks below deck.
In 1974 the Harland and Wolff workforce played a pivotal role in pulling down the power-sharing executive. They used their industrial muscle to force the British Government to abandon the Sunningdale Agreement. Not content with excluding Catholics from the workforce, they also wanted to exclude them from any form of power-sharing. The current workforce is 1,745, of whom only a handful are Catholic.
If any State money is to be spent in purchasing naval vessels from Harland and Wolff, then I believe it is imperative that the Irish Government insist that the McBride Principles on employment be vigorously adhered to. - Yours, etc.,
Tom Cooper, Knocklyon Woods, Dublin 16.