Sir, - Mr Barra O Seaghada (October 28th) takes me to task for my treatment of James Dillon's attitude to a paid half-day for agricultural workers in the late 1940s.
I am not so sure why he does so. I stated very clearly that "farm workers were the most exploited section of the Irish work force, badly paid, poorly organised and working in difficult conditions with few if any rights". Further, I said Dillon's position on this issue was convoluted and difficult to understand - he supported the principle of the paid half-day but felt this was a matter for employer-labour negotiations and not a matter for state intervention. I also said that in a "situation where Irish farmers were noted for their mean and, in many cases, exploitative treatment of their employees . . . Dillon's stand was ill-judged." - Yours, etc.,
Maurice Manning, Dublin 4.