Sir, - I watched with horror the recently produced evidence by BBC's Panorama regarding practices by established Western corporations such as Nike or Gap in their Third World sweatshops. Children as young as 12 were working seven days a week, from 6.15 a.m. until sometimes 10 p.m. for slave-labour wages. This to supply the Western market with their costly products.
At each of these sweatshops a representative of the parent company was always present to uphold the quality of the brands.
This evidence, as well as the evidence of slavery (i.e. total bondage and punishment beatings) by corporations producing cocoa beans in the Ivory Coast (which supplies 90 per cent of the Western market) should be at the forefront of every conference where world trade is discussed. Yours, etc.,
Eugene O'Connor and family, Granville Park, St Patrick's Road, Limerick.