Letter from Sinn Féin member in Drogheda Independent this week...

A chara,

I was shocked to read that the Chairman of Louth County Council, Fianna Fail's Cllr. Jimmy Mulroy proclaimed that migrant workers should not be entitled to the same rates of pay for their work as Irish workers at a meeting of the council. Cllr. Mulroy made the ridiculous claim that wages should reflect the lower cost of living in their home countries and while Irish people "need €12.50 an hour, people from Lithuania are doing very well on €8.50 an hour". While Sinn Fein's Cllr. Kevin Meenan quite rightly pointed out that migrant workers "do not fly home at night", I would like to ask Cllr. Mulroy to explain exactly what he was thinking when he made such a derisory and ill-informed remark that was borderline xenophobic.

Furthermore, I would also like Cllr. Mulroy to declare whether he will be reminding the members of the eastern European communities who he believes "are very happy to earn €10 an hour" (less than their Irish counterparts) of his appalling views on migrant workers rights when he is canvassing them for their votes in the 2009 Local Elections. I am sure that they will be very interested to hear that he believes they should be compelled to take lower wages by virtue of their nationality.

Cllr. Mulroy's shameful comments are a reflection of the general Fianna Fail attitude to workers and migrant workers alike – a tacit approval of the state as a haven for exploitation. If decent standards of living are to be attained for all, migrant workers must be included.
Is mise,

Emmet Mac Stibhin

Drogheda Sinn Féin
Magdalene Street,
Drogheda.