ICTU too late with protest

WHILE the Raise the Roof movement has successfully highlighted a great blight on modern Irish society, there is one aspect that nauseates me. That is the hypocritical and self-congratulatory involvement of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

It should not be forgotten that the ICTU is affiliated with the Labour Party – the same party propped up Fine Gael in government from 2011 to 2016. It is reasonable to suggest that the current state of Irish society is a direct result of the budgets and policies that were implemented by that government.

It is also worth mentioning that the Ictu group’s last protest march or rally of any significance was held in October 2010, four months before its political arm – the Labour Party – went into government. There has been a deafening silence from it ever since.

Yet now that a grassroots movement has sprung up to tackle the homelessness and housing crisis that has resulted from market-driven government policy, both the Labour Party and Ictu have latched onto its coattails. One would almost suspect that an election is around the corner.

Whatever about being let down by the centre-right or centre-left, being betrayed by a party that portrayed itself as the party of the working class is something that the actual working class will never, ever forget. That verdict was delivered clearly in 2016 when the Labour Party was ruined at the polls.

The belated involvement of Ictu and the Labour Party in a protest against a crisis that has been afflicting thousands of families for many years now is nothing more than a self-serving exercise and the people will not be fooled. Simon O’Connor

Crumlin, Dublin 12