Edition Bobbett1. Texts by Elizabeth F. Bobbett: 1.1.3. Correspondence, Letters to newspapers

1951 Elizabeth Bobbett: Letter to the Irish Press, 16.02.1951

Social Justice

In a lecture, in University College, Galway, recently, the Very Reverend, Dr. Felim O’Briain, OF said: “All the men at present on strike belong to non-producing occupations, and any increase in wages they get must be at the cost of producers. The non-producers were too well organised to surrender any of their share of the national income to the people who produce it.

“Producers,” he said, “were unlikely to produce more to pay increased wages to non-producers under the incentive of reduced pay for themselves. A further exodus from the land would be the reaction as before.

“While the fleeced farmer and the underpaid worker must continue to emigrate; while profits soared and well organised groups of workers could secure terms that tended to impoverish further the vast majority of the underpaid, they could not claim that xx or distributive justice existed in the country.

“About one-fifth of the nation’s breadwinners were in registered trade unions. By using their organised force in strike action they could force the community to concede a disproportionate share of the national income that was meagre enough, even if xx divided.”

Continuing, he said “the Minister for Social Welfare proposes to accentuate this unfairness by the Insurance Bill now before the Dàil. Those who had long been the victims of economic discrimination would be forced to contribute to the social security of those who enjoyed permanent jobs.”

It is of very little credit to the farmers that they allow themselves to be the victims of this social injustice. They are the people who produce the wealth which is spent so lavishly in Dublin, and it is spent in Dublin just because the farmers slavishly accept an economy which is devised to that end.

We would be proud to co-operate in an economy that would make our country strong and self-reliant, but we cannot, and will not be a party to an economy which encourages rural depopulation and social injustice, and the risk of irreparable damage to agriculture.

We know that farm workers are not receiving a fair deal in this economy. Like the farmers, they are the victims of social injustice, but, like the farmers, their hours and wages must be governed by the ability of agriculture to pay.

There is one aspect of our economy which trades unionists and industrialists seem to have overlooked. Without the co-operation of the farmer and his worker, who, after all, are the chief purchasers of Irish goods, Irish industries could not afford to meet demands for higher wages.

Take away the monopolies xx tariffs, or lessen the co-operation of the rural purchaser, and the standard of living enjoyed by the urban dweller would be much curtailed. And why should we co-operate in an economy which is used against us.

Yours truthfully. Elizabeth F. Bobbett, General Secretary Irish Farmers’ Federation, Wicklow.