sour on him.
he massive unemo ovment mire land nas given tne coartion an extra in centive, and promises to become ont of their major economic weapons. Every Government atrocity is justified in the Dail (the Irish parliament) on the grounds that it will bring more jobs.
Justin Keating, the Minister for In austry, is currently juggling the claims of a number of depressed areas (Donegal, americk water ore. bromeo. ane Cork) to receive a new lead and zinc smelting plant. Keating hopes to turn the workers in each area against the rest by this crude manoeuvre. But since the number of jobs concerned is only about 400 (there are 5.000 unemployed ir Cork and 4,000 in Limerick), and the plans tor the smenter will not be begun until 1977, this exercise may well go Irish agriculture is also in a poor state. The farming population has dec lined by about 10 per cent over the last decade. This has in part been causec ov me coseing uo or smannerones and the accompanying dispossesion of sitting tenants. In part it has come from lay-offs of agricultural workers. The rural poor are reappearing in Ireland.
rortne government mis reoresents another potential explosion point. The situation is made toucner tor tnem De cause the land question is linked up with the language problem. Many of the smallholders are in Irish speaking areas, and a lot of the resistance (tenants cooperatives, demonstrations ag ainst evictions) has taken place in these same areas with all unese brooiems It is not sur orisino inat the Government nas recenty announced an increase in the size of its army to 20,000 - nearly doubling it Next week we will look at the coalition's use of the troops and police and its attitude to the situation in the North, and examine the alternative strategies being put forward in the working class movement to rent me codition
Red Weekly 1l March 1976