Statement From Des Long (RSF)

The drift of people from the 26 Counties into the 6 Counties to
avail of lower prices in the run up to the Christmas season seems
to have upset the Minister for Enterprise and Employment and
Tanaiste Mary Coughlan who is now ranting against the move,
a spokesman for Republican Sinn Fein said today.

Des Long from Corbally in Limerick, a member of the RSF
Ard Comhairle said that the latest outburst from Minster
Mary made reference to Irish people spending money and
thus aiding Her Majesty the British Queen of England.

The fact is Mary and her colleagues in the 26 County Administration
have done more to aid the influence of Her Majesty in the
past few years than all the successive revisionist assemblies
since Partition he said.

It is the highest form of political hypocrisy for the Minister to
lecture people on where to spend their money. The fact is if
people feel they are doing better by buying in the Six Counties
then they will do so and no amount of bad mouthing them from
Mary Coughlan will change their minds.

It would be far more beneficial for the Minister to spend time
on ensuring that the Irish consumer is not continually ripped
off by cross border pricing. In fact the whole mess is caused by
partition and it is time that the British declared their intention
to withdraw from Ireland.

Instead of criticizing people for crossing the border and buying
from Her Majesty it would be more helpful to the Irish consumer
if Minister Coughlan ensured that there is no excessive mark up
on sterling goods in Irish stores.

Instead of protecting Irish consumers the Minister engages in the
sort of double talking out of the side of her mouth that puts her right
up there with the Provisionals and their re-writing of recent
Irish history.

www.rsflimerick.com or www.rsf.ie