Statement From Des Long ( RSF )

ECONOMIST FAILS TO CONDEMN REASONS FOR SHOPPING

A claim by a leading economist that cross border shopping is a factor driving young people to emigrate has been described as yet another tale from the Homer Simpson School of Higher Learning
by a spokesman for Republican Sinn Fein.

Des Long from Cobally in Limerick a member of the RSF Ard Comhairle said that the assertion by Jim Power that people who shop in the Six Counties should save to visit their children in Australia is one of the most misguided theories to emerge from the economic brains trust in recent years.

The very idea that people who shop outside the 26 Counties are in any way contributing to young people emigrating is a farce.
The fact is that Jim Power never once reflected on the reason for the border or indeed why this false economic division exists. Instead he decided to focus on shopping and to link it to emigration.

There are many reasons for young people emigrating but the main one is a shortage of jobs in manufacturing and services and that fault lies firmly at the door of the job creation agencies.

Never once does this so called leading economist denounce the evil of partition nor the false divisions caused by the border imposed by the British Crown.

The island of Ireland operating as an economic unit could well achieve its full potential if there was unity and the natural entity operated on an all Ireland basis.

However partition enforced by the British prevents the achievement of this full economic potential and the outcome is the shopping that Jim Power condemns.

Instead of criticizing people trying to make ends meet it would be more in his line to expose the evil of political and economic partition

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