Sir, - Vincent Browne (Opinion, January 19th) advocates peaceful and legitimate boycotting. Is he aware that the factory owners are themselves substantial beef producers and as such would be able to carry on working if his proposed action was followed, at least long enough for their legal lackeys and harsh economic necessities to whip the peasants into shape?
Secondly, both your Editorial of the same day and his column assert that no other groups would be treated so lightly in the course of similar action. Have you been awake for the last year? Wave after wave of wage demands and large-scale disputes have occurred recently without being treated so ruthlessly by the establishment (I don't recall any gardai being dragged from their "sick-beds" during their civil disobedience campaigns).
Finally, the rule of law spoken about so loftily about in recent days is rightly applied in a different manner when the matter of self-preservation arises. If ever a mass-scale action could fall within this category then the current farmers' action does. They are trying to save their livelihoods. What awaits if they fail a cycle of losses, debt and bankruptcy. If one understands their predicament , one cannot condemn their actions. - Yours, etc.,
Ian Clarke, Ardmaghbreague, Kilmainhamwood, Co Meath.