Madam, - Your Editorial of January 31st, criticising the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on the issue of outsourcing, managed to be simultaneously puzzling and misleading.
As the author of the Congress study "Offshore Outsourcing: the Implications for Ireland", I must take issue with the strong implication that Congress sees protectionism as the response to the movement of jobs overseas.
The term "protectionism" occurs just three times in our document - in each instance in reference to major instances of protectionism as it occurs in the United States, the home of the supposed free market. So for The Irish Times to somehow construe that we advocate a protectionist response is rather puzzling, to say the least. There is absolutely nothing in our study that advocates such a course.
You also accuse Congress variously of "crying wolf" and embarking on a "negative, anti-competitive campaign" - whatever that might be. Again, I return to the actual text of our study and struggle to find anything that might be construed as such.
Of all the media outlets that reviewed the study, yours was the only one to detect such negative - and non-existent - undertones.
Might I helpfully suggest that the author of your Editorial return to our document and read it just a little more carefully.
In the meantime, people who wish to judge its content for themselves can find at at www.ictu.ie/html/publications. - Yours, etc,
PAUL SWEENEY,
Economic Adviser,
Irish Congress of Trade Unions,
Congress House,
Parnell Square,
Dublin 1.