The real fraudsters

Most media coverage of the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General has concentrated on ``official waste and fraud'' including £13.6 million on ``suspected welfare fraud''.

This is made to sound like a huge amount (and it is!) but it is less than a hundredth of the £1690 million outstanding in tax arrears, mostly from companies and the self-employed. There was no outcry at the Revenue Commissioners' admission that they would fail to collect an incredible £1140 million of this.

In the same vein, the Companies Registration Office reported that less than 35% of Companies had filed annual accounts as required by law - and many of these were inaccurate. Only last week a study by the Economics Department of TCD found that the tax system over the last 15 years had greatly favoured the wealthy over the poor.

Could there be any connection between this continuous favourable treatment for the rich (and the consequent discrimination against the low-paid and unemployed) and the recent revelations of surreptitious large donations to politicians from wealthy companies and individuals?

Given the current domination of Leinster House by parties which benefited from such donations, I doubt that a tribunal will be established to find out.

Sean Marlow

Bloody Sunday inquiry

A chairde,

Mo Mowlam's recent statement at the Labour Party conference that internment without trial is to be taken off the statute books is to be welcomed. However, such a move can hardly be seen as a concession to nationalists and republicans as suggested by some unionist politicians, who have called for internment to be reintroduced many times. The removal of the power to intern under emergency legislation can be seen largely as a cosmetic move as such powers have not been used since the early 1970s and internment without trial was recommended for removal by the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights as early as 1978.

What would be very welcome from Mo Mowlam, and a significant contribution to the peace process, is a commitment from the Labour government for an independent public inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972, which resulted in 14 unarmed civil rights protesters being shot dead by the First Parachute Regiment. Despite new evidence which emerged last year, successive British governments have failed to admit responsibility for Bloody Sunday and by adhering to the `findings' of the Widgery Inquiry, they have actively suppressed the truth.

The annual march in Britain to remember those killed on Bloody Sunday and to call for an new inquiry takes place on Saturday, 24 January 1998 in London.

Enda Finlay,
Bloody Sunday March Organising Committee.

Only certainty in peace process

A chairde,

I have come to the conclusion that there is only one certainty in the peace process. It is that six months after No Other Law writes a letter to An Phoblacht, events prove that what she/he has written is total and absolute claptrap.

Last week's letter is a case in point. No Other Law is quite happy to take as gospel every mischievous report from every discredited anti-republican journalist and use it to bolster his/her argument that Sinn Féin's strategy is against republican principles.

Aren't we lucky to have someone like No Other Law to keep us on the right track?

Tony McKeown
Belfast

Better communist than fascist

A chairde,

Did David Trimble succumb to political naivety when branding Sinn Féin as fascist? Had he lambegged, sorry lambasted them as communists, he might have gained support from the hierarchy in Maynooth and the Pentagon, Washington.

Jack Kennedy,
London.

Dismay at McAliskey case

A Chairde,

I am writing to express my dismay at the handling of the Roisin McAliskey case by the British authorities. It is a disgrace to see this fiasco carrying on for so long. Roisin was arrested in November 1996 and, as we know, was pregnant at the time. She has since had her baby and is now in a special psychiatric unit.

It is time for the Irish government to do all that it can to stop all extradition proceedings against Roisin. She has suffered enough.

Liam Frahill,
Limerick.

Running for POWs

A chairde,

Ex-POW Michael Burke will be running n the Dublin City Marathon in support of the Repatriation of Republican Prisoners from English jails.

This will take place on Monday 27 October (Bank Holiday).

Sponsorship cards are still available from the POW Department, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Every effort from supporters to get sponsorship for this will be very much appreciated by the POW Department.

Anyone who would like to make a personal donation can do so by sending money to POW Department, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

If supporters would like to turn up at the end of the marathon to give Mickey a cheer for all his efforts, please do so.

Bernie Farrell,
Sinn Féin POW Department.