Welcome for a dictator but not for a democrat

ELECTION fever is in the air, so our publicity-seeking independent TDs went into overdrive this week.

In the Dáil, many of them boycotted the address of Australian prime minister John Howard. They dubbed him as “lying, thieving, pro-war and anti-union” — and a “warmonger”.

One of these independents, Finian McGrath, obviously has a very short memory. Last month on his return from a visit to Cuba, he called on the Government to invite Cuban President Fidel Castro to Ireland on a state visit — which presumably would have included an invitation to address the Oireachtas.

According to several reports by Human Rights Watch in recent years, Castro presides over a repressive dictatorship where freedoms of press, expression, association and movement are all strictly curtailed. Opposition figures and human rights activists have been routinely subjected to surveillance, phone tapping and intimidation.

John Howard is guilty of nothing like these abuses, yet he is deemed unfit to address the Oireachtas by Mr McGrath.

The deputy and his colleagues drew particular attention to the Australian prime minister’s supposed anti-union policies.

However, the anti-union policies of Fidel Castro did not dilute Mr McGrath’s admiration for Cuba where only one trade union is allowed. Independent labour unions there are denied formal status and their members have been harassed.

In Mr McGrath’s eyes, the rights of Australian workers are obviously far more important than those in Cuba.

Castro also presides over a country where democracy does not exist, and where only one party is allowed to field candidates. John Howard, on the other hand, presides over a thriving multi-party democracy — much like our own — and was democratically elected to the position he holds.

Mr McGrath protests against Mr Howard’s address to the Oireachtas, while at the same time seeking to roll out the red carpet for Fidel Castro.

Such hypocrisy is hard to stomach.

Barry Walsh

Brookfield Hall

Castletroy

Limerick