Dell follows bottom line — not the political line

IN his letter headlined ‘Was anti-Americanism part of Dell’s problem?’ (January 15), Brendan Cafferty shows he is either very poorly informed or just likes to throw mud at causes he doesn’t like regardless of facts.

He insinuates that the protests against the war on Iraq are not only anti-American but somehow matter in the minds of Dell’s top executives.

If he’d paid much attention he’d notice that

(a) invading Iraq to find non-existent weapons of mass destruction and killing all those civilians is not very popular in America either, and

(b) the Limerick factory was quite profitable, but the Polish government offered Dell about €57m to move, and being a company rather than a government, Dell will move where it makes most money with little worries about foreign policy.

Mr Cafferty predicts Dell “will be welcomed with open arms in Poland where citizens know the value of being free from the Soviet yoke”. Well, actually, the Lodz plant was having trouble getting staff because so many of them preferred to come to Ireland to work for Dell at higher wages.

But those short of a job will be glad of a job. Cold war politics isn’t much in their minds when they see a job vacancy.

Not content with having a go about voicing our conscience on illegal wars and the brutal killing of poor Iraqis, Mr Cafferty then sneers about the people’s democratic choice to reject the flawed Lisbon Treaty (framed by the same class of bankers and corrupt politicians he mentions at the end of his letter).

This type of fear mongering and short sightedness is exactly why people fall into the traps of corrupt politicians and greedy bankers.

Tim Hourigan

Cedar Court

Kennedy Park

Limerick