The announcement made on Tuesday on behalf of the Committee
of the Trade Union Congress, though resented by the Dublin employers as grossly unfair, has at least the merit of refusing to identify the English unions with the policy of the sympathetic strike in Ireland, or to pledge them to give any direct financial assistance to Mr. Larkin's union. The Transport Federation have also issued a letter which is taken to mean that Mr. Larkin's union is to be affiliated to the English Federation, which would take out of his bands the immediate control of the strikers' movement in Dublin. Such a move would afford a sounder basis for negotiation than the Lord Mayor of Dublin's suggestion that the employers should negotiate with the Irish Transport Workers' Union as at present constituted. The atrocious abuse by Mr. Larkin of firms like Messrs. Jacob, who have done so much to promote the comfort and health of their employees, is not likely to win acceptance for such a proposal. Mean- while the Irish Government has approached Sir George Askwith with a view to employing his services in Dublin, and the expectation of his speedy arrival has undoubtedly relieved the tension.
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