The Queen's Island, home to the Belfast shipyards of Harland & Wolff, JOHN MAGEE reports from Belfast much to snacter unis conndence Apart from the rapidly mounting secvices for ships assembled at Harland & Wolff. As the Irish Times pointed out some days ago: 'Right through the North's engineering industry, the shipyard is a valued customer.' The effect of closure, therefore, would be far from limited.
More than 700 companies have shut up shop in the Six Counties over the last five years; there are now more than 50,000 workers on the dole; and another 5,000 skilled workers will be added to the jobless total this summer with the closure of the defence establishments at Sydenham, Aldergrove and Antrim and of the Rolls Royce and STC factories. Even without massive lay-ons at tne snipyards, tne unemployment level in the North is UUUM. at the our sour talks ist coalition. The latter erupted with the disclosure that the Offical Unionist Party (OUP) has had a series of five "secret' meetings with the Social Democratic & Labour Partv. leading to cries of 'betrayal' from the OUP's coalition partners, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and Ernest Baird's Such rows in the Loyalist camp are nothing new, of course, and it would be foolhardy at this stage to assume that a break-up is imminent. This is particularly so given the proposals for negotiated independence apparently diseussed The Troops Out Movement believes that opposition is growing within the British labour movement to the continued pres Ireland. In order to develop this opposition, the Troops Out Movement is organis ing a large-scale fact finding labour movement delegation to Ireland on the weekend of 18 September.
During the build up to this delegation the TOM is organising an Open Forum on Saturday 26 June at Conway Hall in Lon don. This is to help stimulate the widest possible debate within the labour move ment on a real and lasting solution to the "Irish Question'.
Speakers invited include one of the thirteen Westminster MPs supporting the delegation and also David Thornley, the member of the Dublin Parliament recently expelled from the Irish Parliamentary Labour ran. uter speakers will include Colin Sweet of the British Peace committee; Ken Livingstone Lambeth Labour Councillor; Mervyn Metcalfe, Secretary of Coventry Trades Council; and Tony Kelly of Newham North-East Labour Party.
COLONIAL The morning session (starting at 10 am) will examine lessons to be drawr from other colonial wars. For example, the French Government propaganda continually misrepresented their repressior as being a fight against "barbarism'. Similarly the British Government today claim: that Irish Republicans are nothing more than common crimirals and thus no longer entitled to political prisoner status Speakers will include Tariq Ali on Algeria and British withdrawal from India, Tony Cliff on British colonialism in ralestine, writer camonn mccann, and pacifist Pat Arrowsmith.
There will be creche tacilities availabli during the Forum; and afterwards there will be a social in "The Green Man', Euston Road, from 8 - 12.00 pm.