A Chara, - Tom Moore (January 8th) berates The Workers' Party for politicising the funeral of our late comrade Cathal Goulding and for the various orations from senior party members paying homage to, and remembering the life, politics and fundamental principles of the man.
The Workers' Party has no apologies to make for remembering Cathal Goulding in a political way. To do otherwise would be a complete negation of everything he stood for in life. Yes, Cathal Goulding had no time for traitors and sectarian terrorists and he would have used the occasion of the death of one of his comrades to hammer home exactly that message. And if this stung those who had walked away from the struggle for socialism and republicanism, Cathal would have shed no tears for that.
All political funerals are occasions when beliefs are restated, principles are reaffirmed and the future is looked to while learning from the past and taking solace and inspiration from the person who is being mourned. The funeral of Cathal Goulding was no exception and I have absolutely no doubt that he, of all people, would hardly have wanted his comrades to play "happy families" with people who had done their best to destroy the Workers' Party, the party he spent so long building. - Is mise, Sean O'Cionnaith,
The Workers' Party, Hill Street, Dublin 1.