One would think we are still part of the UK
THE obsession with ‘that wedding’ in London is baffling. As well as the over-the-top coverage in newspapers and television, the event is in the faces of internet users day after day.
Surely, the people of this country should have more matters of relevance to be concerned about than the comings and goings of members of the British royal family?
Indeed, such is the interest in things British by many people in Ireland that many of us must wonder if the efforts of Michael Collins and other freedom fighters around a hundred years ago were all in vain. BILL WILSON, Wexford.
The quick bride
HUNDREDS who waited for hours to see Meghan and her mother Doria arrive by car for the royal wedding must have been disappointed that it was driven so quickly down the Long Walk to Windsor Castle.
Perhaps the chauffeur would be better employed as a parcel delivery driver, though I suspect the police bodyguard had probably suggested he put his foot down.
Security was not an issue with a massive police presence, considering this was the route later taken by the bride and groom in an open carriage travelling at 10mph.
As a former police motorcyclist, I believe the route and timing were poorly surveyed as the bride arrived ten minutes early at the chapel. TOM STANHOPE, Northampton.
EU Army? No thanks
EUROPEAN Council president Donald Tusk’s recent statement to EU leaders at their Sofia summit is deeply worrying for those who oppose the development of the EU into an aggressive superpower pursuing European interests and so-called ‘European values’ at the expense of our fellow human beings in regions exploited by past and present European colonial and economic abuses.
Tusk stated that: ‘Europe must be united economically, politically and also militarily, like never before. To put it simply: either we are together, or we will not be at all.’
Europe united economically, politically and militarily means a European super-state not even in the interests of all EU citizens or of all EU states but in the interests of elite neoliberal groups within an elite group of EU states led by Germany and France.
In one respect Mr Tusk is right when he says ‘ either we are together, or we will not be at all’.
A militarised EU super- state representing part of Europe excluding Russia and others is not in the interests of all European peoples or in the interests of humanity as a whole.
The peoples of Europe are being divided once again, instead of promoting peace and cooperation.
Donald Tusk’s vision of being together in a militarised European Union must be opposed, otherwise European Union, or unity, ‘will not be at all’ and will be replaced by a dangerous, undemocratic threat to humanity. EDWARD HORGAN, Castletroy, Co. Limerick.
Praise the gardaí
THE great policing attaching to the two terrible cases of a child and a young woman murdered in the space of a week, shows the debt the nation owes to the gardaí.
The speed and work on both operations must be up there with the best operations carried out since the force was founded.
Sadly, there is appalling sadness and grief for the families involved, but the work of our police cannot be faulted.
The men and women on the front line of fighting crime are the ones keep us safe and who deserve our support at all times. ROBERT SULLIVAN,
Bantry, Co. Cork.
A father’s choice
AS the referendum on the Eighth amendment approaches, many men are planning not to vote because they see abortion as a women’s issue that doesn’t affect them.
I learned first-hand that abortion is also a men’s issue when I lost an unborn child to an abortion I didn’t want in 2004. A whirlwind romance in London in 2004 grew serious when my girlfriend told me that she was pregnant.
Though surprised and scared, I wanted the baby though my girlfriend did not. I found myself fighting to save the life I had just learned that I helped create.
I was supportive and listened over the two weeks that followed, doing my best to show her that, as hard as it was, we could make it work. In the end, her mind was made up; I could do nothing to persuade her and had no other way to keep her f rom going through with it.
Fourteen years later, I am happily married with two wonderful children. They give me great joy but the scars of my loss remain.
I have written a short memoir, A Father’s Choice, about my experience. The approach taken by many men in Ireland has effects beyond the abortion issue.
Seeing abortion as just a women’s issue means that they are also viewing pregnancy and parenthood in the same way.
As co- creators of the life concerned, men have a responsibility to be there for their partner and their unborn child, regardless of the outcome of the referendum. TONY PERRY,
by email.