Liadh’s right to go against SF top brass over poppy
IT’S reported that Liadh Ní Riada will wear a poppy, much to the anger of the Sinn Féin top brass.
The unelected leaders of the 1616 Rising described the imperial Germany army as their gallant heroes. However, it was well known in 1914 that when the Germans invaded Belgium, they killed many women and children by bullet bayonet. Surely it was those Irish and their allies who fought Germany in the World War One who were the gallant heroes.
Perhaps Ní Riada would agree with my view?
TONY MORIARTY, Dublin 6W.
The religious question
NOT one presenter during radio and/or TV Presidential election debates has thought to ask about the religious beliefs of the candidates (particularly President Higgins), regarding the swearing of the Presidential oath of office on a holy book, while maintaining atheistic beliefs, and also being the guardian of the Constitution, which has references to God and the Holy Trinity in its wording.
Alone among first citizens of Christian nations across Europe, President Michael D Higgins has omitted any reference to Jesus Christ or God in his annual Christmas messages during his seven years in office.
Surely the voters of Ireland should be reminded of this ‘religions omission’ by President Higgins, before they go to the ballot box on Friday? TOM BALDWIN, Midleton, Co. Cork.
No President needed!
WHY do we need a President at all? He is just wasting tax money – the money he has wasted over the last seven years would build a few houses. He owns three homes, while a lot of people in Ireland don’t own one. So let him retire.
MARY CALLAGHAN, Co. Louth.
Pointless politics
SO Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are going into conclave and we all wait anxiously for white smoke?
Unfortunately, the skill sets and experience required of a career politician essentially make them incompetent to govern effectively. Their career path is often from university, community or union politics. Politics has become the end in itself. Those who make it are mostly qualified just to play the ‘game’ but not to govern.
Yet many end up as ministers responsible for significant government portfolios, and large budgets, with little or no relevant experience or skills in that area.
The public can recognise incompetence, and are to accept unsatisfactory outcomes. Their dissatisfaction and frustration is heightened by every example of abuse and excess by politicians with their perks and practices.
Government incompetence has left many really struggling, living from hand to mouth, with insecurity about their job and health, and having to meet ever-rising costs of housing, childcare, medicines, and mortgage debt.
In earlier decades, the bureauc- racy gave full and fearless advice; today it has become more heavily politicised, by appointments.
Many, too, have become enmeshed in the political game, seeking to ingratiate themselves with ministers, by telling them what they want to hear.
Many in the media, too, now also see themselves as players in the game, less likely to be as ‘investigative’ as they should be (not this newspaper). PAT O CALLAGHAN,
Mallow, Co. Cork.
PC taking over
BEFORE rushing off to expunge an archaic word from the Constitution, give some pause to ponder: will we still be left with ‘blasphemy’, under another name, as a ‘sin’ of ‘offence’ against political correctness, this time punishable under law by a fine and/or imprisonment?
The Government is currently considering a Bill to make legal the ‘termination’ of pregnancy and so to ‘end the life of a foetus’. Among the interesting things about this proposal is that the pictorial representation of ‘ending the life of a foetus’ is still an offence. It can, and has been, described as ‘threatening, abusive, insulting or obscene’.
So, is the objective of the referendum a genuine attempt at updating the Constitution, or is it an attempt to remove all traces of religious, particularly Christian, reference? DONAL O’DRISCOLL, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
Support everyone
THE news that the Trump administration is looking at classifying people at birth as male or female and only those choices is offensive, inappropriate, inaccurate and basically stupid.
Yes, the majority of people do fit within those categories, although there are a number of other possibilities. Some babies have been born with ambiguous gender identification and a ‘choice’ is made by the doctors. Some people change their body either by appearance or surgery to live in the way they believe they should. This discussion could continue with many other examples, but most papers have limits to letter size.
There are far more other ways of living and loving as the acronym LGBTQIA suggests. The Trump administration must recognise that they need to accept and support everyone. DENNIS FITZGERALD,
Melbourne, Australia.