At the end of the day, it’s time to cull the clichés
AS we near the end of the first month of 2019, one thing which doesn’t change from one year to the next is the continuous use of unnecessary words by some people while being interviewed on radio and television.
The seemingly never-ending spouting of ‘absolutely’ is surely irritating to many listeners, while ‘you know’ is another pointless offering which we could be doing without.
‘At the end of the day’ is a wellworn term which also won’t go away. There are a few more irritating sayings and it would hardly be a bad move for contributors to programmes to be encouraged to cut down on such banalities before going on air.
With the new GAA season about to get into full swing, numerous needless clichés will be polished up for the coming months. Terms like ‘getting over the line’, ‘dirty ball’, ‘winning ugly’, ‘coughing up possession’, etc, deserve to be put in the sin bin permanently!
Bill McMahon, Navan, Co. Meath.
Sort it out, Minister
I’M RECEIVING life-saving dialysis as I write this letter.
Next Wednesday, the nurses are going on strike. Next Wednesday, I won’t be receiving my lifesaving treatment. This is very stressful on not only me but the nurses who work in dialysis, who want to work next Wednesday.
I totally support the nurses in their dispute over pay 100%.
Please, will Health Minister Simon Harris declare dialysis a life-saving procedure so the nurses can be here for me and the other 50 patients whose health and life counts on them?
Kevin Devitte, Westport, Co, Mayo.
National dishonour
THE greatest honour this State can give to any immigrant is citizenship. The recent arrest of a naturalised Irish citizen in Syria is disturbing.
However, more disturbing is the weak response of the Taoiseach and the Justice Minister.
This person will be given any assistance if requested, they said. They should be instead initiating the annulment of this citizenship and state that he will be barred from ever entering Ireland again.
John Naylor, Dublin 12.
Polish grovelling
MINDFUL of the fact that in excess of one million Poles are currently living and working in the UK, it is not surprising that Poland’s foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggests that Ireland’s insistence on an indefinite backstop be amended to a time-limited one of five years to facilitate Theresa May’s and the UK’s dilemma on Brexit.
This act of sycophancy will hopefully be rejected by the EU, but it will at least ensure that Polish national flags will no longer be incinerated on July 12 Orange Order bonfires.
Tom Cooper, Templeogue, Dublin 6w
Brexit... but for us!
THE EU won’t give up until it destroys Ireland’s corporation tax. It is so obvious. Yet our politicians never breathe a word about the advisability of staying with this corrupt organisation. Roll on, Irexit! Micheál Ó Fearghail, Glanmire, Co. Cork.
Advice for Theresa
IF THERESA May believes that what she is doing is the will of the British people, why is she unwilling to ask them? What has she to lose? A Yes vote would strengthen her position, and a No would get her off the hook.
What would happen if our Taoiseach proposed she consider this challenge? If the Irish Government agreed to allow the backstop to be reviewed on the following conditions: the British government put a simple question to the British people: ‘Do you wish to leave the EU?’
And the people of Northern Ireland should also be asked: ‘If the UK votes to leave the EU, do you want to remain in the EU?’
If the results of referendum one shows at least 50% of the British people in each electoral area want to leave the EU and the result of referendum No.2 shows that the majority in the North want to leave the EU, then Ireland will look again at the border issue.
If, however, the majority of voters in Northern Ireland vote to stay in the EU then there will be no border in Northern Ireland under any circumstance, whether the UK stays or go.
The above would not affect the Good Friday Agreement as this is a no-go area anyway. John Colgan, Dublin 3.
Trust the doctors
A CONSISTENT message from the pro-choice side in the abortion referendum was that we must trust doctors and give them the freedom to make necessary decisions.
Now the new abortion legislation has only been in place for a couple of weeks and already there’s an outcry because doctors at the Coombe refused to perform an abortion because they concluded it was not a case of a fatal foetal abnormality.
So now the abortion promoters don’t want us to trust doctors?
Clodagh Grant,
A winning scheme
JOHNNY Logan won the Eurovision with the song What’s Another Year? in 1980. The coming Eurovision could be won by Ireland with a song, What’s Another Billion? based on the new National Children’s Hospital.
Margaret Walshe, Dublin 15.