Why do we allow smug mediocrities to lead us?
THE suggestion raised that Simon Coveney should be sent to Europe as our next EU commissioner purely on the basis that he may emerge as a threat to Leo Varadkar’s leadership of Fine Gael (MoS 14 April) is deeply depressing.
Coveney may well be the best person for the job and certainly an improvement on the hapless Phil Hogan, but the whole tone of the article is disheartening.
The gist of it is that from a Fine Gael point of view, Hogan should be removed in order to ‘finish the clean-up’ of the Enda Kenny era.
Even worse is the quote from a Fine Gael source: ‘Ultimately, this is all about the court.’
I was under the impression that we live in a democratic republic, far removed from the machinations of a medieval court.
When will we ever see political leaders emerge in this country who can put their own personal and party political ambitions aside long enough to do the job they were elected to do and run the country in the interests of all the people?
We are not alone in Ireland in being disillusioned with our politicians, but we are in a unique position to change it.
We live in a small country with a very well educated, bright, young, confident, resilient, resourceful, hardworking population. We have the advantage of a huge diaspora around the globe that gives us an unrivalled position in the world compared to any other little island of our size.
Why, then, do we settle for such smug mediocrity in our political leadership when so many other aspects of our lives here are so amazing and our potential is so huge? A true leader should not be afraid of his lieutenants.
Kevin Cotter, by email.
Root of all evil
IRELAND in the 1960s was a nation filled with optimism. For many. education was affordable. Families could live comfortably on a single adult wage.
The country seems to be in an endless upward journey of prosperity. What happened? Greed came to town.
Today there are countless signs that our culture is sick with greed. Just look around!
Greed caused corporate scandals fills our newspapers.
Greed causes constant efforts to destroy unions that protect basic workers rights.
Greed is responsible for the obscene salaries of CEOs.
Greed drives the murderers of the narcotics world, and it’s getting worse.
Greed is responsible for outsourcing and for the ruthless competition of the workplace.
Greed has produced tax cuts that benefit the rich and in effect take from the less well off.
And our politicians continue to stand idly by.
Pat O Callaghan, Mallow, Co. Cork
Sam’s straw man
IN HIS MoS column on April 14, Sam Smyth pays a half hearted compliment to Peadar Tóibín’s new party, Aontú, by admiring his principled opposition to abortion on the one hand while questioning his lack of condemnation of the Provisional IRA on the other. Sam also blithely stresses his support for a ‘woman’s right to choose’.
The IRA issue is a straw man which has no relevance to Peadar’s pro-life views; what happened was long before he became a TD. I personally loathe the IRA and have never voted for Sinn Féin. This type of diversionary tactic is often used by so-called ‘pro-choice’ people.
What is this ‘choice’ that Sam supports? Put simply, it is the choice to kill children before they are born if the parent wills it.
Brought to its logical conclusion, we reach the current position of the Democratic Party in the US where most of the leadership (including all the likely presidential candidates in the next election) support abortion right up to birth.
This includes allowing a fullterm baby who survives an abortion to die if that is the ‘choice’ of the mother.
That, Sam, is what the ‘right to choose’ really means. It has led to the death of more than two billion people in the world since Soviet Russia legalised abortion in 1918.
That is why I and so many others in this country think Aontú and other pro-life parties offer some hope from the moral bankruptcy espoused by all the main parties in the Dáil.
Pat O’Neill, Crosshaven, Co. Cork.
Powerless promises
PLASTICKY American politicians like Nancy Pelosi come to our shores as if they have unlimited power and spout nonsense to our gullible politicans in the Dáil, where the hokum is lapped up.
Sinn Féin’s contingent, especially Corkonian Jonathan O’Brien TD, were even also loudly applauding her pointless diatribe regarding Brexit and the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin demands that ‘England get out of Ireland’ while begging the EU to take us over entirely. Hilarious stuff altogether.
Are they all forgetting that she does not have any real power regarding Brexit? Donald Trump can trump her and the Democrats because he is the president.
Start from there and deal with reality.
Robert Sullivan, Bantry,Co.Cork.