Serious issues remain for whoever gets into power

THE canvass is over, the votes have been cast and the people have spoken. Whether we like it or not, the results are in. A total 160 TDs have been appointed to look after the affairs of our country. Democracy at its best and worst.

Whatever party or groups form the executive of our State, we have serious issues on which the whole Dáil should be working: namely housing and homelessness (two separate but joined issues); health, to which all parties appear to be signed up to Sláintecare; climate change, for which we can only do small but significant amounts to help, and let’s not forget Brexit. That’s not done yet.

Britain may be gone but the deal is not done. Boris is hardening his stance with the removal of the peacemakers in his cabinet, including the Northern Ireland Secretary. Is he expecting Mary Lou to be our Taoiseach? Is he expecting trouble from Scotland? My opinion is, yes. So we need to be united and prepared.

One aspect of the election is the effect that the new Sinn Féin strength in the Dáil may have on that party’s stance on Northern Ireland. If the party is in power, it must, under our Constitution, accept that Northern Ireland is part of the UK; that Westminster is the legitimate parliament for that part of the UK; and that the Queen is the titular head of that state.

We ratified that by referendum in the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin cannot, no more than any other party in our executive, change that or deny it. If Sinn Féin can accept that and abide by it, the party is fit to govern. If it refuses, it is still the old Sinn Féin and a danger to our democracy. Let’s hear what it has to say.

John Colgan, Dublin 15.

Martin has a duty

FIANNA Fáil leader Micheál Martin promised on numerous occasions during the recent election that under no circumstances would he go into a coalition government with Sinn

Féin. If he does go into government with that party, he would lose all credibility and no one would believe a word out of his mouth ever again.

Fianna Fáil would also lose the support of the people who voted for the party on the promise that Martin would not go into government with Sinn Féin at the next election.

We should remember the terrible atrocities that the IRA were responsible for over 30 long years. They murdered 1,800 people, including women and children, gardaí and members of the Defence Forces. It would also be a dreadful insult to the families of all those killed by these terrible people.

We should remember the damage this organisation did to our economy for three decades.

I cannot understand why these issues were not highlighted during the election to make our younger generation aware of what Sinn Féin did to our country. The best thing for Fianna Fáil to do is go into a coalition with Fine Gael and the Green Party.

Noel Peers, Malaga, Spain.

Comparative history

THE importance of history, as opposed to mythology, cannot be overstated. Given recent developments it would be useful to interest younger people in our history perhaps by getting them to engage in related projects.

Students of history at third-level institutions and maybe Transition Year pupils could be asked to do papers of the ‘compare and contrast’ type on, for instance, the Black and Tans and the Provisional IRA.

Maybe we could give them prompts to kick-start the programme such as examining the murder, by Black and Tans, of innocent farmhands in West Cork and other places and the murder of Protestant farmers by the Provisionals around the Fermanagh border.

What, for instance, was the difference, in terms of casualties and property damage, between the burning of Cork city centre by crown forces and the bombing of Belfast on ‘Bloody Friday’ by the Provisionals. It would also be interesting to find out which of the two groups killed the most Irish people. I’m sure our teachers and lecturers will have many useful pointers to assist. Pat O’Mahony, Dalkey, Co. Dublin.

Heads on a plate

SO THE dance of the seven veils has commenced. Unlike Herod, I cannot see myself being enchanted by the cavorting.

However, I must admit to more than a little voyeuristic anticipation as to whose head, indeed heads, will be on the plate by the end of the process.

Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.

Welfare boost folly

MIGHT I remind Regina Doherty, the now ex-TD and former minister for social protection, that Ireland has a very large population of people who depend on social welfare and State pensions etc.

Her decision not to award the annual measly €5 increase, or increase the fuel allowance to the most vulnerable in society, has cost her dearly. It’s a consequence I find bizarre considering the ‘expert advisers’ she had to hand.

But it also shows how removed she was from reality from the people on the ground who struggle on social welfare.

Let it be a lesson to old and new in Dáil Éireann.

Dave Meehan, by email.