Martina’s uncomplicated style would have explained hard or soft border with ease

SIR,

I must admit to missing Martina Fitzgerald’s captivating presence on RTÉ’s current affairs and news programs. As a political correspondent she was without equal. She was a gifted communicator with a thorough command of her brief. Night after night she graced our living rooms with style and panache. She reduced the most complicated unfolding political drama to a comprehensible narrative for those of us unfamiliar with the political lexicon. She even managed to make the interminable Brexit saga sound interesting.

Martina would have been well able to explain why Theresa May wants to renege on her pre-Christmas withdrawal agreement with the EU, albeit the ink is scarcely dry on the document. In her inimitable style, Martina would have told us why the British PM now wants to put a full-stop on the backstop.

While the current RTÉ political staff is very knowledgeable about the politics of the day, their reportage can sometimes be melodramatic as they bamboozle us with subplots and subterfuge more appropriate to a MacGill Summer School debate in Glenties. With a twinkle in her eye and a back sweep of the blond hair, which the evening breeze had blown across her face, Martina would unravel the inane political-speak of the British Tories and cut to the chase of the real story.

There was something compelling about Martina. She had the common touch and friendly body language which made you feel that she had your back. You could rely on Martina to explain why there is so much talk about soft borders and hard borders when in fact, as Dominic Behan proclaimed in song, our green and fair isle needs no border other than the sea around us: ‘The sea, oh the sea ó grá geal mo croí Long may it flow between England and me

It’s a sure guarantee that some hour we’ll be free

Oh thank God we’re surrounded by water’,

Sincerely,

Billy Ryle,

Spa,

Tralee