Sort out the North and don’t tell us what to do
SINN Féin president Mary Lou McDonald managed to sound as shrill and determined as ever when she delivered her Fianna Fáil-rooted credentials that she is not now calling for a unification border poll.
We dodged the SF bullet there thankfully. Regardless of some voting power down here, Sinn Féin is by and large a Northern Ireland entity.
The shinners ‘up there’ are welcome, or not, to continue to lord it over their own folk where they walked away from a government of all the NI people – and they are not welcome to try to ensnare the entire nation with their madhatter leftie ideology.
We learned well enough the tried-and-tested ‘politics’ Sinn Féin are prone to wield. We’d never survive that in our well-established peaceful, separate State.
Continue to be careful out there, young people of Ireland. ROBERT SULLIVAN,
Bantry, Co. Cork.
No shortage of talent
LEADING economist Jim Power warns that the Irish economy faces a shortage of skilled workers as unemployment levels fall to 5.1%.
But there are a number of reasons to suggest that opinion may not be totally accurate.
Ireland now has the most educated and skilled young workforce in Europe at graduate and craft level.
Springboard is also providing second-chance education for thousands of mature adults in areas of skills shortage.
Secondly, the unemployment rate in the 18-25 age group remains stubbornly high at 12.75% despite 75% of that age group having post-Leaving Certificate qualifications.
Thirdly, there is a huge deficit in regional development in areas of skilled employment.
Regional technical colleges, now called institutes of technology, were established to provide a skilled workforce in the regions. In that objective they have succeeded.
Unfortunately, job provision continues to be centred in the greater Dublin area.
Many people with the employment skills to which Mr Power refers are ready and willing to reinvigorate rural Ireland. They want to put down roots in the regions where the cost of living is affordable and where the quality of life is attractive.
The Industrial Development Authority has been relatively successful in doing so since its establishment in 1949. Enterprise Ireland is also in a strong position to support job creation.
There is a skilled work force in the regions ready and willing to work. The IDA and Enterprise Ireland must avail of the buoyant economy to spread the skilled jobs throughout the entire country.
BILLY RYLE, Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Give parents a hand
I AGREE with Pauline O’Reilly of the Green Party (Irish Daily Mail, Wednesday) that the Government ‘needs to wake up and recognise all forms of childcare’.
I cannot understand how governments have been allowed to discriminate against parents who opt to take care of their own children at home for so long.
This anomaly has been highlighted on many occasions but continues to be ignored while ‘earning a single income in a family can see you paying up to €4,000 more in tax per year’.
How can this continue to be tolerated, particularly when there is such emphasis on ‘equality’ nowadays?
Where is the equality involved in this situation?
Surely any society claiming to treat all its citizens equally would ensure that such discrimination is immediately discontinued?
Otherwise it can only be viewed as supporting an ideology that is unfair and totally biased against parents and their children. MARY STEWART,
Donegal town.
Setting a bad example
THERE are many comments in the media about the online game Fortnite, relating to the violent play in the game and its potential harm on younger minds.
This is a concern that has been linked to many other online games. There are also some articles that mention parents getting their children ‘tutors’ so that they can play the game better and ‘kill’ more opponents.
This is a waste of money – surely one of the worst parental indulgences.
Spend the money on a mathematics tutor or a personal trainer at the gym. Such children probably need both more. DENNIS FITZGERALD,
Melbourne, Australia.
In praise of Ireland
I HAVE just spent two weeks travelling around Ireland with my two sons, who are aged 23 and 21. We are from Australia and have had the most amazing time.
Staying at B&Bs and travelling in our hire car, we have met the friendliest and most helpful people.
Nothing was a problem for the Irish. The food, the pubs ,the scenery, were all amazing. The Guinness was to die for.
To all the people we met and helped us along the way thank you. We love your country and are proud of our Irish ancestry.
MARK, JAMES AND THOMAS GALLAGHER,
by email.