Rice is gone... let’s focus on what we have

THANKFULLY, Declan Rice has finally declared for the country of his birth and ended the ‘will he, wont he?’ saga.

There was never a chance that Rice would declare for the Republic of Ireland, and why he could not have made this decision months ago is anyone’s guess.

I found it embarrassing the way Martin O’Neill, and to a lesser extend Mick McCarthy, was chasing him after it was suggested in the media the row Roy Keane had with two other players did not help. No doubt there will be plenty of post mortems as to why he declared for England, but it’s time to move on, he’s gone, let’s get on with the players we have.

J. McCOURT, Dundalk, Co. Louth.

Stop scapegoating

TO the Irish people who wish to burn down buildings where foreign refugees may be housed, I ask, do you not see yourselves as arsonist thugs? Those who come among us in fear and distress must not be subjected to such cruelty, which shames us all.

By allowing a change of the hard heart, one can find redemption.

When I was younger I was aware of a council house allocated to an Irish family which had all the windows broken to prevent them moving in. Their ‘crime’ was some family members had tuberculosis, and the fear was otherwise peaceful locals would become infected, but felt they could themselves avoid illness if that family did not get the house. They did. The tenant who told me this raised his shirt to show me the huge scar from the operation that saved his life. His mother and sister had succumbed to the disease.

My own mother was sent to a sanatorium in the Fifties to be treated for the disease at a time when it was thankfully in decline, and she came home cured after nine months. There was still the stigma, but she wore her recovery with pride. Like today’s refugees, the threatened Bantry family I knew simply needed the human right of a roof over their heads.

Must some Irish always follow the path of mindless hatred towards those who seek help in desperate circumstances?

It is irrational to perceive one’s own personal comfort is somehow mysteriously threatened by the presence of people who have seen horror in their lives before arriving on our shores. Stop and think, please. ROBERT SULLIVAN, Bantry, Co. Cork.

Women priests? No

MINISTER Josepha Madigan (Mail, Tuesday) says the ‘ban on women may destroy the Church’.

With regard to the ordination of women, Pope John Paul II irrevocably pronounced the prohibition on women priests and this has been affirmed by both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. The priesthood was divinely instituted by Christ and he chose only men to act in his persona. This is why the Church does not have the authority to ordain women. To reject Peter is to reject Christ.

What Ms Madigan is actually instigating is an attack on the Church and the priesthood. SEAN MacHALE, Ballina, Co. Mayo.

We need real equality

ALL this talk about equality when it comes to income is about ‘peer equality’... it is not about bridging the gap between those on medium wage and those on the next level of wage. It’s not about equal working conditions either as ‘some are more equal than others’.

The wage gap is getting greater by the year, yet all have the same needs such as food, heating, accommodation, etc. So let’s not talk about equality when, to be honest, those pushing it are not saying, ‘I want the cleaner to be paid the same as me’, or, ‘Everyone should have the option of flexi time’. So let the debate be about bridging the wage gap and working conditions for all.

‘Greater equity’ should be the cry, otherwise the people on lower incomes in the workforce will become totally state-dependent for their basic needs even while being a member of the workforce.

Inflation kicks in when wage hikes are on the agenda, leaving those on fixed incomes like pensioners in relative poverty.