We must all give a warm welcome to new citizens
THE warm words of welcome spoken by Judge Bryan McMahon to the 2,500 people from 90 countries who were conferred with Irish citizenship in Killarney last week made me proud to be Irish.
In times past, countries throughout the world, particularly the US, Canada, Australia and Scotland similarly welcomed the Irish who emigrated for a better quality of life. Our buoyant economy now allows Ireland to offer a bright future to those, both native and naturalised, who wish to make a meaningful contribution to our country as fully participating and law-abiding citizens.
That is the Irish way. Ireland is the land of a thousand welcomes, which is grounded in the Christian values of caring and sharing.
With unemployment at a record low of 5.4% there is now a job in Ireland for every person who is willing and able to work. The dignity of work is boundless. A job gives a person a sense of belonging and purpose. It enables a person to be financially independent. It makes one ambitious for a better quality of life for oneself and one’s dependants.
The more income generated by full employment, the more revenue available to the Government to assist those in genuine need of social assistance. Our newest Irish citizens can now blossom in our Irish values while retaining the best of their native cultures.
Naturally, in the dangerous times we live in, safeguards and regulations are necessary to prevent Irish citizenship being granted to those who are motivated by malevolent and criminal intent, to those who acquire it simply as a passport of convenience and to those who wish to undermine our Irishness and our Christianity, which are deep-rooted in our DNA. BILLY RYLE, Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Broadband folly
ENTER Leo the Mister Fixit for rural broadband, imagining that we must be able to find €3billion to fund the scheme (Mail, Saturday). Well, you are the Taoiseach, Leo. Surely you know whether we can or not, or are your words another fine example of seeming to be promising something without actually doing so?
But Paschal Donohoe appears to be suggesting the scheme will really happen, and we can be comforted by his assurance that he will keep a tight rein on the costs to ensure there will be no repeat of the children’s hospital debacle.
No repeat, Minister? Since the budgeted cost has already risen from half a billion to €3billion, that sounds pretty close to a repeat to me! Already the excuses for the reality that this Government is incapable of budgeting anything reliably are surfacing: more coverage to more schools, businesses, and farms, perhaps raising the question of why all of those were not considered initially?
This, too, looks very much like a repeat of the children’s hospital saga where essentials were simply left out of the original budget. The next few months are going to be interesting, so I propose that we hold a competition to identify the minister who offers the most outlandish excuse as the costs continue to creep upwards.
ANTHONY MANSER, Faithlegg, Co. Waterford.
We’ve been snookered!
THE most awful time for me in my TV viewing on a year-long basis is the horrendous showing of the non-game called snooker.
It’s the most boring ‘game’ of all time, yet it gets so much coverage that it can only be that the gods of cruelty know what it does to me.
I always perk up on the last day of what is called the ‘World Championship’ from the mysterious ‘Crucible’ arrives, because then I look forward to real sport coming back the next day. Even rolling TV news holds a certain relieving attraction now that the couple of weeks of snooker hell has passed. Is anybody listening?
Get on with it, please... enough is more than enough. Thanks. ROBERT SULLIVAN,
Bantry, Co. Cork.
Help the elderly
COMMUNITY services should club together to enable people to stay in their own homes as they get older.
More than half a million people i n Ireland are over 65 and, according to reports, some who are in residential care could easily live at home with home help without the cutbacks from the previous government.
The numbers in expensive nursing homes in Ireland are much higher than EU average. All this should be a part of the programme for government, with improved State support for our elderly.
All of this would free up beds in our hospitals and waiting lists and I would urge the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, to look at the options rather than expensive nursing homes which the elderly cannot afford. NOEL HARRINGTON ,
Kinsale, Co. Cork.
Poster problems
EVERY pole i n our village is festooned with election posters. Do the candidates think that the more posters they put up, the more their chances increase?
Have they considered the carbon footprint they have made in the printing of them, the fuel used in the erection and the removal? Surely, one poster per candidate per village or street should be enough. MARTIN RICHES, Kilkenny.