Saints and sinners on Paddy’s Day
Not too long ago I wondered if I was going to live to see this Paddy’s Day. Now that I have, I don’t give a damn what the weather is like. I will just enjoy the craic in my favourite place on God’s earth – Slane, Co Meath, which sits beneath the hill where Ireland’s patron saint lit his paschal fire.
On this day I often find myself thinking of previous St Patrick’s Days spent far from here.
This October is my 45th class reunion at Harvard. I still remember my first March 17 whilst there – sitting in a bar with tears streaming down my face from the laughter and emotion engendered by feeling homesick.
That’s the thing about being away, particularly when you’re young. It intensifies the feeling of nationhood, or it did with me.
So this brings me to a thought this St Patrick’s Day. We need to think about Ireland, where it is going and what is in the national interest.
Our Government needs to do some soul searching. In this column I have tried to flag matters I think pose a threat to our future
Varadkar with Donald and Melania Trump prosperity. Today there will be a good deal of attention focused on the Donald and Leo Show at the White House and maybe some talk about the potential threat that US President’s tax policies pose to Ireland.
However, a much more dangerous threat comes from Brussels in the form of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base.
This is designed to harmonise levies on multinationals throughout the EU and because of our competitive policies towards these companies this is not in our national interest.
It is important our Government has the courage to recognise the EU is changing.
President Macron of France’s federalist dreams are now greeted in some quarters with open hostility and the Italian elections have changed the political landscape.
On this day when we celebrate what it means to be Irish, we might also think about how we stand against those who do not have our best interests at heart.