Respect for one man’s generosity

Sir — Maeve Sheehan’s article headlined ‘The “wisp of a black shadow” who walked the roads of Wexford (Sunday Independent, January 13) was an extremely sad account of a lady who ended her last days in a hedge on a lonely country road.

The retired Gorey man, said to be in his 90s, who unhesitatingly gave this lady unconditional shelter from the elements has my deepest admiration for his act of Christian charity.

This story reminds me of the Ireland I knew as a young boy where such acts were common events which I witnessed on many occasions.

Poor harmless souls, like the lady in question, were commonplace and were seen in the Irish Celtic and Christian traditions as “Duine le Dia”, meaning “one of God’s People”.

When I compare this man’s generosity of spirit with the recent suspected arson attack on the hotel accommodation for asylum seekers in Rooskey on the Leitrim-Roscommon border, I cannot help but wonder if this is what the “new” modern liberal Ireland is coming to.

What does it tell us about the many homeless families and homeless people who have died on the streets of Dublin in recent years while the rapacious hedge fund managers and greedy landlords continue to evict their tenants at will and politicians continue to look away and cross to the other side of the road?

Michael GM Kenny, Stratford-upon-Avon,

England