Irish Voice Letters to the Editor

IRISH politicians are an opportunistic lot. Witness the entering of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams into the Republic of Ireland’s political arena, just as the country’s finances are shot down the tubes.

There are several reasons why Adams has some nerve when he says he’s planning on running for a seat in the Dail (Irish Parliament).  Forget the fact that for many years Sinn Fein couldn’t even manage to spit the word “Dail” out of their mouths.

Adams, as far as I’m aware, lives in Belfast, yet he wants to run for a seat based in Co. Louth.  Shouldn’t it be that if you represent a group of constituents, you should at the very least live among them?   That Adams has the nerve to think he can swan in like some sort of savior is preposterous.

THE headlines from Ireland have been shocking and so sad.  What happened to the Celtic Tiger in so short at time?

Ireland now finds itself back at square one – high unemployment, mass emigration and gloom and doom all around. Was all the excess worth all of this pain?

I keep harking back to Cormac MacConnell and John Spain’s columns that were written during the so-called boom years – they lamented the loss of the simple pleasures that Ireland had always offered, pleasures that were forgotten about in the race to have the biggest TV, the newest car, best vacation home, etc.

ALAS, it seems nothing has been learned from our tragedy. The first people to be targeted by the IMF (ensconced in a five star hotel) and our own overpaid "economic illiterates" are not those who caused our downfall, but the lowest paid and those who lost their jobs because of the greed of the richest.

Almost 100 years ago, this little country stood up against the might of the British Empire to secure independence and self-determination. Now their noble self-sacrifice has been squandered by the greed of a cartel of bankers, developers and their political allies.

My two grandfathers, Sam Ellis and Peter Doyle, both laid their lives on the line in 1916.  They would be disgusted to see how their selfless, courageous action has degenerated into the selfish Mé-Féinism which has bankrupted our economy and which is still asking the most vulnerable to, yet again, pay the price for their greed.
 
Dessie Ellis
Dublin, Ireland

IN recent months I have followed the ineptitude of Irish politicians and bankers and have been very critical of the guarantees offered by Cowen & Co. to bondholders of Irish debt.

Ireland is insolvent. It’s as simple as that!

What ordinary Irish people don’t really understand is that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not a charitable organization, nor is it a beneficent brother in finance. Rather, it a financial and economic colonizer.

THE air in Ireland is filled with talk of “sovereignty and independence” being supplanted by dictat by outside bodies. On the margins of the G20 summit, Germany, France and Britain met and discussed what must be done about this “most distressful country,” and they laid out plans for our future without us having any say.

If this talk about “sovereignty and independence” is not more hot air, why hasn’t the Irish government convened an emergency meeting of the Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian governments to present a united front and shared demands that really “shares the pain” with all our euro “partners,” just as the Germans, British and French have come together to make us pay?  Is it not a case what is sauce for goose is also sauce for the gander?

All the politicians and commentators state the future of the euro is connected to and dependent upon what we as a people are prepared to accept in savage cuts and an unpayable debt burden. 

I WAS saddened to read the very terse, defensive response by Debbie McGoldrick to the letters about Christina Walsh in last week’s issue.

I have heard people talking about this for over a week, and the unanimous opinion in my own little neck of the woods is that the coverage of the Walshes was offensive and, at best, poorly thought out.

I do not know why putting a front-page photo of Mr. Walsh (whom I do not know) and his family was necessary to convey the so-called "Irish connection."

ON Monday, November 8, Justice Minister David Ford published details of a £20 million gratuity scheme for members of the part-time police reserve.

It will be open to former members of the RUC part-time reserve, and current or past members of the PSNI part-time reserve who joined before the end of October 2009.

The surviving spouse or partner of a deceased officer may also be eligible to apply.   

AT a recent Sinn Fein venue in New York on November 5, those present were told the Orange Order does not exist any longer. 

Someone in the audience questioned that statement and referenced the protests this year in Ardoyne.  We were told by Sinn Fein that only teenagers caused the trouble on July 12! 

Someone else questioned the Sinn Fein visitors about the ongoing abuse of Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison.  Another in the audience challenged the Sinn Fein visitors on justice for Irish Republicans. 

AFTER reading the letters to the editor and senior editor Debbie McGoldrick’s response about the Christina Walsh story in last week’s issue, I thought I would write in with my opinion.

I think what really upset the two letter writers, and what I know upset me, was not your coverage of the story, but your COVER for the story.

You are right in stating that you are a newspaper and are in the business of reporting the news. It is the manner with which papers go about that reporting which separates legitimate newspapers from the tabloid type.

THE condemnation of the Irish Voice by letter writers Miss Riley and Mr. Lyons in last week’s issue over an article on a certain Christina Walsh, who is in the business of hiring herself for sex which resulted in a publicly reported scandalous rendezvous with bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen, is completely misplaced.

The fact that she is first generation Irish whose father is from Cork is the greater motivator behind their letters of condemnation.  It is not all about sympathy and consideration for the Walsh family's humiliations.
I wonder if Miss Walsh was further removed from the Irish connection of first generation would we see the same enthusiastic sympathy? Let's say third or fourth generation.

There is something of the herd mentality in their letters.  Are they saying the Irish Voice should ignore and hide individual scandalous behavior in the active Irish community because it will bring shame on the whole community?

IN recent weeks the Irish Voice has done a fine job of covering the plight the Irish face on both sides of the Atlantic  Ocean.

The one thing that stands out is the Irish people do much better on the U.S. side of this story, and how living in Ireland is all too hard and wished they had stayed in the grand old USA.

The cover of a recent issue of the Irish Voice showed the success story of an Irish plumber who moved to New York, and was set up quickly working six days  a week. His wife even had the gall to say, “School books are free."

I THOUGHT your front page story on the Walsh family in last week’s family was extremely unfortunate.

Christina Walsh, the daughter of Irishman Paul Walsh, has made a mistake in her lifestyle choice, and now she’ll never be able to live it down thanks to the Irish Voice.  Undoubtedly she will see the error of her ways when she is an older, more mature woman.

In the meantime, the Irish Voice has shamed itself in its tabloid attempts to further smear the Walsh family, whose privacy should be respected and not exploited.

AS weekly readers of the Irish Voice, we are appalled that your paper would stoop so low as to have an article on Mr. Paul Walsh and his family on the front cover of your newspaper last week.

The likelihood is that this man and his family have been humiliated enough due to all the recent publicity surrounding his daughter.

We find it unacceptable that an Irish publication would exploit the unfortunate issues of a fellow Irishman and his family.  We do not intend purchasing your paper or submitting advertisements until you print an apology.

OF all the dastardly misdeeds this “Fianna Failed” government has perpetrated on its Irish citizens, and when you honestly think they can't get any lower, they shock you and even outdo themselves.

It's bad enough cutting into people’s dole and welfare payments in their pathetic attempts to recover the billions that's needed to make up for the corrupt, lavish and extravagant lifestyles the bankers, developers, speculators and the politicians led over the so-called Celtic Tiger years and indeed will continue to do so.

They're cutting 1 billion euro from the Health Service Executive (HSE). I guess this now means less money for trolleys in the hospitals. Patients can now sleep in their cars in the parking lot until they're called.  If it wasn't so sad it would almost be funny.

I AM writing to congratulate Dr. James McDaid on his decision to resign his seat from the Dail (Parliament) in protest against the Irish government’s failings over the economy and their desire to hang onto power at whatever the cost.

While I am not a McDaid supporter and I totally disagree with his solutions to our country’s economic woes, he is 100% right in his analysis of the current political situation.

The present government with its wafer thin majority does not have the mandate from the people to propose a four-year economic plan, and does not have the moral authority to try to pass one of the most crucial budgets in the history of this state.