Jewish Irish minister accused of being prejudiced against Catholics

Mairint, we won't be emulating Israel in Ireland, thank you very much. You know what you can do with your thinly veiled threats to the minister and your all too obvious contempt to anyone who takes a different view, don't you?

Alan Shatter has grown too big for his army boots. He is not a suitable person to be Minister for Defence. The Jewish people have always been treated honorably in Ireland and Shatter should be careful not to show such anti Catholic bias. Would he object if a prominent member of the Israeli government were given military honors in Ireland? After all Israel and Judaism are bound together, one identifies the other. Before you anti Catholic so-called Irish start spewing your foul language and viperous hate mongering against the Church again - you need to be reminded of how pathetically ignorant you sound.

Seanmor --No. The Irish State has grown up and no longer licks the boots of the bishops.

Nonsense people. Quit putting the catholic church on a pedastool. They hid pedophiles and child molesters for years. The church Ireland even sent them to other places to hide them! Who cares if he is Jewish,good for him! Israel makes some of the best weapons in the world, maybe he has the inside track with the manufacturers. Please lets try to make the world a better place! Benedict can afford an honor guard!

I support minister Shatter's decision to separate church and state matters.

Is Defence Minister Shatter really to blame for preventing the army from participating in the Eucharistic Congress, or has the Irish state surrendered so much of its sovereignty to the E.U. that its army can no longer take part in relegious events?

Sad to see some nasty anti-semitic nonsense directed at an Irish minister because he is Jewish; we, the real Irish, have a long tradition of tolerance towards our centuries-old Jewish minority as we have today towards our relatively new Muslim minority. The Jews of Ireland go back to 1079 AD but the first real permanent Jewish settlement in Ireland was in the late 15th century when Jews expelled by religious extremists in Portugal settled in the south, near Cork, where they thrived and became leaders of the Gaelic Catholic community Please remember that ireland is probably the only country anywhere NEVER to persecute Jews or people of the Jewish faith. In Limerick at the turn of this century there was a nasty incidents after the local populace were roused by an anti-semitic preacher but the Catholic leaders of the day -like the great Fenian Michael Davitt condemned this violence and it quickly ended though many Jews fled to Cork where they were welcomed and settled easily. Last word goes to Daniel O'Connell the Liberator: O’Connell said: "Ireland has claims on your ancient race, it is the only country that I know of unsullied by any one act of persecution of the Jews". We have reason to be proud of our Jewish fellow Irishmen and women and proud of our history of welcome, tolerance and assimilation. Excuse the history lesson :) Jim FitzPatrick, Dublin, Ireland.

MichaelMcGrath,Looks like the New York Jew Boys have turned out.... You figured it out,McGrath,we not only control Hollywood,the Media and the Banks but we run Ireland,too.They just keep "bitter old anti semitic rummies"like you around so that the change in attitudes of the new generations of Irish and American citizenry wouldn't be too obvious and blow our "manipulative cover" ,but you're to clever to fall for any of that.

Michael McGrath, would you help me here by explaining Shatter's constitutional amendment to lock up thousands of children. Here in Ireland, we thought it was a refernedum on the rights of children, but now you're telling us it's the opposite. Say it ain't so! Have you got the wording of the proposed amendment You might share it with us. Also, call me stupid if you like, but I thought Alan Shatter's accent was old-fashioned wealthy-Dublin posh. And of course, as we all know, the most important thing about anyone is their accent. Right?

Irish people want separation of church and state. If they didnt, then more than 21% of the population would be attending mass. No one here cares what religion Shatter is. Its American readers of this site who seem to care.

Defense Minister Shatter was correct in his decision. An Irish Army spokesperson also said that such participation by the army in a religious ceremony was inappropriate. I say that in remembrance of a time long ago when, as a young corporal of 16 (yes, I lied about my age - as did most of us in the Irish Army Reserves), I happily participated in a such a ceremony. It was Mass on St. Patrick's Day in Swinford. Our heavy bull's wool uniforms were cleaned and pressed, our boots, leggings and brass buttons and insignia polished to a high shine, our .303 Lee Enfield English rifles spotless. We marched two by two up the center isle, then filed off on each side of the Communion Railing - and, facing the alter, presented arms at that special moment, the greatest of all Catholic miracles, the Transubstantiation - then smartly shouldered arms and marched back down the isle, to stand at ease in back of the church. I was proud to have been chosen for the Guard of Honor but I was 16 then did not question the church's involvement in almost every aspect of our lives.

Alan Shatter is a good kind and generous man. I worked in his legal firm for years and he was the first lawyer to instigate the Judicial Separation Act when divorce was not allowed in the Republic. He fought for the rights of others. I will not hear a bad word against him. This anti-Semetic nonsence says more about the people making the comments then it does about him.

Ah yes, Wille O'Dea, that paragon of an upstanding Christian. He can't tell the difference between a tip off and perjury so I doubt if he can tell the difference between church and state.

There is nothing anti-Catholic in not providing a military retinue for a religious procession. Did the Eucharistic Congress receive threats of assassination or threats of a terrorist attack? No, then why would a military retinue be appropriate? Its symbolism would be all too clear: the State serves and defends the Church-- wrong! Dangerously wrong in an era when high church officials have committed heinous crimes against Irish youth yet not faced justice. Refusing to provide a military guard does not depict the citizenry as secular; it does, however, reject a relationship that would serve only the church while disadvantaging ministers of state in the event of conflict between religious officials and state policy. If a military contingent has always been provided in the past for religious processions, it's high time to halt it now. "We've always done it this way" is never a reason for continuing any tradition! When a religious official like a pope or Archbishop of Canterbury meets with the Taoiseach, a military guard would be appropriate because the visit would be a state occasion, not a religious / liturgical event. The difference is clear.

Oh sweet sufferin'...what a load of bollix. Has it occurred to anyone that with a battered economy, maybe the Irish State couldn't afford to assign a phalanx of guards for a religious procession? @Bogsidebunny, couldn't have put it better.