Letters

Letters from Irish Voice readers

Letters

July 13, 2008

The Irish Bust

AS a frequent letter writer to the Irish Voice for the past 15 years, I have noticed a plethora of letter writers commenting on the state of the Irish economy, then (1993) and now.

Many of the letters observed the swift trajectory of the Celtic Tiger and its social and economic effects on the people of Ireland, mostly positive on all levels.

However, with oil prices moving toward $150 per barrel, increasing unemployment and inflation seeping into the Irish economy, the future looks quite shaky.

Having grown up in the pre-Celtic Tiger boom as a school boy in the early eighties and then, as a young adult in the early nineties, I came to the United States of America, a decision I wisely chose, like thousands of others at that economically awful time.

And as a keen observer of all things economic, I have followed the tiger claw its way to the top of the heap as far as availability of employment, house value appreciation and general prosperity amongst the population is concerned. But those boom days are over I fear.

The main reasons for this end of the “golden” economic era are as follows:

Increasing interest rates at a time when inflation for ordinary necessities is climbing higher.

Ireland’s economic well being is determined by the decisions of the ECB, but now, as corporate tax rates transition from 10% toward 15 or 20%, Ireland has no choice but to toe the European line.

House values are decreasing. On several visits to Ireland I was flabbergasted to see houses going for millions of euros, houses that when I arrived in America, were bought for less than $150,000 in a mediocre neighborhood in a Dublin suburb;

Finally, overseas outsourcing of jobs will accelerate to the point where many seemingly “safe” jobs will go the way of the dodo. They will either become totally extinct or transition to India.

The economic cycle is rather like the Sine curve in mathematics, and right now the cycle is on a very, very downward trend. It will bring many a Celtic Tiger cub with it and result in a social and economic malaise that has not been seen since the late seventies or early eighties, with 20% unemployment and high inflation rates.

A.P. Ó Máille
New York, New York

Support for Students

I WAS shocked at Lisa Keegan’s discourteous remarks in last week’s letters page about the Irish students stranded in New York who were looking for work and a place to stay. She said that putting such an offensive story as this on the front page proves that it was a slow week for news.

I disagree with her as I feel that it is important to let Irish businesses know when their fellow Irishmen and women need help. It was very comforting to see such huge positive responses with offers of jobs and places to stay (some as far away as Pittsburgh) to this compassionate story in the Irish Voice.

Keegan’s complacent “to heck with you, I’m all right “ attitude is a very selfish one indeed.

Frank Geraghty
Bergenfield, New Jersey

History Lesson Needed

TO dear letter writer Mae Doyle Sullivan (“Stop the Bashing” June 11-17), I can quite understand why it took you some time to comprehend the rather esoteric musings of mine. I must say, I have never heard the Rightful Reverend Ian Paisley in my life.

My beef with Irish Catholics is that they are so holier than thou and act the martyr for a cause (the Romish Church and Catholic identity) that repeatedly abandons them. The Irish have a history of cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

When I spoke about the Pope and the Roman Church abandoning the Irish people in a recent issue of the Irish Voice, nothing could be truer in history. And yet, the numb-sculled clung to the Romish Church despite the fact that Ireland had a vibrant Celtic Church that pre-dated the splendor that is the current papacy.

You say the papacy represents peace and tolerance. I tell you this is nothing but rubbish.

The church of Rome desires to subject all Christian churches under its auspices and to turn asunder over 500 glorious years of reformation. It smashed the Celtic Church asunder and imposed itself upon Ireland centuries ago after the Dark ages, but I doubt they teach you that in your church history classes.

I ask you Ms. Sullivan, was the papacy merciful and tolerant when it sanctioned the burning of Jews and Protestants, during the Inquisition and the Reformation? This is the tradition of the Roman Church.

Any ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Church should be anathema to Christian Churches. Ecumenical dialogues are a tool of Rome to bring other church bodies under its dirty heels.

This brings me to my next point. The Brits have a difficult history to account for in Ireland, yes indeed. However, historically, the Irish did everything in their power to weaken their relationship with Britain over the centuries, which invited reprisal after reprisal – again cutting their noses to spite their proverbial faces.

From inviting Catholic Spain to launch invasions from Ireland to Britain, to secret treaties with the French, to actively seeking help from the Second Reich during World War I, the bloody Irish did absolutely nothing to gain the confidence of Britain over the years.

And so, when I talk about the Republic of Ireland abandoning Ulster to Britain during the Revolution, I say it in earnest. When I say the bloody IRA, Real IRA, and the Provisional IRA did nothing to ease the plight of Irish Catholics during the Troubles (cutting noses to spite their faces) I say it in earnest.

Yes, the Ulster Irish were under the “benevolent protection” of Britain as you say, but the terror gangs made it such that the government could not trust Irish non-combatants (again, cutting their noses off to spite their faces).

Had Ireland just accepted fate as being part of the Kingdom of Great Britain, had Ireland just stopped its intransigence against the Brits throughout history, and had Ireland just denounced the false and earthly “holy father,” history would most certainly have taken a better course for Ireland But you cannot tell this to a people who cut their noses off to spite their own faces!

By the way, it is comforting to me that the U.S. government is being fair in the deportation of Father Cathal Gallagher, as well as those IRA bully boys, Matt Morrison, Bobby Lavery, Paul Harkin, and Terry Kirby. If the U.S. government is serious about immigration reform, that same immigration reform needs to be facilitated across the board — not just focused upon one ethnic group!

Once again, I pray, God Save the Queen, and the Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Tomas O’Liathain
Rockaway, New Jersey

Where’s the Anger?

WITH the American fueled “Celtic Tiger” sputtering to a halt, and the abandonment of Shannon by Aer Lingus for the greener pastures of Big Ian’s country, it is amazing how muted the opposition to U.S. Military stopovers in Ireland has become over the past several months.

With the possible exception of one lonely voice from West Cork, the silence has been deafening. It seems the biggest concern around Shannon these days is that America’s war on terror may end, thereby eliminating the need for U.S. military stopovers and associated revenues.

Pretty hypocritical, one might think.

N. Dolan,
Hilton Head Island,
South Carolina

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