A question of Irish identity

Sir, – Desmond Fennell’s article of despair (Opinion, January 25th) is easily explained

Sir, – Desmond Fennell’s article of despair (Opinion, January 25th) is easily explained. As a nation we have lost faith not just in the perverted political process but in the great institutions which should be the standard bearers of a nation – the law, the civil service, the financial institutions – all have not merely destroyed their reputations as upright, sincere and dedicated, but have become powerful self-serving vested interests in the face of political lightweights. They have broken trust.

Money has destroyed them. The result is a total loss of nationalism (not the stupid violent type). Our nationalism is only skin deep. We scream for Katie Taylor, but fire the garbage in the ditch on the way home; we don’t think of Ireland as our land and the people in it as our people. If the meek are going to inherit the earth they had better put on their roller skates. – Yours, etc,

JOHNNY COUCHMAN,

Johnstown House, Carlow.