Sir, – We get it. Fintan O’Toole loves the EU. If he was living in England he would be one of those sad, pleb-hating protesters waving his “I love EU” or “Eur-hope” placard on some march of discontents. The endless moaning and whining in his opinion pieces on the subject are now beyond tiresome.
In his latest and most unhinged to date, he informs us that "Brexit is England's Easter Rising" (" After Brexit, who will be UK's Michael Collins?", Opinion & Analysis, March 28th). Yes, of course it is.
An unpopular, armed rebellion staged by a handful of ideologues is exactly the same as a democratic referendum in which 17.4 million people voted to leave the UK.
What’s more, the British cabinet doesn’t have a figure in the Michael Collins mode with the skill, moral courage and patriotism required to guide England through the Brexit process. This wistful historical conceit is really just a literary flourish with which O’Toole can, once again, register his distaste with the referendum result.
It is patently obvious from his columns that Fintan O’Toole desperately wants Brexit to fail or be unduly punitive in its outcome.
This is an unashamedly partial ideological position he shares with Jean-Claude Juncker and the rest of the EU cabal.
Is O’Toole going to just submit the same op-ed every few days over the coming years as Britain disengages from the EU?
Do you think you might occasionally go off-message and give a platform to contributors offering the alternative pro-Brexit view? Or is that too radical an idea for The Irish Times? – Yours, etc,
SIMON O’NEILL,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – The collection of London street signs accompanying Denis Staunton's Opinion piece on Brexit ("UK is drunk on sovereignty – and all puffed up with no place to go", March 29th) omitted the most obvious one, "Cul de sac". – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – Following Brexit, Ireland needs to be able to access Europe by sea directly if trucks to and from Ireland are to avoid double customs delays at Dover and Dublin.
The obvious solution is to develop Rosslare Port so trucks can travel direct to Le Havre or Roscoff in France. We need also to strengthen our infrastructure, by completing the M11 and linking other motorways, such as the M3, M4 and M7, to Rosslare. – Yours, etc,
MÁIRE NIC MHEANMAN,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Sir, – The links between the United Kingdom and Ireland regarding healthcare are deep and strong. There are long-standing arrangements regarding issues such as organ transplantation, reciprocal postgraduate training agreements both formal and informal, clinical and basic science research, the bilateral recognition of postgraduate qualifications and the processing of specialised blood and pathology tests.
Without underestimating the myriad economic and political challenges that Brexit presents to our republic, the threat posed to our already compromised health service has attracted little public comment. It is incumbent on all parties, political and otherwise, to keep these topics at the top of the Government’s Brexit agenda. – Is mise,
ANTHONY
O’CONNOR, MD
Consultant
Gastroenterologist,
Tallaght Hospital,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.