NIALL GINTY,
Madam, - How refreshing to read Gavin Doyle's letter of January 6th. I sincerely hope that his openness and clarity of thought remains with him throughout his political career, and that his generation within the Fine Gael Party can go with him, despite the fashionable onward march of the "Sons of Erin" mentality within the Irish political system generally.
I fear, however, that he is going to have to go it alone for much of the time, and that he will need the support of close friends when he has to go head to head with so many of his contemporaries, who lacked his strength of character during the formative years of their education at home and abroad.
I can understand what Mr Doyle means when he says "our country is becomingly dangerously introspective". The fact is, our country has always been dangerously introspective. It's almost part of what we are, the difference being that we are now part of a broad European entity and can no longer hide our eccentricities. The phrase, "it's a bit Irish" is well earned, but we could do without it. That our government must always espouse the Republican angle to keep its followers "onside" even at the expense of social inclusion and fair play for all, is just another symptom of our inability to interact maturely with "outsiders". So much easier to shout, "Up the RA", and scrawl slogans on walls in the dead of night. For young, impressionable people it's also more exciting.
Unfortunately, the past is still the place to be for far too many of our people. Unlike so many of our compatriots throughout the rest of Europe who have suffered at the hands of their neighbours and moved on in mutual understanding, some of us still remain entrenched in the mindset of glorious war.
It will be a long and arduous journey for people like Gavin Doyle. - Yours, etc.,
NIALL GINTY,
Howth Road,
Dublin 5.