Sir, – How embarrassing it is to have to explain to visitors to our country that they cannot have a drink on this particular day, but that we do not know who is behind the ban and why. It is time for us to take responsibility for this law and ask ourselves if this is what we really want.
It is well known that as a nation we have a tendency to overindulge, but I would like to suggest that this ban only adds to the problem – the message being that we cannot be trusted to be accountable for our own actions. We must take responsibility for our own behaviour.
Those who wish to abstain should have the right to do so, but likewise all others should have the choice to decide differently. – Yours, etc,
MAUREEN
DUCKENFIELD,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16.
A chara, – Shame on Donall O'Keeffe and the Licensed Vintners Association for trying to change the law regarding the sale of alcohol on Good Friday ("It makes sense to call time on the Good Friday drinking ban", Opinion & Analysis, January 20th).
Does he not realise the endless amusement it gives non-drinkers like myself (and, no doubt, those who enjoy alcohol responsibly, as the slogan goes) to see the panicked buying of booze on Maundy Thursday as people load up with slabs of beer and crates of wine and spirits with the kind of fervour one would expect from people stocking up on the necessities of life in preparation for an imminent apocalypse?
Why, it almost makes up for all the other ills the love affair with alcohol beverages have visited upon this country. So keep the ban, I say! – Is mise,
Rev PATRICK G BURKE,
Castlecomer,
Co Kilkenny.
Sir, – It seems rather intemperate of those who are unable to turn water into wine to take umbrage at the idea of abstaining from alcohol in order to celebrate properly the unique achievements of the only man in history who was able to do so. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS O’CALLAGHAN,
Carlow.
Sir, – If zealots are so invested in having a day when everyone else is not allowed drink, I’d like to suggest that we allocate them a Tuesday in the middle of January instead of the Friday of a bank holiday weekend. – Yours, etc,
COLIN McGOVERN
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan (January 23rd) asks what kind of example are we setting for our young people if we as a society cannot do without alcohol on sale for one day.
I would suggest that it is difficult to set any kind of example at all when one’s behaviour is dictated by the law, rather than the product of a free choice. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN CAREY,
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary.