A chara, – I note that Arthur Dunne (March 23rd) is very eager to have an OBE award on his mantelpiece. It is sad that some Irish citizens seem to be so blind to the political implication of accepting such an award.
In 2003 when the leading poet Benjamin Zephaniah was offered an award, he simply refused, dismissing it as a legacy of colonialism and stating that the very name “the Order of the British Empire” reminded him of thousands of years of brutality and of how his foremothers were raped and his forefathers brutalised.
In Ireland it would appear that some still prefer to tug a forelock while clearing their mantelpiece. – Is
mise,
Madam, – While not agreeing with Tom Cooper’s call for Irish recipients of British honours to be stripped of their citizenship (March 20th) it should be pointed out that the position of Tony O’Reilly/Sir Anthony O’Reilly is more complicated than that suggested by Niall Ryan (March 23rd).
Citizens of Ireland and other “non-Commonwealth” countries qualify for “honorary” UK knighthoods. They are not entitled to describe themselves as “Sir”; plain Steven Spielberg is an example. Since Tony O’Reilly holds dual Irish and British nationality he can call himself Sir Anthony when he is British and Tony when he is Irish.
As for the Order of the British Empire (OBE) this is something of an oxymoron since there is no “British Empire”. A West Indian friend and colleague who was given this award cheerfully describes himself as belonging to the Order of Black Excellence. – Yours, etc,