DONNCHA FOLEY,
Madam, - Could John Kenny (February 25th) please explain to me what the "free market" is? What is its precise location, and how does one get a piece of the action? I hope he is not referring to the global economy, which is dominated by oil moguls and the manufacturers of weapons of mass destruction.
Can I also thank Mr Kenny for pointing out to me and the 100,000 marchers in Dublin that there is no room left for idealism in this new millennium? I must be suffering from the infection that Mary Harney refers to. I have the symptoms: a desire for a peaceful planet, whose resources are treated with respect, and a world where people have the ability to realise their full potential for the benefit of all. How old-fashioned of me. - Is mise,
DONNCHA FOLEY, Murrintown, Co Wexford.
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Madam, - I believe that for Sinn Féin, a political party that has been so closely associated with a terrorist organisation, the IRA, to participate in recent peace marches was deeply hypocritical.
The IRA terrorised and killed thousands of people to achieve its ends, yet now Sinn Féin is criticising America for threatening to go to war with Iraq. For Sinn Féin to attack the American government, which was (albeit under a Democratic administration) one of the key players in the Northern Ireland peace process, and which gave it political credibility, is to bite the hand that fed it.
Furthermore, the IRA purchased arms with which to maim and kill innocent people, not only from Libya, but from America. The principal source of funds for its terrorist campaign was Irish-American organisations, or individuals in America.
For Sinn Féin now to take the high moral ground is sickening. - Yours, etc.,
JULIAN CAMPBELL, St Luke's, Cork.
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Madam, - The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, is due an ovation for the stand she has taken on the issue of war on Iraq. She has named names and displayed a courage absent from other Ministers who sit around the Cabinet table.
Mr B. Ahern, Taoiseach, has fumbled along using the terms instilled into him by his spin doctors. They have reduced him to a sort of dummy who is wound up every so often to utter babble.
Some matters should be baldly stated. There would be no Republic of Ireland if the US had not intervened. The peace settlement would not exist but for President Clinton. In 1945 we were on the edge of starvation but for the Marshall Plan. Thousands are employed by the US industries based here.
We are in no position to point fingers at the US.
One has also to applaud the historian Ruth Dudley Edwards, who in a recent column cut down all the anti-US nonsense paraded through Dublin and slickly presented by RTÉ.
I suggest that Bertie should acquire a diplomatic cold and instead send Mary Harney to Washington on March 17th. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN QUINN, Kincora Grove, Dublin 3.
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Madam, - The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, Ministers McDowell and Parlon can say what they want about the anti-war movement. The reality is that the people of Ireland gave them their response with over 100,000 people on the streets of Dublin. It showed weakness in their political judgment and now they are trying to row back by distracting the public.
Why don't they do the decent thing and admit they got it wrong? The vast majority of Irish, British and American people object to any unilateral action by the United States against Iraq. If they do not represent that position, they should seriously consider their positions in Government.
While they are reflecting on their future they might ask their friend Mr Bush to explain his role in the attempted coup in Venezuela. There is nothing progressive or democratic about this brand of politics. - Yours, etc.,
FINIAN McGRATH, TD, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.
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Madam, - I am very concerned by the anti-American, pro-Bush sentiments being expressed by our Government, most recently in the statements of Mary Harney and Michael McDowell. Do they not realise that the majority of Americans, who could scarcely be labelled as anti-American, do not support the war plans of the Bush regime? That is what appears to be reflected in the US public opinion polls, and we know for a fact that there was something deeply disturbing about the Bush regime's hijacking of the last presidential elections considering that a majority of Americans voted for his opponent, Al Gore.
The attitude being taken by our Government may well cause resentment among the majority of Americans opposed to war which could lead to them not travelling to Ireland, possibly boycotting our products and thinking twice about investing in Ireland. Bear in mind that these unfortunate people, whom we should be supporting in their hour of need, are unlikely to achieve regime change until their next presidential elections almost two years away.
So I appeal to our leaders to support the American people in their struggle to prevent the Bush-Blair axis from plunging them and us into a conflict with incalculable consequences. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT McKEOWN, Sandymount, Dublin 4.