A chara - Having a drink in one of our so-called "tourist" pubs is akin to visiting a museum, with so many reminders of old Ireland lining the walls and ceilings. Scythes, spades, hay-knives and butter churns often jostle for the drinker's attention with pictures of prelates, politicians and dead patriots.
Like a painter selling pictures of a landscape he doesn't own, the pub landlord pays no fee for the continued display of these relics and images. While he must pay for the reproduction of copyrighted dramatic or musical property, no such benefit accrues to the representatives of the makers of the old implements, or, indeed, of the dead patriots.
Regrettably, the exploitation of dead heroes by political parties is even greater. Several of the parties who monopolise the business of politics in this State regularly draw on the name, fame and reputation for idealism of dead patriots in order to advance their own agendas.
Some go further and parade to the graves of the heroes, though I doubt if many prayers are said. Like pub landlords, politicians also use pictures of patriots to decorate their offices, or to provide a "revolutionary" backdrop to party photographs.
I will not go so far as to say that publicans and politicians should be prohibited from using the reputations and images of the dead, for profit or advantage, since we live in a commercial climate. Most might agree, however, that they should, at least, be obliged to pay a small fee for all such uses and exploitations. As a general principle, I believe that no politician, or publican, should be able to profit from another man's wounds or sacrifices, without paying a financial price.
The moment is now opportune, perhaps, before the EU mandarins move in on the business side of Irish patriotism, to establish a "Dead Patriots Protection Society" (DPPS for short). This organisation could be charged with levying fees for any use of the name or writings of an Irish patriot, for commercial, including political, purposes.
I propose that all fees collected be applied to the upkeep of our national monuments. Naturally, a larger fee would be appropriate when a political party brings its members on a "pilgrimage-cum-indoctrination" visit to the grave of a dead hero, or asserts that it is carrying on the patriot's work.
Since the duty to protect the reputation of the dead is, essentially, a matter of justice to fallen heroes, it seems that the proper Department to deal with this important subject is the Department of Justice. - Is mise,
LIAM Ó GÉIBHEANNAIGH, Áth an Ghainimh, Co Átha Cliath.