A chara. The general election has left me with a sour taste in my mouth. In general those seeking election appealed to self interest. Those who are marginalised or excluded from our society were almost forgotten. We would hardly have known that such people existed but for the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) and columnists such as Mary Holland, Vincent Browne, Fintan O'Toole and Nuala O'Faolain. Eventually I voted for the two or three in my constituency who have either spoken or acted in support of the travelling people.
In a neighbouring constituency, Eithne FitzGerald, who was a brave and honest TD, was defeated - not totally because of the collapse in the Labour vote but, in my opinion, because she was courageous enough to try to get residents associations to agree to halting sites for travellers. In that same constituency, two TDs were elected who, again in my opinion, are not at all supportive of the travellers' cause.
So what hope now for what Kevin Myers (June 4th) calls the issue of travellers"? I prefer to call it the "issue of settled people and travellers" - we settled people are part of the problem and have been for a number of decades. Mr Myers asks for "energetic inquiry and discussion" (fair enough), but he goes on to say that we are like hamsters, "growing fatter by the hour, until we have our throats cut in our beds by the unsocialised teenage sons of unmarried mothers or maddened homeless travellers".
Is this what Mr Myers means by energetic inquiry and discussion? I think his words are cruel, unChristian, outrageous.
Somebody said to me that Mr Myers has his tongue in cheek when writing this kind of stuff - if so, I wonder did he bother to ask any single mothers or travellers if they saw the joke? Mr Myers sounds off and, in my opinion, never even tries to put himself in the position of those about whom he is writing, never tries to look into their minds to feel the hurt they so often suffer at our hands.
For some time I have found much of Mr Myers's writing extremely hurtful, insulting, false, negative and destructive. But in the words which I have quoted above, he has really surpassed himself. However, he does write charmingly about French wine and food. I would suggest that you appoint him French Wine Correspondent, except that he would use that column to castigate Greenpeace (as he has done) for quite justifiably advocating a boycott of French wine in protest against French nuclear testing policy. - Le deamhein,
Gairdini Bhaile na Lobhar, An Charraig Dhubh, Co Bhaile Atha Cliath.