Sir, – Tom Cooper (November 10th) proposes a moral equivalence between the poppy and the Easter lily. This is, of course, trivial and frivolous. The poppy remembers the dead of the British army in two world wars and is worn in the UK by persons of every rank and station from the head of state down. In Ireland, the lily is worn only by supporters of the IRA.
If there was equivalence between these two symbols, then everyone here from the President of the Republic down – members of the Oireachtas, people in the media, business and the learned professions and the public at large – would feel morally obliged to wear it. None do. Yet on the larger island, all wear the poppy.
The poppy is the symbol of an army properly constituted as the arm of a state internationally recognised in law. The Easter lily, far from its remote connection with the war of independence, which Mr Cooper emphasises in his playful but evasive way, is the symbol of a fascist murder gang, whose presence and activities in this Republic are illegal and criminal. Therein lies the difference. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Watching Sunday’s wreath-laying ceremonies by the President, Taoiseach and Tánaiste suggested to me the solution as to what to wear to commemorate our dead: a laurel leaf. Wearing a laurel leaf every year on November 11th would show to the world that we, in our own way, remember with pride all those Irish men and women who fought and died in past wars.
As the centenary of the first World War approaches, it would be a sign of our self-confidence as a nation.
I propose that the Government launches a competition to design a laurel leaf pin and designates November 11th, 2013 as the first official occasion for Irish everywhere to wear it. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Sadly I have to report that when many people visited the Kinsale war memorial to those brave Irishmen who gave their lives in two world wars, at 11am on Sunday, it was to find it had been vandalised by graffiti. The word “crap” on the memorial described defecation behind it. This has been reported to the Kinsale Garda.
What manner of person would commit such a foul act? It is a pity that corporal punishment is no longer available. My disgust knows no bounds. If found, that person should be vilified in public. – Yours, etc,