Dear Sir... Readers' Views (02/09/16)
Apple appeal damages our reputation even more
The decision by the Government to appeal the EU Commission ruling that a tax avoider pay back âŹ13bn to the Irish taxpayer beggars belief. The justification for the appeal is that the Government needs to defend Irelandâs reputation.
Have they learned nothing from the scandals of the banks, Catholic Church, charities, seminaries, and sports associations? All these disgraced institutions tried and failed the same policy of denying there is a problem and fighting everyone who says there is a problem. In all cases, these institutions damaged reputation even further when less damage would have been done if they just admitted fault, fixed the problem, and moved on.
A similar situation arises here, because appealing damages our reputation even further. We have no credibility over our corporation tax regime. The US government, EU Commission, and major European countries rarely unite on anything, but on their dislike of our corporation tax regime they stand united and we isolated. If it is hard to argue in favour of a 12.5% corporate rate, imagine how hard it will be to argue in favour of a 0.005% effective rate.
If the Government had competent political advisers and ministers capable of listening, they would have argued that while disappointed with the EU Commissionâs judgment, it represented a past Ireland. An Ireland ruled by a different political culture, and cute hoor sweetheart deals like this were no longer represented or were tolerated in todayâs Ireland.
Within a few weeks the story would have disappeared off the front pages, the world would have moved on, and everyone would assume that Ireland had cleaned up its act, even if we hadnât.
Instead the Government has decided to appeal and drag this story for another several years. During this time, the Government will be still denying everything, blaming and annoying everyone else, continually reminding everyone of our tax haven status, and dragging our reputation even further through the gutter.
Bitten off more than they can chew
What do Ireland and Eve have in common?
Both took a bite from the Apple, and look what happened!
Is GAA in rude or rough health?
Kieran Shannon reaches for the stratosphere as he parses last Sundayâs football semi-final. ( âGaelic football has rarely â if ever â been in better health.â Sport, August 30.) His reckoning is surely over-egged?
Does the negative and the underhand not deserve mention, if we want to truly present our national sports as both manly and sportsmanlike?
The blatant shoving of a star player after the ball is dispatched tactically ensures he wonât be taking any further meaningful part in the game, but apparently thatâs all part of the game? No sanction required for such âexuberanceâ. Shoulder charges to the chest assaults seem de rigeur?
That there are seven officials scrutinising the play in these major games, seems to make little difference to comprehensive rule-enforcement.
Sadly, winning at all costs and by whatever means has become an ingrained negative feature of Gaelic games.
Tribal dominance trumps all, it seems.
The alternative to be embraced, however, is not a reduction of the games to a âgentile croquet-on-the-lawnâ style of play. Letâs keep the robust, the manly, the committed physicality, but also allow the skills of the game be displayed without constant fear of âcriminalâ assault.
Sam and Liam would espouse nothing less.
Well done
Congratulations to Irish Examiner ?â 175 years of bringing news to the people.
Media and communications have changed a lot in the past years.
One constant is the Irish Examiner.
In the mid-1970s we moved abroad.
We eagerly awaited the arrival of the Cork Weekly Examiner (plus a bar of chocolate inside for our son) to keep us informed of the latest news and a complete round-up of all the sports.
Thank you to all the staff down the years and well done.
Time for Garda to man up
Why is so much valuable Garda time and public money being wasted on this case? (âFailed prosecution by garda against her boss to be probedâ, August 29). It is a scandal.
Illegal parking means a fine, we all know that. Mr English, man up, take your punishment, pay the fine! Whether this is an opportunist ticketing or not is irrelevant... a wrong was done.
A superintendent should be leading by example and upholding the law, not breaking it. This is another example of arrogance.
I am fed up with people not accepting responsibility and owing their misdemeanours.
Rename request
To ask the management of lrish Rail to rename Rathmore railway station in Co Kerry after Patrick OâConnor, a local volunteer, who lost his life fighting for Irish freedom in Moore Street during Easter Week 1916.
âPoor old meâ doesnât help Louise
I refer to Louise OâNeillâs article in the Weekend magazine of the Irish Examiner last Saturday, August 27. Iâm not an avid reader of her column and I am not likely to be as this is her second diatribe in recent weeks about âpoor little old meâ. Louise would do well to accept the slings and arrows cast at us from time to time as part and parcel of life. These are more frequent and severe for journalists and commentators because of the nature of her job. Given she is an avid supporter of the liberal agenda, she would do well to read the kind of feedback delivered to the likes of David Quinn and Breda OâBrien who are Catholic apologists.
Dark days
I wish to refer to John Fitzgeraldâs letter outlining these terrible dark days in Irelandâs history (âCommemorate a true political heroâ, August 29). I too was subjected to floggings where the blood streamed down the concrete floor, I can still see the picture of me begging for mercy. I thought that I would be beaten to death. My sin? A relative who joined the British Army. Three years then locked away in a school in Co Tipperary was a true example of hunger, hardship, abuse, assaults, and the kind of criminal attacks that I can not put on paper.
High-rise flats are not the solution
High-rise flats may be the only option for local authorities, by way of social housing, if land prices continue to soar.
An Bord PleanĂĄla supports this policy, maintaining âthere is a need for buildings to be built upwards and has urged planners to be more pro-active in halting the urban sprawlâ.,
The bord wants local authorities to seriously consider high-rise density developments because of pressure on existing land and rising property prices.â For health and environmental reasons, I do not support high-rise development.
This type of development for young families will only create more problems for them, psychological and otherwise.
With no recreational facilities or playing areas, other than a corridor or the flat itself â this is a bad start in life for a young family. Slowly but surely many of our cities and towns are being turned into concrete jungles, with scant consideration for the recreational needs of our people.
I have seen at first hand that the lifts are more times out of order than in use, resulting in young families having to carry children, prams, and other goods up many flights of stairs.
Dublin, Cork, and London, some years back, went for high-rise development and all have since been demolished. Families lived a life of hell in these places.
In an effort to help, local authorities should be given the power and resources to compulsorily purchase undeveloped zoned land that is being hoarded and should have the first option on the acquisition of newly zoned residential land.
A combination of greed and questionable planning policies is biting at the very heart of our country, taking away its character and sacrificing our quality of life for prosperity and development.
Somebody has to cry halt.
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