Dear Sir... Readers' Views (15/11/16)
Leitrim languishes as Dublin dominates
The starkness of the gulf between Co Leitrim and Co Dublin is summarised by the recent results in the National football League (NFL) — Dublin consistently at the top, while Leitrim is near the bottom.
There is a massive gulf in population numbers. Dublin TDs outnumber Leitrim’s by 60 to one.
County Dublin, alone, with its industrial and service concentration, has 80-85% of all of Ireland’s economic drivers.
Leitrim is a most scenic and friendly area, with an unequalled cultural tradition from O’Carolan to John McGahern. Its failing economy, including farming, is of no concern to the powers that be.
Bertie Ahern, former FF Taoiseach, once said that all of Co Leitrim should be forested. Another Taoiseach played a role in closing down our meat processing industries.
The Buchanan Plan of the 1960s offered some hope of regional balance. Successive governments tore it up and allowed the present gross and costly imbalance to take root.
This imbalance is growing by the day. There was an attempt at decentralisation of the civil service, but it was so poorly thought through and implemented that it has got a very poor press.
The present growing gross imbalance is destroying any sense of national unity and it is very bad for both Leitrim and Dublin.
While the government has halved Co Leitrim’s annual roads allocation (down to below €7 million), it is investing €350m in the Luas Cross City Project. With all the silly planning regulations in place, it is nearly impossible for farmers’ children to get planning permission in rural Co Leitrim. At the same time, the proposed new estates to be built on the edge of Dublin city, will in a few years, house the entire population of Co Leitrim several times over.
Leitrim’s youth are not finding local employment. Large numbers have gone to Dublin, to London, to Toronto, to Sydney, etc — hence, the failures in the NFL. Fifty years ago, the late John Healy’s No One Shouted “Stop” stated that it was like watching a train crash in slow motion, but no one could do anything about it. Have we not enough honesty, energy and ingenuity left in this country to address this growing gulf. “Who is running this country and in whose interests?” I keep asking myself.
America need to crack glass ceiling
Although Hillary Clinton fell short for a second time in her effort to win the White House, (‘Presidency proves a glass ceiling too high for Hillary Clinton’, Irish Examiner, November 10), in her concession speech, she said, “Someday, someone will, and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.”
That chapter in our nation’s history remains to be written after 240 years when at the birth of our nation, Abigail Adams wrote to husband John at the Continental Congress: “I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”
Although Clinton won a plurality of the popular vote, she lost in the electoral college. Her graceful concession speech is a challenge for Mr Trump who pledges to be “president for all Americans” to rapidly take action to erase the sounds of the vulgar and divisive campaign rhetoric which frightens so many citizens of divergent ethnic, religious and gender diversity.
Mrs Clinton’s legacy will be that of a valiant and patriotic woman who fought the good fight and laid down a marker for future generations who someday will achieve that to which she and Abigail aspired, gender equality. And we Americans might learn a lesson from the Irish who cracked the glass ceiling twice in electing their President.
Trump and his pack of deluded misfits
There has been much hand wringing in recent days in response to the election of Mr Trump as people attempt to understand how it could come to pass that a narcissistic sociopath could ascend to the most powerful position in the world. It’s quiet simple really, and the reasons are similar those which resulted in Brexit.
Disaffected voters needed a foil to express their rage and Hilary Clinton was not an option. Unfortunately these frustrated voters had a champion in Bernie Sanders who articulated solutions without the need to resort to scapegoating, bigotry, and racism. However the DNC establishment could not present this option to the electorate as it did not align with the wishes of their corporate sponsors.
Typically with power of course comes moderation of election promises as the reality of governance becomes apparent. However in a worrying sign Trump has surrounded himself with a collection of deluded misfits whose beliefs mean that the incoming administration may abandon reason for subjective ignorance.
In appointing a climate change denier Myron Ebell as his EPA transition lead, Trump has opened a door to vested interests to completely undermine the Paris accord, creating an opportunity for the fossil fuel industry to find even more insidious ways to despoil our environment.
What is important now is to try and win back those who feel disenfranchised through reasoned and engaged debate. An understanding of their anger and frustration is required rather than a dismissal of their views. Mr Trump has lived a cosseted existence all his life and has disingenuously exploited their fears and frustrations for his own ends.
The hope lies in the energy and enthusiasm that Bernie Sanders brought to the primary campaign which demonstrated that there is potential for a genuine movement of social and economic reform in the US.
Hopefully his campaign has sown the seeds for progressive activism that will play a significant role in preventing the US from slipping into a dark place.
Democracy did it for the Donald
I read with great interest your article identifying Senator Aodhan O’Riordain’s ‘impassioned speech’ in the Seanad following Donald Trump’s victory. Partial as I am to the aul impassioned speech, I found myself watching the video of Aodhan in his full indignant best.
Aodhan is ‘appalled’ by what is happening in Britain and across Europe! What’s happening is democracy. A majority of people in the UK voted for Brexit. What’s appalling about that?
He’s embarrassed by the reaction of the Irish Government to what’s happened in America. What has happened in America, again, is simply democracy.
Donald may not have won the popular vote, but he won an election in a system the whole world has accepted as fair democracy for centuries. Again, Aodhan is appalled at that outcome, labelling Donald a fascist. Twice he calls him a fascist. He doesn’t use the word lightly we are told, so he must be a fascist!
I would not have voted for Trump, he is not the answer to the issues in America. I would suggest Trump himself is more shocked at the outcome than Aodhan is, but he did win, and, at a minimum, his triumph should be afforded some greater analysis than simply labeling him a fascist. Trump represents a feeling in America; he did not create it. We may not agree with it, or like it, but it’s there.
‘Appalled’ again he was that a ‘ member of this House’ , ‘A female member’ he emphasises, would congratulate Donald Trump on social media.
Why not? He should take that up with Hillary Clinton. She was the first woman to congratulate him, and accept defeat. She realises that what must happen is to bridge divides and heal, not create further division, and find a way to move froward for the best interests of America.
Life in White House not as we know it
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Captain’s log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2266.
“The Enterprise is in orbit around a strange planet in the third quadrant of the galaxy. Vague indications on our maps suggest this maybe the fabled world of Earth. Our sensors have locked onto a part of the planet called America.”
Captain Kirk poses the question: “Mr, Spock any signs of life down there?”
Spock replies: “Appears to be some strange activity around a big white dome. However, it’s life, Jim, but not as we know it?”
Pundits lacked their expertise
“The US presidential election, how did the pundits get it so wrong? Our reporter Cian McCormack talks to the experts” intoned the voice on RTÉ Radio 1.
Oh dear! Surely the point is that there are no experts.
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