Dear Sir... Readers' Views (25/01/17)
Last Saturday, a protest was held here in Galway, as in Washington and many other cities around the world, against Donald Trump’s presidency. While people are entitled to organise and take part in such protests I question the wisdom of such actions.
America is arguably the most democratic country on earth. Elections for president are held every four years with two main parties in contention, the Democrats and the Republicans.
In fact, the system of choosing which candidate represents each party goes on for months in the primaries and caucuses, a wholly democratic system as well.
Donald Trump was duly elected president, a result his defeated candidate Hilary Clinton accepted within hours of the result. Some people will argue that Hilary Clinton won the popular vote but each candidate knew the rules of the game and knew the result wasn’t determined this way.
For instance, Donald Trump didn’t campaign in California, a state he knew he wouldn’t win as, in the electoral college system, all of the votes from this democratic state were going to Hilary Clinton anyway. If it had been a popular vote election, he would have gone there and probably picked up a few million votes in the large cities.
Like in the aftermath of Brexit, people protesting on the streets was pointless. Any politician will tell you that the only poll that counts is the one held on election day. That is the point of holding elections. People vote and if you do not vote you have no right to complain.
Protesting over the result of a democratic election is an affront to democracy. Thankfully the Saturday protests around the world were peaceful but such protests can often deepen divisions that are there. People need to accept that Donald Trump is president, no matter how unpalatable this may be for them.
If they are really exercised by this result, let them join political parties and campaign for another candidate in the next election. That is democracy in action. Otherwise such carry-on as took place here in Galway last Saturday smacks of sour grapes.
If the events of the weekend are an indication of the mind-set of Mr Trump and his administration, then we have really entered a surreal realm. Orwell could not have envisaged the level of doublespeak which has emanated from the White House so far.
To be sold a blatant lie as truth in an official press conference and then be told that what was presented was ‘alternative facts’ makes me wonder if I am living in an alternate universe. The levels of delusion being displayed would be a boon for any prospective psychology research student.
Will the setting of the terms of reference for the ‘Grace’ scandal inquiry do for justice what the terms of reference did for the Banking Inquiry, namely neutred it before it had begun.
Will they simply add yet another scandal to that growing number of files; including the Moriarty Tribunal findings, Siteserv, Garda and air corp whistleblowers, the transcripts scandal, amongst many; in that filing cabinet named ‘Justice in Suspension’?
Given the modus operandi of successive governments and their use of vital arms of the State, one could reasonably conclude that justice would not be served by any political involvement in the setting of the terms of reference for any such inquiry.
How we could do with a ‘People’s Champion’ with the calibre of the late Adrian Hardiman, whose knowledge, skill, and courage would go a long way to introducing more transparency in the areas of the redaction of documents and oversight of same, the scrutiny and testing of the validity of legal advice given to government, together with scrutiny and clarification in the use of ‘confidentiality’, ‘not in the public interest’ etc which, at times, seem to be tools used to stop the course of justice in its tracks.
Such headlines as ‘Threat to Democracy Will Come from The Left’ seem inappropriate when you could fill a broadsheet newspaper page (in 60pt typeface) with examples of why Ireland is not a democracy, due largely to the governance of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
As for the use of the words ‘left’, ‘right’, and ‘centre’ in political discourse, well it would be more meaningful to substitute them with the words ‘fair’, ‘unfair’, ‘just’, ‘unjust’, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, ‘equitable’, and ‘inequitable’.
The success of An Garda Síochána in hopefully ending the misuse of Dublin airport for the trafficking of illegal immigrants is to be welcomed.
The seriousness of this breach of security at Dublin leaves a lot of questions to be answered by the Dublin Airport Authority and Aer Lingus.
Reports that this security scandal may have been going on for several years are deeply worrying and damaging to the reputation of our country. The possibility exists that Dublin airport was not the only Irish airport that was being used for the purpose of illegal migration. However, it’s very unlikely that anyone died or was seriously injured as a result of this illegal migration scandal.
At Shannon Airport, however, events are occurring, or being facilitated, which do lead to the deaths and serious injury of very many people, not in Ireland, but just a few hours flight away in the Middle East. The duties and responsibilities of An Garda Síochána not only to investigate crime but also to prevent crime are arguably not being adequately applied at Shannon airport.
During 2016 at least 732 aircraft belonging to, or on contract to, the US military landed and refuelled at Shannon airport, most of them en route to or from the Middle East. None of these aircraft were searched or investigated by gardaí at Shannon, in spite of the virtual certainty that many of them are transporting soldiers and munitions that are used to kill many people in the Middle East in wars that are unjustified and in clear breach of international laws.
This government needs to bring in a home care scheme to free up beds in our hospitals right away. Home carers do a great job in this country and are to be commended and there should be funding available for home help hours.
They may have to travel in the dead of night to look after an elderly person but look at the money it will save in reducing the numbers having to go into nursing homes. Most elderly people want to live at home anyway, so let’s give them the option.
I tuned into Barrscéalta on Raidio na Gaeltachta on January 17 last and listened to Kieran Roarty (funeral directors, Dún Lúiche) as he spoke about the new funeral home he has opened in Gaoth Dobhair.
He reiterated the fact that he was not trying to do away with the traditional waking of the dead in the family home, but it was to facilitate people who may not be able to hold a wake.
It was a bit of a coincidence that the previous night I had watched part of a disturbing programme on TV about embalming in Puerto Rico. Some of the rare demands made by relatives would never have a hope in hell of being implemented in a funeral home in this country, but then again you should never say ‘never’.
What is this embalming craic all about. Is there any need for it, apart from adding cost to a burial?
In my opinion bodies of people who die should be left as they are so that when buried, decomposition can take place naturally. We must look a bit further ahead, and perhaps go back to keeping coffins closed during wakes if the person is dead for a lengthy period of time.
When you attend a wake you will hear people saying “doesn’t he/she look so well”, that’s what embalming is all about, sanitisation, presentation and preservation. But what about the side-affects which is not spoken about?
Cancer-causing formaldehyde and ammonia which are two toxic components used. But its a case of out of sight, out of mind once bodies are six foot under. The problem arises when these chemicals start seeping into the soil, or worse where graveyards tend to get flooded, the same chemicals used to preserve corpses may already be inside us via that cup of tea or bottle of water.
My wife made a rare suggestion, saying that when I “kick the bucket” she’d have me embalmed for presentation purposes only, so that all the auld grannies could purr over me and say “he never looked so good when he was alive, god bless him”.
For the wake, I’d be dressed up in my old Yabba Dabba Doo Tee shirt, sat in a room in front of a desk with a pen in my fingers, cover the walls with my writings and charge an entrance fee at the door.
I don’t honestly know if it would raise enough to cover the cost of the tea and raisin buns, but enough might be done to avail of a grant for a franchise business on the side.
It would be worth a try anyway.
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