It’s our Constitution versus IRA and their pals

WAS it Oscar Wilde who said on his deathbed, “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do?”

Before Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, invites the Sinn Féin decorators into government buildings, he should remember that the changes they make will be far from cosmetic.

We shouldn’t need to spell out to such a minister that either the IRA’s constitution goes or ours does, feet first, draped in the tricolour and beneath a fusillade of shots.

Besides, it is all illegal: If it is illegal to seek political advantage by using secret slush finds to win an election, then it is doubly illegal to use secret arms dumps to bribe and bully your way to victory. And to think that it is this shower of cowboys our own Government is inviting in to paper over the cracks!

It never ceases to amaze me that our media heavyweights are all too willing to go after David Beckham for an off-the-ball incident, or Cian O’Connor whose horse should seemingly abide by the rules too. But the IRA, that’s business. And Fianna Fáil will do business with anyone.

Richard Dowling

Coote Street

Mountrath

Co Laois