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E-mailThe proposed visit by the British queen to our capital city is premature by a long shot. It looks like some sort of reward for the unlawful killing (murder) verdict, by Lord Saville, into the Bloody Sunday atrocity. The elation shown by some to the impending visit is far removed from the hurt inflicted by her majesty's forces to citizens of this state, north and south. There are a lot of outstanding issues to be dealt with before the red carpet is rolled out. The massacre of the innocent by the same para outfit that were so trigger-happy in Derry resulted in the shooting dead of the parish priest and 10 of his parishioners in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, weeks previous to the Derry free-for-all. The Dublin-Monaghan bombings resulted in the deaths of 34 innocent people, again with the connivance of her majesty's government agents.
Numerous attempts have been made by the Irish judiciary to have documents held in Whitehall handed over to them which would complete the jigsaw. The reason for not making those files available is self-explanatory; it would expose the subversive role played by British security services in these horrendous attacks on civilian life. The handing over of this evidence is of national importance, and should happen as a precondition to any such visit by the said monarch. There can be no real healing or moving forward until the source of this stifling pain is dealt with to the satisfaction of all.
The issue of the cost involved in staging any such visit will be enormous; the potential of serious rioting and loss of life that may well occur in opposition to this monarch setting a foot on this side of the border is a simmering reality.
J Woods,
Gort An Choirce,
Dún na nGall
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The invitation extended to Her Majesty, The Queen is a pragmatic gesture of goodwill by one mature, sovereign nation to its nearest neighbour that seeks to enhance and nurture relations for the mutual benefit of both, despite the mottled character of history. Our focus is on the future, not the past. The political stabilisers have been removed from our bicycle.
Progressive, sophisticated and worldly Irish people are generally uninspired by obdurate, inert thinking, stuck in a time warp, with a fixation on the wing mirrors of history and eternally obsessed with grievance, whether real or imagined.
Such thinking is dull and pathetic because it fosters chronic dependency, infinite stagnation and all the disadvantages of parochialism, narrow mindedness and an inability to grow up.
These postures do not create employment, narrow bond spreads, increase exports, deepen spirituality, enrich culture, enhance well-being, nor assist in the achievement of eternal salvation.
By the way - cost is always related to value and presumably the reference to the potential of serious rioting ought to be more accurately described as a threat, the nature of which is a matter for police consideration in this democratic republic - which has always upheld and honoured the rule law and the maintenance of order.