Change for the Better

Cormac MacConnell’s article “The Changing Face of Christmas (December 20-January 2) reminded me of the first time our family returned to Ireland for Christmas in 1978.

After midnight Mass, I asked a priest where the Anglican church was because, since I’m Episcopalian, I didn’t feel comfortable about receiving Communion in a Catholic church back in 1978.

My wife was stunned and quite upset about my question. She worried terribly about the people who might have overheard me asking it.

The priest seemed startled as well and surprised me when he asked if I was English because I have such a pronounced Chicago accent! At any rate, he gave directions that were good enough for me to follow to the Protestant church on Christmas morning.

The last time our family spent Christmas in Ireland was in 2003, and the contrast couldn’t have been more striking! Not only did I freely receive Communion in both Protestant and Catholic churches, but the warmth and friendliness of both churches was so apparent and welcome that I would have to rate my time in them as a highlight of that trip.

So when I read Cormac’s column about the teacher who so decently promoted racial harmony by interchanging a black baby Jesus with a white one, I could only reflect on how Ireland’s developing sense of tolerance has been such a godsend.

I only hope that as the new Ireland develops and changes that it will retain its wonderful sense of kindness, and add to it a developing sense of tolerance that recognizes equally what its newcomers both want to give to, as well as receive from, the new Ireland.

Dave Schulz
Deerfield, Illinois

Ulster Free for All

On Unionist identity in Ireland, letter writer Alex Strickland (November 29-December 5) stated that I think Orangemen have no right to an identity.

That is not true. They can be anything they want, but the days of Orange/Unionist domination over Catholics are over in Northern Ireland.

All Irish Americans need to know about Northern Ireland is to listen to Reverend Ian Paisley, and read about the bloody English occupation of Ireland. The English set up the colony of Ulster to keep the native Irish in a state of servitude to the 1600s English crown, with the plantation of Ulster and Protestant, Scots and English settlers.

So as I said before, if the Orangemen don’t like the changes in Ireland today, they can go back to England like the Loyalists did after England lost the American colonies.

The winds of changes are blowing. No longer will the Irish be third class citizens in their own land.

Mr. Strickland can have any identity he wants, but he has to accept that the Irish are here to stay on an equal basis.

On this side of the pond we know enough about English rule in Northern Ireland. They couldn’t kill all the Irish, but God knows they tried.

It will be long before the Irish will outnumber the Unionists. Just look to the Republic of Ireland, where Protestants are equal citizens to everyone else.

There will be peace with justice in a united Ireland, and Mr. Strickland has nothing to fear over that as he will be a safe and equal citizen.

The Irish are a forgiving people. We don’t hate anyone, even the people who tried to wipe us out through hundreds of years of occupation.

Peace to all in a free and united Ireland. The English empire is dead. Freedom for all.

Tom McTigue
Bronx, New York

Citizenship Unfairness

I Eemphatize with letter writer Eric Hafner (“Change Citizenship Laws,” December 20-January 2) on the subject of Irish citizenship by descent.

My wife and I have been traveling to Ireland since the early nineties on a regular basis. We have made wonderful friends over the years and recently built a house there, and we plan to retire to it in just a couple of years.

Like Eric, I have found that I am not eligible for Irish citizenship by descent, even though I can trace my great-grandparents’ journey from Ireland to the states during the Famine years.

The Irish diaspora in the U.S. has always rallied with alacrity around any issue helpful to the Irish both in Ireland and here within the U.S. The Irish Voice is testament to that fact.

But I would like to address my comments herein to Irish Voice publisher Niall O’Dowd. Your publication addresses many of the issues of the Irish arriving here in the states.

It is indeed an important function, but what about the Irish American who wishes to obtain Irish citizenship? The Irish Voice has been very silent on this issue, and I’m sure I speak for many in the Irish American community.

It would be wonderful to witness a concomitant of legal reforms regarding citizenship by both governments. As of now, I must jump a number of hurdles to obtain Irish citizenship, including five years of residency, before I can even apply for citizenship by naturalization. Yet on each recurring visit to Ireland, I watch the growing number of “new citizens,” most of East European origins.

For the most part I have found these people to be hard working and pleasant. I therefore do not wish my comments to be viewed as pejorative towards any new immigrants to Ireland.

But the fact remains that they do lack any ancestral connection to Ireland, and it is disheartening to see citizenship so easily obtained by these new immigrants while I’m made to feel as the outsider.

Since Niall is comfortable in discussing these types of issues with both American and Irish politicians, I would appreciate his comments on this issue.

James T. McQuilkin
Thorofare, New Jersey

Niall O’Dowd responds: We would certainly like to address this issue and will do so in the near future. It is a very valid point that as the links to Ireland weaken because of fewer immigrants coming to the U.S. from there, then it becomes harder for Irish Americans to claim Irish citizenship.

Sports and Drinking

The Republic of Ireland soccer team will have a tough time making it big on the world stage because it only represents 26 counties in Ireland.

The Irish national rugby team which captured the Triple Crown last year is one of the favorites for the World Cup in France this year. This team has players from all 32 counties, and that is the main reason it is such a powerful force in rugby.

The Northern Ireland Protestants would never allow a united soccer team. However, they are not the only culprits.

The GAA committed an atrocity against the Republic of Ireland soccer team some years ago. Ireland and Scotland could have hosted the next European Cup if the GAA had opened its gates for a few games of soccer.

The Republic of Ireland soccer team would not have been required to qualify for the finals. The team would automatically qualify for the last 16, and after that every game would have been a home game in Croke Park.

The GAA claimed that they had a policy where they did not allow foreign sports played there. This same GAA years earlier greeted Notre Dame and Muhammad Ali, etc. with open arms.

On another matter, the latest disturbing thing I heard from Ireland is that pub owners are seeking compensation from the government following the introduction of random breath testing.

The Vinters Association of Ireland says the bar owners are suffering financially. A representative of the Irish AA said that bar owners are effectively saying that people should be allowed to drink and drive.

Because of the slaughter on the roads in Ireland caused by speeding and drunken drivers, lowering the speed limit and closing half the bars (there are a dozen in every small town) would go a long way to eliminating the mayhem on the roads in Ireland.

Frank Geraghty
Bergenfield, New Jersey