Madam, - I refer to the recent banning of a Veritas Christmas advertisement for radio.
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland remind me of a a select group of angels dancing on the head of a pin as they apply their interpretation to the legislation regarding advertising directed towards a religious end.
For 1500 years we have had a tradition of being the Island of Saints and Scholars.
Now we're known as being the mecca for binge drinkers. Great for a bit of craic but don't mention Christmas in case we might offend the politically correct.
As people in mainland Europe don't bother with the tinsel, tack and consumerism that goes for Christmas in Ireland, they manage to enjoy the spirit of Christmas without having to fill their houses with the extravagant excesses that advertisers bombard us with the minute Halloween is over.
And yet Europe is able to create a magical atmosphere and tourists flock to their special Christmas markets.
On whose authority has the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland banned the Veritas advertisement?
Who exactly was that wording deemed to offend?
Whether you believe in a God or no god, there is a tradition, a magic, a sense of family that the spirit of Christmas personifies.
It's the private anniversary of the heart where most of us remember our childhoods, our relatives and Christmases past and where people's innate goodness and generosity comes to the fore.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, and whatever legislation has allowed them to do this, has taken it upon themselves to eliminate millennia of tradition.
It is far more offensive to presume to act as a legislator of public broadcasting by banning an advertisement that mentions Christmas and giving a gift that means more, while at the same time allowing all forms of consumer advertising rampant space on the airwaves. And for that matter, since when was being invited to visit an advertiser's website unacceptable?
I want the diversity of traditions in our society, I most definitely don't want the sanitised, banal, pernicious political correctness that supports minority authority in every walk of life.
Am I alone in this concern? I invite others to respond. - Yours, etc,
AIDEEN CARROLL,
Kenilworth Road,
Dublin 6.
Madam, - I wish to offer my full support to Veritas in their efforts to air Christmas advertising on RTÉ. Radio legislation for the few removes the rights of the majority, dictating that Christian religious symbols in schools and radio or television ads for organisations such as Veritas etc have no place in "modern-day" Ireland. This amounts to a dumbing-down of society.
Education is what got Ireland off its knees; Christian religious orders played a huge part in educating the population in the years when our governments did not have the resources or expertise to invest in our young citizens.
The religious orders provided this essential service out of a sense of duty and commitment to our country, and did so before the buzzword days of "Benchmarking Ireland".
To now turn our backs on religious orders and ban radio or television ads for companies linked to them is abhorrent to all right-minded people.
If the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland continue to represent the so-called politically correct fringe groups of Ireland and continues to ban the Veritas ads it amounts (in my opinion) to a support for atheism and brings to mind the words of the old song; "The Lunatics have taken over the Asylum". - Yours, etc,
MICK MURPHY,
Hilltop,
Model Farm Road,
Cork