Madam, – It is serendipitous that Queen Elizabeth should be laying a wreath at the statue of the Children of Lir on the birthday of its sculptor, Oisín Kelly (1915-1981).
Oisín, my father, was actually christened Austin Ernest William; he referred to himself wryly as “a walking war memorial”, carrying the names of one uncle killed in the Boer War and another in the first World War. Like his own father, he was a firm nationalist, but he abhorred the mean-spiritedness, hatred and violence that have sullied nationalism on this island.
He would have found the idea of the Queen of England visiting the Garden of Remembrance amusing as well as amazing; but he would certainly have approved. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I read (Home News, May 14th) that the streets of all the places Her Majesty visits will be sealed off from the public. Presumably Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village will be left beside her bed as required reading. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Having witnessed the unprecedented cleaning of the M50 and N7 this weekend, and anticpating the imminent pedestrianisation of Dublin city centre, may we please invite the queen to visit more often? – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Fintan O’Toole’s assertion in Saturday’s “Ireland the Queen” Irish Times supplement that “Whether anyone likes it or not, English has been the primary medium of Irish cultural expression for centuries” is simply untrue.
Garret Fitzgerald concluded in Estimates for Baronies of Minimum Levels of Irish-Speaking Amongst Successive Decennial Cohorts (PRIA) that about half of the children in Ireland at the start of the 19th century spoke Irish.
Given that Dr Fitzgerald’s work does not take into account that the west of the country suffered more severe depopulation as a result of the Great Famine, it is safe to say that the majority of Irish people spoke Irish up to the 1840s.
While the English do indeed have, to quote Mr O’Toole “a damn good language”, so do we with many centuries of high cultural expression in our own language.
Fans of English literature, be it written by Irish or other artists, need not demean Irish literature and culture. We can have catholic appetites. – Is mise,
Madam, – As an Irish taxpayer, I’m being forced to endure no parking in Dublin for a week, multiple road closures affecting some of the busiest roads in the State, a massive bill for policing, and the erosion of civil liberties with the apparent use of stop-and-search powers by the gardaí – all this for the visit of a VIP who the general public will not even be allowed to see from a distance.
I didn’t vote for this. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In relation to the visit of the Queen, we are told that the occasion reflects our “maturity” and “growth” as a nation, though not so mature as to provide security for the visit. Reports that armed British police will roam our streets is anathema and insulting to those members of our own security forces, some of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the State.
Bending the knee and tugging at the forelock – both alive and well on John Bull’s other island. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Getting Queen Elizabeth to pay a visit to Croke Park and to lay a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance is a disgrace. It’s obvious that both events are designed to humiliate her. Would President McAleese lay a wreath at the graves of the British soldiers who were killed during the 1916 Rising? Will there be any mention of the several British soldiers murdered in their homes in front of their families the night before the 1920 Croke Park incident?
Her Majesty should cancel her visit until proper respect is shown for her dignity and position as head of State of a friendly country. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I’m an Irish citizen living in France, and today (Monday) I’m flying to Dublin as I want to be among the crowds which gather to welcome the Queen to our country. Except it appears that there will be no crowds. According to your edition of May 14th, all streets around the locations the Queen is to visit will be closed to the public, in the name of security.
Obviously precautions must be taken to protect the Queen while in Ireland, but is it necessary that those members of the public who would like to show her the warmth of an Irish welcome are to be completely excluded? What impression will she have of us as she is whisked through empty streets? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Along with the majority of people here, I am happy to welcome Queen Elizabeth as a visitor to our shores. However, I can’t help wondering what image we will convey to the millions of Britons who have never crossed the Irish Sea, when they watch their monarch in our country.
Our Army is already proudly showing off its hardware and its forces, armed to the teeth in preparation for the visit. Meanwhile, our gardaí are putting Dublin and the other locations to be visited into a lock-down that will result in empty streets. Major thoroughfares will be completely closed. What does all of this tell the world? The message can only be that the Queen is at such risk from the people of Ireland that they have to be excluded from their own roads and cities.
While our tourist authorities are telling all and sundry that this visit will be a boost for tourism, the message that the Garda Síochána is sending out to our British friends is very clear – if you set foot in Ireland, your life is at serious risk from the ordinary populace. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Subjecting HM Queen Elizabeth to a performance by Westlife will go some way to balancing out the wrongs of 800 years of repression. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am of the opinion that we should welcome Queen Elizabeth to our shores, for the British royals must surely be the Eighth Wonder of the modern world.
From royal-watcher to closet peepers, did we not tune in to the wedding last month? A phenomenon is on our door step; therefore should we not invite its head to come in – knowing that this time the monarchy will not outstay its welcome. Céad Míle Fáilte, Queen Elizabeth. May your stay with us be a happy one. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It is important that Ireland has a productive relationship with our nearest neighbour, and so the first State visit of the Queen of England, Elizabeth Windsor, to our country, can be seen in this context. It can also be seen in the context of paying tribute to Her Excellency the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, for the Trojan work that she has done to further improve relations between our two countries, over the 13 and a half years that she has served, with such dignity and grace, as our head of State. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Personally I’m not too bothered whether Elizabeth R comes to this part of the world or not. However, those who object to a visit from the Queen of England might care to note that she is also the head of state of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, among other territories.
Given the historic links between those countries and Ireland, their significance for the Diaspora, and their current importance to young Irish people in particular in these recessionary times, perhaps they might be more willing to welcome her as wearing one of those hats – or crowns? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I gather that there is a tremendous enthusiasm abroad in this country for apologies, especially when they come from someone else. The Queen of England and her first minister must apologise for the sins of commission and omission on the part of their forebears. I wonder is anyone planning to apologise to Elizabeth for blowing up her husband’s uncle? – Yours, etc,