Sir, – Will all be cosy in Northern Ireland this winter after the deal that the DUP has agreed with the Conservative Party? Surely a billion pounds from Westminster will help the DUP to reopen the “Cash for Ash” scheme. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD FOX,
Kilcoole, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – There have been repeated questions in recent days as to what Arlene Foster’s DUP stands for in political terms. Following the £1 billion deal agreed with Theresa May, might the answer be Deep Unionist Pockets? – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL CULLEN,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Lord Heseltine, quoting Enoch Powell, compares Theresa May’s deal with the DUP to paying the Danegeld in Anglo-Saxon times (“Opposition condemns May’s £1 billion agreement with the DUP”, June 27th). Would it not be more appropriate to describe it as feeding a crocodile?
Doesn’t life throw up some splendid ironies from time to time? – Yours, etc,
FELIX M LARKIN,
Cabinteely,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – So now we know. A mere £500 million a year can buy Northern Ireland. Surely we could afford that? – Yours, etc,
DONAL DENHAM,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Sir, – A fresh stash of cash to wash the ash off the sash? – Yours, etc,
D FLINTER,
Headford,
Co Galway.
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole is indulging in the usual blame game for the dire state of the country at the time of the economic collapse ("Ireland must be tough to avoid being sold out in Brexit deal", Opinion & Analysis, June 27th). It's all the fault of the Europeans is the mantra. That is just not true.
The spectacular failure in 2010, which saw government spending twice what it was getting in taxes, financial institutions bankrupted, and this country needing a bailout of €85 billion, was caused by the decisions of a small number of this country’s own most powerful citizens in the previous decade or so. During that time, both Irish government expenditure and Irish bank lending tripled.
O’Toole is also compounding the misdiagnosis of past problems by misdiagnosing what Ireland can do to mitigate the problems that are going to be caused by Brexit.
Those problems are caused by the people of the UK voting to tear up an agreement they signed with 27 other countries. If they stick to that decision, there will be a hard Border.
In that situation Ireland can in the words of Fintan O’Toole “become a bloody difficult country”, and threaten to leave or something. How realistic is that?
We did not have too many options when we were bankrupt through our own fault in 2010.
Similarly we do not have too many options if the British insist on a hard Border in the near future. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton, Dublin 13.
Sir, – So Theresa May has bought power in her billion pound deal with the DUP. However the cost to the United Kingdom is much higher. The UK government’s role as an impartial co-guarantor to the Belfast Agreement has been torpedoed, given that one strand of the talks centred on an amnesty for former British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. This threatens peace and unity in Northern Ireland.
In addition, Wales and Scotland and peripheral regions of England are not afforded the same funding treatment, and it prompts the question as to where the money is coming from. Indeed the first ministers of both Wales and Scotland are seething.
What is uncertain is whether a deal can now be done closer to home with Sinn Féin with regard to reestablishing the power-sharing institutions. While it might welcome extra funds, it might deem them to come at too high a price and might threaten the fragile peace that exists. Time will tell, but sometimes no deal really is better than a bad deal! – Is mise,
KILLIAN BRENNAN,
Dublin 17.
Sir, – Tiocfaidh Arlene! – Yours, etc,
EITHNE MacFADDEN,
Carrigart,
Co Donegal.