Sir, – Justine McCarthy touches on some unpalatable home truths about the Irish psyche (“It’s time the Irish stopped obsessing about being universally loved. Those days are gone”, Opinion, September 20th).
The nation would be wise to address these issues and face up to the skeletons in its cupboard by asking some awkward questions, such as: Was the resort to violence to “liberate” Ireland in the best interests of all its citizens? Would Ireland have benefitted from embracing the Reformation? How xenophobic/ anti-Semitic are the Irish? Has neutrality served us well? Has the hang-up of trying to differentiate ourselves from our bullying neighbour, with whom we have so much in common, outlived its usefulness?
These, and similar questions, should be part of our educational curriculum.
A mature democracy should be able to conduct a conversation on such issues.
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I have encountered the kind of hostility Ms McCarthy refers to, even the missionary impulse of the Irish Catholic Church is now seen by many as the creation of a covert empire of sorts.
We like to see ourselves as “great craic”, the world’s jester. Is it not time to acknowledge that the mirror from which we see that playboy reflection has a crack in it? – Yours, etc,
PADDY McEVOY,
Cambridgeshire,
England.