1 week Ago
With all the wild statements coming from Donald Trump, I’m waiting for him to announce he has bought some real estate on Mars from Elon Musk and is going to call it Mars-a-Lago . It’s a cheaper deal than Canada or Greenland, and the altitude should help Trump with his golf swing. It’s very cold on Mars, but there’s an opening for Trump to get into the fur trade.
Perhaps his friendship with Musk is all based on potential profits on Mars. Sounds bonkers, but that’s the currency now in the White House. Joseph Kiely, Letterkenny, Co Donegal Is it any wonder Donald Trump has become the ‘butt’ of so much ridicule? Donald Trump is convinced world leaders are “kissing my ass”.
Is that the reason why the stock markets were plunging towards the bottom? Noel Kelly, Doonbeg, Co Clare Recent developments in US serve to reinforce the case for Irish neutrality The recent imposition of sweeping tariffs by Donald Trump is yet another reminder, if one were needed, that American foreign and economic policy are driven first and foremost by naked self-interest. This is not a new development, but rather an emboldened reaffirmation of a long-standing, transactional world view that prizes advantage over alliance and profit over principle. In this light, Ireland’s long-held position of military neutrality appears not only principled but perfectly logical.
Calls to abandon neutrality in favour of deeper integration in military alliances such as Nato are often made on the assumption that we are joining a club of like-minded democracies that act in concert for the common good. But the Trump-era vision of American leadership, one that is unpredictable, unilateralist and fundamentally self-serving, undermines this assumption. If we align ourselves militarily with a superpower leader who prioritises American economic interests above all else, we risk being drawn into conflicts that serve those interests, not ours.
If Donald Trump’s unilateral actions result in a world war, as some experts have predicted, do we really want to send Irish troops into harm’s way for the sake of defending American commercial dominance? Rather than diminishing the case for neutrality, recent developments have amplified it. America earned its leadership role through real contributions to global development and security. Until that spirit re-emerges, Ireland should hold fast to its independence.
Finian Fallon, Wards Hill, Dublin Let’s remember victims of Titanic next Tuesday on anniversary of its sinking Next Tuesday, April 15, is the 113th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. In Ireland, the media have focused over the years on Irish, British and American passengers, but many were from Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Poland, Portugal, France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and what was known in 1912 as Palestine. Six of eight passengers (all men) of Chinese nationality survived.
Their story was told by the BBC World Service in April 2021. On arrival in New York they were told they had to leave the US within 24 hours. Immigrants from China were barred from the US under the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was repealed in 1943.
Some went to Cuba and the UK. They were made to leave the UK by the British authorities in 1920. Surviving the Titanic didn’t engender much sympathy for them.
There was strong prejudice against China at the time. Lebanon had its first Titanic memorial in 2012 with the names of 125 Lebanese victims and 29 survivors. Bulgaria has a Titanic memorial to 33 Bulgarians who died.
The plaque reads: “Time has not washed away the memories of you.” In Washington DC there is a Titanic memorial, unveiled in 1931, to the men who gave up their lives for women and children given the first places in the lifeboats. Money was raised for it by a committee of American women and the US government.
In Australia there is a Titanic bandsmen memorial from the citizens of Broken Hill, New South Wales. One-hundred-and-50 of the victims recovered were buried in three cemeteries in Halifax, Canada. Other remains were claimed by the families.
The largest number of Titanic memorials is in Southampton. Over 1,500 people died. Over 700 of them were crew.
There were 705 survivors. Mary Sullivan, College Road, Cork Write the minutes before a meeting and watch just how well things go to plan I agree with Frank Coughlan’s diagnosis of the modern meeting as a kind of slow-moving intellectual sinkhole, where time and morale go to disappear (‘Bosses should value their staff’s time instead of wasting it’, Irish Independent , April 10). Whenever I was tasked with chairing such gatherings, I made it a personal mission to keep them brief and to the point.
This wasn’t always appreciated. Some colleagues seemed to believe that the longer the meeting, the more important it must have been. Once, when I joined a senior leadership team, another like-minded soul and I wrote the minutes before the meeting began.
They turned out to be remarkably accurate, to our own quiet satisfaction. My brother, well aware of my antipathy towards long meetings, used to text me photos of pints of beer, purely to wind me up. It was a subtle but effective protest, and far more enjoyable than yet another set of action points.
Enda Cullen, Tullysaran, Armagh Election was four months ago, yet committees only now being put together After all the time-wasting it’s good to see, as Gabija Gataveckaite’s column notes, that the Oireachtas committees are finally being put together. Many may underestimate the committees and the great work they do . It is hard to believe the general election was more than four months ago and the committees are only now being formed.
I hope they get down to work quickly and TDs start doing the work people elected them to do. We have had enough roaring and shouting in Leinster House in the last few months to last a lifetime. It is time for some common sense to prevail.
Thomas Garvey, Claremorris, Co Mayo.
