2 days Ago
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary’s glib disparagement of the office of the Irish presidency as a useless, “makey-uppy job”, highlights the avarice and shallowness of knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing (‘O’Leary would be ‘proud’ to see McGuinness become president – but says it’s a ‘makey-uppy job’’, Irish Independent , March 29). While his own business acumen and success is beyond question, this comment highlights something else – nation states are not corporations, and government institutions cannot be run purely as businesses by CEOs valuing nothing beyond the bottom line. This insidious, soulless, frightening model we see today, as oligarchy deconstructs governance in the US.
The Irish presidency is at the constitutional core of the nation. The office is deeply representative and symbolic of Irish identity and sense of self as an independent state, people and republic with a distinctive socio-cultural, linguistic and geographic identity that so many tried so hard for so long to destroy. Uachtarán na hÉireann is the guardian of the Irish Constitution, projecting our values to the world.
President Michael D Higgins has set a very high bar. The eventual new resident of Áras an Uachtaráin must be a fit and proper person, not someone who would discard everything of immeasurable meaning to whim and rhetoric, willing to dismiss tradition, culture and heritage if it cannot be measured in coinage. The very mindset captured by WB Yeats in September 1913 when eulogising another O’ Leary, Irish patriot John O’Leary (1830-1907): “What need you, being come to sense/ But fumble in a greasy till/ And add the halfpence to the pence/ And prayer to shivering prayer, until you have dried the marrow from the bone.
” Dr Bernard Guinan, Claremorris, Co Mayo What’s coming for Ireland and the EU as Trump rolls out tariffs thick and fast? US president Donald Trump has certainly unnerved Ireland with his direct assault on its successful Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy. Trump has always seen this situation as shifting good American industry, particularly pharma, and with it, jobs and profits to Ireland. During Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s visit to the White House, Trump called it out, blaming the stupidity of successive US administrations for allowing this exodus.
The president recently announced that he is going to apply tariffs on pharmaceuticals so as to bring them back to the US. Ostensibly, his 25pc car tariffs are igniting much international criticism too. It sounds like the Trump tariffs will be coming thick and fast.
He believes that the EU was set up to take advantage of the US, so one can only ask the question: What’s ahead for Ireland and the EU? John O’Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary With Gaelic football in its death throes, the kicking game must be its saviour A look back at the league final of 2013 between Dublin and Tyrone, broadcast on TG4 last Saturday, will instantly reveal the appalling falling standards of Gaelic football in 2025. The thrilling speed of forward movement, at all times exhibiting precision kick-passing by both teams in 2013, contrasts with the soccer-influenced pattern of the modern hand-passing-obsessed, dreary tactical possession game. This was demonstrated, for example, between Monaghan and Roscommon on the same night on TG4, and it leaves absolutely no doubt that the game is in its unwatchable death throes.
The much-ballyhooed new rules have made no difference whatsoever. The introduction of myriad series of tweaks have added to the confusion that the referees can’t cope with. There is but one solution and that is to outlaw any kind of backward hand-passing completely.
Reintroduce the kicking game in all its glory and pray that the totally disenchanted public will somehow have their interest rekindled. Otherwise it’s Gaelic football RIP. Maurice O’Callaghan, Stillorgan, Co Dublin Respectful and tolerant public-speaking students put politicians to shame The recent shenanigans in Dáil Éireann prompts me to write.
This weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Knights of St Columbanus public speaking All-Ireland Final. Students in transition year and fifth year from schools across the island of Ireland spoke passionately about a diverse range of topics such as the scourge and indignity of human-trafficking, even in an Irish context; the need for peace; dialogue and resolution in a world warped by war; as well as the millennial saint Blessed Carlo Acutis and how his message continues to speak to young people today. The defining feature of the day was the respect shown by each team to the other, especially when speaking, and the way in which an atmosphere of mutual understanding and tolerance for difference of opinion was demonstrated – even when competing teams spoke on the same topic.
This stands in marked contrast to the deplorable behaviour of so many elected representatives speaking in Dáil Éireann since the resumption of Dáil business. In this regard, they could learn a thing or two from our respectful and dignified young people. Finally, the motto of “our youth, our leaders” has never been more appropriate.
Stephen O’Hara, Carrowmore, Co Sligo Irish will prove our mettle as tax arrangements are put under pressure by US US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick’s claim that Ireland is a “tax scam” is the latest in a long tradition of US indignation at corporate tax arrangements America helped create (‘Global stock markets are still falling as investors fret over US tariffs’, Irish Independent , March 29). The reality is more complex. Ireland’s low-tax model attracted investment not by deception but by offering political stability, skilled workers and a gateway to Europe.
With Trump’s tariffs looming and US companies under pressure to repatriate profits, the real question is whether Ireland’s economic success was built on sand or something more resilient. If history is any guide, Ireland will not merely weather this storm but evolve beyond it. If multinationals begin shifting operations, Ireland should reposition itself as Europe’s premier innovation hub, attracting investment in AI, biotech and green energy.
No longer just a tax-friendly base, it will become an indispensable centre of high-value research and development. The US may try to force companies home, but in a world driven by talent and cutting-edge industries, Ireland’s advantages will remain too valuable to ignore. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran, Co Armagh.
