Mary Lou McDonald is the new leader of Sinn Féin and says the “new generation will see the rising of the moon”. But where is the sun? It shines a lot brighter than the moon and gives off warmth. At the present moment the cracked record is playing at Stormont buildings – ‘we are close to agreement but outstanding matters remain’; ‘we are very close but key issues remain to be resolved’; ‘there is the possibility of a deal soon, but no-one can say exactly when’. Then we are told there are ‘huge differences between the DUP and Sinn Féin’. With every passing impasse the credibility of the talks process wanes away with every news report which gives qualified hope. If a miracle happens and the current language talks succeed, Northern Ireland will have at least three administrations and three budgets for it. One in English, the other in Gaelic/Irish and the other in Ulster-Scots. There will be bedlam if language legislation is enacted. Problems with schools and which language or languages they should support; extra street signs in three languages; a litany of official records which will have to be converted and translated into various tongues. There may have to be subtitles when television news is broadcast and dual printed copies of newspapers required by law? Who can say where the madness will end – even though we all speak and understand English. Many millions will be spent on languages in Northern Ireland if the go-ahead is given to legislate and the bill to the taxpayer will be unlimited, as it is in the Republic. Extra languages will do nothing to unite Ireland or heal wounds or reconcile. It will only divide it further, until it is so pigeon-holed and compartmentalised the isolation will be unbearable. Just imagine MLAs speaking into microphones in Stormont and wearing headphones when all they need to do is speak in English and spare themselves the trouble.
Legislation will give the right of anybody to choose a language.
The recent round of talks have a air of insanity about them.
One time Northern Ireland was fighting for its life in stopping terrorism, but now it is all down to languages.
The insanity may end one day when it will be realised that it will be better if we just stuck to English.
People say: “the world is gone mad”. Well, Northern Ireland is arguably the finest example of that we will ever see. An impasse over languages, with talks carried out in English. It could not get any more ridiculous than that.
MAURICE FITZGERALD
Shanbally, Co Cork
Steps should be taken to stop approval for HMOs
I was dismayed to read (February 9)that Belfast City Council have granted planning permission to an application to convert an old office building into two two-bed flats on Rugby Avenue, lodged by the wife of one of its own councillors, Declan Boyle.
This decision emphasises how this community has been left behind – whether through deliberate policy or neglectful inaction.
We read about the Holylands daily – the littering, the on-street drinking, the anti-social behaviour, the parking nightmare.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) recognises that these are all adverse effects of concentrations of Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) and steps should be taken to either prevent or reduce them from happening.
Yet, six years after an independent study on the Holylands area commissioned by Belfast City Council highlighted all this, the situation has only grown worse.
Conservative estimates say that 75 per cent of the properties in the area are HMOs. This density is well above the 30 per cent limit for HMOs. No action has been taken to reduce this over saturation. It is a HMO policy area, meaning that no new HMOs should be granted within it. Is it right that there is a get-around for this by just converting properties into flats instead?
This situation highlights the lack of any comprehensive strategic plan for the Holylands area.
Meanwhile, Belfast City Council can continue to take piecemeal decisions on planning, the NIHE’s measures to combat adverse effects of HMOs are nowhere to be seen and the residents, both students and non-students alike, continue to live in overpopulated.
Belfast City Council and the NIHE should work together to stop approving HMOs and other new residential properties in the area until such time as they carry out an inspection of all HMO properties in the area.
ÁINE GROOGAN
Green Party NI, South Belfast
Rewriting history
Mary Lou McDonald’s assertion – that there is ‘no value in engaging in the blame game. We do not have to agree on the past. There is no single historical narrative. We must only agree that the past is never again repeated’ – must be rejected as a case of begging the question.
History is a matter of knowledge and the understanding, not tradition. The value of scrutinising the past is precisely to inform how to avoid repeating it.
Instead of avoiding division, ‘agreeing to disagree’ would only solidify differing perspectives on the past as the articles of faith of sectional differences, deepening those differences and despairing of the possibility of meaningful and productive dialogue between them. Ms McDonald also begs the question against herself.
If she has her own narrative that she seeks to remember, then what is the basis for her conviction in it? More respect is earned by having something to say for it. More respect is shown to those you disagree with by giving your reasons why.
Perhaps the solution to the difficult ‘battles of the past’ can found in parties addressing their reluctance to engage in it more meaningfully.
BRENDAN McNALLY
Lurgan, Co Armagh
Repulsive actions
Anne Dalton (January 17) claims that nationalists in the north risk alienating voters in the south by supporting Sinn Féin.
If she thinks that nationalists in the Republic are in any way better than their counterparts in the north then she is deluding herself. On this side of the border we watched in dismay as leading politicians in the south led voters by the nose to legalise same-sex marriage, bringing shame on this island. Recently we had Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and others give their support to claims that women in the Republic should have the right to abortion if they choose. That is deplorable.
I suggest to Ms Dalton the word repulsive she used in her letter would be better directed at the politicians and those who support them closer to home.
J DIAMOND
Coleraine, Co Derry
Insulting electorate’s intelligence
After the debacle of the Barry McElduff tweet you would imagine Sinn Féin might have learned a telling lesson. Not so. They now are trying to tell us that the insulting remarks concerning the DUP that were made by Kevin Meagher and reposted by Michelle Gildernew were done so without Mrs Gildernew having even read the insulting article.
Please Sinn Féin do not insult our intelligence with such waffle. Get your act together or you will pay dearly in future elections.
JOSEPH KENNEDY
Dunmurry, Co Antrim
