Jeffrey Donaldson’s request on – Morning Ireland (June 14) – that the Irish government engage is very interesting indeed with some level of irony attached. He should know that the Irish government cannot conduct negotiations on strict Brexit terms without going through the EU. In fact, Brussels has the right to make agreements on behalf of all remaining members. It is also most ironic that the DUP were non-existent at the all-Ireland discussion forum buffet requested by the Irish government in 2016 to discuss all-island relations in view of Brexit. However, Mr Donaldson is right, there does need to be engagement and the GFA allows for that to some extent, but not it seems on the ‘terms’ of the UK’s withdrawal. And this is where the problem lies. Bi-lateral relations are however allowed under the GFA/Belfast Agreement and we on this island need to exploit it as much as possible in order to try and compensate for any deadlock between Brussels and London. It very much looks like the time has come for unionism to eat some humble pie and realise that we can only have a future together on this island – while respecting each other’s jurisdiction. The UK will indeed depart in October with Northern Ireland and the Republic’s fate lying in the balance with the highest degree of economic uncertainty it arguably has ever known. Making matters that bit worse, the Scots have weighed in with jurisdictional claims over a rock – imagine the chaos after October.
Brexit is essentially a EU/UK problem, but it does seem that if compromises and solutions cannot be agreed, then the UK will crash out of the EU in October and leave Northern Ireland in no-man’s land. The signs are not good and one has to wonder what type of an agreement will satisfy.
We are in a crazy screwed-up situation where only bad things will result from catastrophic divorce proceedings. It seems that everybody is waiting for the shoe to drop on the UK’s exit from the EU country club.
Engagement is the answer alright as Jeffrey Donaldson has ushered, but even if agreement can be found, the GFA/ BFA is effectively dead because Stormont has been in abeyance for so long – meaning that Northern Ireland will be without any effective administration post-Brexit. Mr Donaldson and unionism should consider hosting their own inter-jurisdictional economic conference and send out invitations as the Irish government did.
MAURICE FITZGERALD
Shanbally, Co Cork
Have sympathy for the unborn when writing of right to discriminate
Tom Cooper starts by having a bit of a go at Newton Emerson, continues with faint praise of Sinn Féin and ends with a scathing attack on the legislators of the state of Alabama (June 19). Newton is famously shy so I hope Tom won’t mind if I put in my tuppence worth. Recent elections here have confirmed that words such as majority and minority are outmoded. The ‘M’ words no longer suit and not even the TUV use them anymore. Stormont is a (very) white elephant so that talks about opposition or forming anti-Brexit wedge are pointless. Given that Sinn Féin were junior players in its construction and administration they can hardly be admired for any short comings they are belatedly trying to fix. Sinn Féin treated their northern electorate as a dowdy wife who would always be at home for them as they pursued a new relationship in the south. That flirtation has now soured and they are expecting to charm the wife again with a box of regurgitated chocolates. Complaining about temporary DUP influence on the Tories is disingenuous since politics is the power to influence and in similar circumstances in the Dáil Sinn Féin would behave exactly the same. Tom confuses me when he talks of all the parties banding together to fight Tory cuts. Does he include the DUP in this group? Why does Tom think that Sinn Féin can be part of a mudguard against the worst of Conservative policies when it was their negotiations that made the six counties into the wheel. Tom wants outsiders (Westminster you’d have to assume) to impose draconian abortion laws in the north. An odd declaration for someone who has just argued against British government policies. He brings Alabama into the mix, (they recently voted to return human rights to their unborn citizens), specifying bodily integrity. In the US there has been speculation that the recent changes to abortion law in New York was the catalyst for the vote in Alabama. There governor Andrew Cuomo signed off on infanticide. Not only were abortions up to birth legalised, but a grey area on post-birth abortions was clarified. Perhaps Tom could find a little sympathy for these children when he writes of the right to discriminate.
GERARD HERDMAN
Belfast BT11
Alternative treatment arrangements
Dr Bernard Mulholland made interesting points in his letter (June 26) highlighting solutions to health service crises already being in place. I do take issue with his claim that “almost all of those on waiting lists for treatment are arguably there by choice”, going on to infer that those awaiting procedures are choosing to ignore other options such as travelling further afield for treatment.
I would like to know how patients find out about these other options?
I have been on waiting lists myself and never has a consultant ever informed me or offered me alternative pathways to pursue treatment. Dr Mulholland is being disingenuous claiming that “ ... the majority of those in NI choose to wait for treatment to be effected on their doorstep and refuse to budge until it is”.
Perhaps Dr Mulholland could serve us better if instead of writing to The Irish News he would correspond with his medical colleagues and ask them to make their patients aware of how to access alternative treatment initiatives.
URSULA CONLON
Lisburn, Co Antrim
Pathological obsession with Trump
Donald Trump’s mere existence has surely become a pathological obsession with too many political commentators.
Sufferers simply have to find a way of somehow venting grief in every article they write even when the subject has absolutely nothing to do with the US or Trump.
Tom Kelly – ‘Boris has stardust but is a prince of clowns’ (June 24) – writes: ‘This is Trumpsville come to Britain. Only the man involved – Mark Field – isn’t some pot bellied, white
vest-wearing, chain-smoking, beer-swilling, chlorinated chicken-eating, climate change denying redneck.”
Seriously Tom? That’s objective, insightful analysis of the heavy-handed physical response of a British MP to a British female protester gatecrashing a private dinner in London?
Basket of deplorables, would you say Tom? Much more poetic. Less obviously condescending.
BLAISE J TURBETT
Strabane, Co Tyrone
