I read with interest Fr McCafferty’s thundering defence of the unborn child in his parish church on Easter Monday (April 18). No political thought or party occurred to me, but suddenly, unbidden the words of Louis MacNeice’s poem Prayer before Birth came to mind. It must be stated that all scientific research has concluded, irrefutably, that human life begins at conception when the male sperm fertilises the female egg. With genetic make-up complete – colour of eyes, hair, sex, even build determined – a unique individual present.
Ulster’s MacNeice died in 1963 long before DNA was heard of but, with a rare poetic prescience, speaks to us with relevance in 2022.
Unusually, the poet does not speak of embryo or foetus, but addresses the world in the person of the child in the womb; “I am not yet born, let not the blood sucking bat or the rat…come near me. I am not yet born, provide me with water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk to me, sky to sing to me.”
Every child, perfect or deformed, wanted or unwanted, has the right to life – to be born “I am not yet born, O hear me, let not the man who is beast or thinks he is God, come near me.” This, of course, is all about human rights. The first of all rights being the right to be born.
The great oath of Hippocrates, the Greek, regarding his refusal to destroy life in the womb, was BC when Churches did not exist; but morality did, as it does today, but under siege in our hedonistic age. The influence of Hippocrates has had a bearing on medical practice down to today. The late US president John F Kennedy in his inaugural address said: “Human Rights do not come from the generosity of governments, but from the hands of God.”
The views of the eminent people here are shared by Fr McCafferty.
ANNA McCANN
Belfast BT11
Rural Ireland always the testing ground for mad-cap tax manoeuvres
Spending time in the bog is a funny place to describe, because in one sense it’s like being in another heavenly world when the sky is blue, the clouds pushed to the sidelines, the sun shining, the birds singing and the dog chasing the odd bumble bee as well as its shadow.
The other side of the sceal is when the rain is drizzling down, and a thousand midges to replace every one that you kill sucking the blood from every bare bit of skin, they can attach themselves too. When you’re in that hell-like situation, you think to yourself surely there must be another easier way to keep the house warm during winter?
I suppose if you’re in Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar or Eamon Ryan’s shoes you don’t have to rely on packing clods of turf into a stove or on an open fire to stop the frost from creeping in the back door?
Oh no, just check your iPhone settings to make sure the timing is right for the house to be all warm and cosy when you get home in your chauffeur-driven Merc. Rural Ireland is always the testing ground for such mad-cap manoeuvres as carbon tax, water tax or car tax.
Here in rural Donegal, you have to drive to work – if you have work. No such thing as a short walk and hop onto the Luas, train, bus or four that come along every few minutes. You have to buy your bottled gas and bags of coal from the nearest supplier – no natural gas supply piped straight to your heating system.
I phoned up about the air to water system but was told no your house wouldn’t suit because it was built before a certain date, although I’m older than the house myself.
So, Mr Ryan what should I do now because lighting a few candles and getting the family into the one room with coats and blankets as has been suggested just wouldn’t work? I could turn on the oil but if there’s none in the tank that wouldn’t be much good either, so my only option left is to oil the Sléan and make sure its in tip-top condition for cutting the turf next year again whether its listening to the lark as it sings above, enjoying the fresh smell of heathery air or getting eat alive by the devil midges, it’s the price that Michael, Leo and Eamon makes you pay for living in rural Ireland.
JAMES WOODS
Gort an Choirce, Dún na nGall
Blaming Nato
Peter McEvoy (April 19) notes correctly that “truth is the first casualty of every war”. I agree. All sides lie during wartime. Only a biased fool uncritically accepts one side’s narrative over the other side’s. However, in the same letter, he then proceeds fully to align himself with the Kremlin’s narrative, by insisting that “Britain, US and Nato are the sole cause of the Ukrainian war, not Putin”.
I marvel at his certainty. Having read widely around and about the current conflict, I have mixed views about it, since my knowledge of it is incomplete (because truth is the first casualty etc).
Accordingly, I wonder if your correspondent could enlighten us as to what special higher sources of information he has access to, to enable him to be so assertively certain that one side is the ‘sole cause’ of the war? He is of course correct that there is an obvious irony in British prime ministers rallying to support freedom fighters.
However, in the interest of balance, we should also note the considerable irony of Irish nationalists sympathising with a large invading power, and with a man whom Ukrainians view as their version of Cromwell.
SEAN MAC CANN
Trillick, Co Tyrone
Trickle down taxes
Political parties that say they are for carbon taxes, and yet in the same breath say they want to help low-income families tackle fuel poverty, are deluding themselves and the public. Carbon taxes will simply be passed onto the consumer by big industry.
M CAIRNS
Belfast BT15
