An international survey, quoted by Fintan O’Toole in THE IRISH TIMES (13 November) finds a low level of nostalgia in Ireland. Fintan tells us that the average age of Ireland’s inhabitants is 38 and that his or her parents will most likely remember-
“mass unemployment , a repressive Catholic State with a ban on homosexuality, contraception, divorce and abortion and the daily horror of the Troubles.” “You have to smoke a lot of opium to turn that into a sweet reverie” says Fintan.
It has apparently not occurred to Fintan that some of the un-nostalgic 38-year- olds owe their very existence to the restrictions in place when they were conceived. Unemployment gives more time for nooky, a ban on buggery may limit carnal options , and a ban on contraception provides a NIHIL OBSTAT * to the formation of a human being.
*Translation: “Stops Nothing.”
Ireland is not a confessional state, and all its offices have been open to and filled by citizens irrespective of creed (or gender). Almost unique in Europe,
those of its citizens who want to attend church services on Christian Holy Days must ask their employers for permission.
The transformation of Ireland into the prosperous State that it is today owes much to citizens who get little thanks from Fintan O’Toole or the Irish Times.
One citizen, a Man For All Seasons died on 28 September, got nothing by way of recognition in the paper. He was one of the Architects of the policy of Trade Union, Employer, and Government Partnership that brought full employment and prosperity to Ireland. Manus, son of the heroic International Brigade anti-Fascist, Michael O’Riordan, was a brilliant writer, a stalwart supporter of Bohemians Football Club, a singer and translator of International Brigade ballads, and devoted family man. His funeral was attended by all (competing) factions of the Left in Ireland, including President Michael D.Higgins (who dodged the church service in Armagh required of him by THE IRISH TIMES) and others who recognised the manifest decency of the man. The most influential of all the architects of the Social Partnership (and the initiator of many reforms and beneficial measures over more than three decades) was Charles Haughey, for whom the begrudging little wimp, Fintan O’Toole had complete contempt.
More to admire about Fintan O’Toole will follow presently.
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