Villagers: Letters to the Editor 2006-07-13
John Waters is right that guilt can be a part of charitable giving (Village 29 June). Simply being born in a place like Ireland at once puts us at the head of queue for the distribution of good fortune. We are all better off than most of humanity.
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Child abuse at St Joseph's: 'We were not responsible'
For over a decade a group of children at St Joseph's industrial school in Kilkenny were abused. The Sisters of Charity and the then Minister for Education covered up that abuse and the order of nuns now refuses to take responsibility for what happened. By Mary Raftery
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Fashioning the crooked tree
Breaking wood apart to put it back together again, Jared Pankin reminds us of the delicate relationship between man and nature. Review by Billy Leahy
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Birds: Treecreeper
Common and widespread in Ireland, the tiny Treecreeper is often difficult to spot due to its camouflaged plumage and secretive habits. Found wherever there are large mature trees, it is almost always seen jerkily creeping up trunks using its stiff tail feathers as a prop to support its weight. To feed, it probes under the bark with its long down-curved bill in search of small insects, spiders and other invertebrates.
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What is Bono's game?
Bono is criticised for backing a computer game that promotes the invasion of Venezuela to remove a 'power-hungry tyrant'.
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Toxic Shock
Rosita Sweetman reviews two compelling books on the devastating effects of the nuclear and petrochemical companies
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Measured madness
In Clare Allen's remarkable debut novel, two 'dribblers' at a London psychiatric hospital need to prove their insanity in order to escape. Review by Tom Barbash
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The magic of Enid Blyton
One of the first victims of literacy PC was Enid Blyton. She was deemed to be racist, middle class, facile and mind-dulling. The Americans even decided that for Noddy to share a bed with Big Ears indicated a gay relationship. Yet Blyton continued to be the 20th century's most successful (annual sales of €10m) and prolific (700 books) writers.
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The Chorus: Stop the Smuthounds
Privacy legislation is necessary because of the conduct of journalists and newspapers, and no other reason. This needs to be loudly asserted in the debate that follows the publication of the Defamation Bill 2006 and the Privacy Bill 2006, both designed to address the situation pertaining to libel and related issues. If journalism had been capable of voluntarily behaving decently and responsibly, it would not be necessary to create a formal legislative framework to protect privacy. Irish newspapers have demonstrated, however, that they are incapable of observing even the most basic principles with regard to privacy.
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Good berries
Everyone should have a mixed farm next-door to provide a variety of homegrown fruit and veg all year round. Darina Allen tells us about hers
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There was no excuse for Jean McConville's murder
Amid the recent controversy over whether Jean McConville was or was not an "informer", the central issue is obscured. A woman was murdered without trial or due process or justification by people who had no authority to administer justice of any kind. This was, and remains, a shocking crime and everyone associated with that crime – those who perpetrated it, those who ordered it, those who knew of it and remained silent, those who gave even a semblance of justification for it – are guilty of an enormous wrong. The argument about whether she informed the British army about IRA operations or affairs is an irrelevance. Even if she had informed – and even if she had informed on a regular, persistent and egregious basis – her murder was and is still an abomination.
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Blind and deaf to the real violence
We all know, in this part of Ireland, that the North is awash with sectarian hatred and bigotry. However, we prefer to close our eyes and our ears, pretending either that both sides are just the same, or that republicans have in some mysterious way "provoked" the sectarianism that is endorsed by unionist politicians, especially in the DUP but not exclusively so.
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Syringes found in Port Tunnel soil
Work on the Alfie Byrne Road side of the Port Tunnel has been halted due to complaints from residents that soil with hazardous waste is being placed in Fairview Park.
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'Absurd and idiotic' system prevents families in Ireland from being reunited
Irish people and immigrants living here are being denied the right to live with their families because of inadequacies in the immigration system. Procedures for "family reunification" are inefficient and decisions on applications are made inconsistently and are poorly justified. This is according to a recent report on family reunification by the Immigrant Council of Ireland.
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PC TV causing headache for EU legislators
The European Commission are attempting to deal with the expanding and developing technology for TV broadcast over the internet (IPTV) and TV on demand with a new directive – Television Without Frontiers.
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