I am 21 years old, this is my first time to vote in an election.
The content of the videos I see promoted for the Fine Gael European/local candidates makes me cringe.
My heart breaks for my fellow people of rural Ireland.
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Fine Gael’s videos talk about “creativity”, “inclusivity”, “going in the right direction”, “going forward”. All of these buzz words mean nothing to me.
When my peers and I qualify from college in a few years time we won’t be hanging around the bogs of Galway and Mayo! We’ll be gone eastwards in search of jobs and most of us will never again return to the county that gave us birth and education.
Here in rural Ireland the farmers want a better price for beef, we want broadband and we want jobs.
All Fine Gael seems prepared to offer us is inclusivity, creativity and a journey in a right direction.
Indeed, the very statement that rural Ireland needs inclusivity suggests that they’ve excluded us for the previous term that they’ve been in government.
Luke Silke
Tuam, Co Galway
People get up early because they’re being forced to, Leo
Leo Varadkar famously said he is on the side of those who get up early.
It’s just as well because due to his Government’s inaction, many people have to get up early because they cannot afford to buy or rent accommodation within reasonable distance of their work.
Many more have to get up early because they have to leave accommodation provided for the homeless because of the ineptitude of his Government in providing social housing.
Tom Farrell
Swords, Co Dublin
Martin’s property tax policy an empty promise for elderly
It is hard to know whether to take Micheál Martin seriously any more, given his constant attacks on a Government he vigorously maintains in power.
His latest pronouncements on the property tax (‘Martin pledges new waivers in property tax for the elderly’, Irish Independent, May 14) are very carefully worded with a pledge to review the tax “in due course” and confine any reliefs to “elderly people living alone in large houses in urban areas with just a pension to get by” – all 10 of them.
There is, of course, a very simple way to protect vulnerable people and make the LPT a wee bit fairer, Micheál; just introduce “ability-to-pay” protections. That way he could rest easy that the tax is not driving those living in poverty into penury.
It is sadly becoming apparent Mr Martin has moved from what many saw as a potential leader of promise to being just a beguiler full of little else but (election) promises.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Co Sligo
‘Drive for five’ is over so how about ‘all looks fine for 29’?
Seeing there was so much publicity about Leinster’s “drive for five” in European rugby, should we now be talking about Dublin’s “drive for 29” in Gaelic football?
Tom Farrell
Swords, Co Dublin
Vatican policy on women deacons threatens Church
The reaction of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) (‘Pontiff’s comments shows women still second class’, Irish Independent, May 13) to Pope Francis kicking the issue of women deacons down a long and winding road is understandable but his decision is hardly surprising. Every pope since John XXIII, the last truly reforming pontiff, has come in as a breath of fresh air but inevitably is reeled in by the Vatican.
In fairness to Pope Francis, at long last all cases of clerical sex abuse must now be reported, where required by local law, to the civil authorities and to the Vatican.
The ACP call for Irish bishops “to demand concrete practical actions from Pope Francis to open up all structures of the Church to women” will almost certainly fall on deaf ears. The same bishops have watched weekly Mass attendance fall nationally from 91pc in 1973 to 15pc in urban areas today, through being more concerned with educational control than outcomes and unable to take collective action to stem the tide.
It is difficult to see Europe’s most conservative group of bishops becoming energised to take action on female deacons.
Change comes slow in the Vatican. In the meantime, the vocations crisis deepens and priests are dying out.
I imagine that in 20 years some of the few hundred Irish priests left will still be campaigning for female deacons while the Vatican, with a full complement of conservative bureaucrats, will still be kicking it down that same long and winding road.
Anthony O’Leary
Portmarnock, Co Dublin
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Letters to the Editor: 'Government’s buzzwords mean nothing to rural young'
Letters to the Editor: 'Government’s buzzwords mean nothing to rural young'
I am 21 years old, this is my first time to vote in an election.
The content of the videos I see promoted for the Fine Gael European/local candidates makes me cringe.
My heart breaks for my fellow people of rural Ireland.
Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.
Log In
New to Independent.ie? Create an account
Fine Gael’s videos talk about “creativity”, “inclusivity”, “going in the right direction”, “going forward”. All of these buzz words mean nothing to me.
When my peers and I qualify from college in a few years time we won’t be hanging around the bogs of Galway and Mayo! We’ll be gone eastwards in search of jobs and most of us will never again return to the county that gave us birth and education.
Here in rural Ireland the farmers want a better price for beef, we want broadband and we want jobs.
All Fine Gael seems prepared to offer us is inclusivity, creativity and a journey in a right direction.
Indeed, the very statement that rural Ireland needs inclusivity suggests that they’ve excluded us for the previous term that they’ve been in government.
Luke Silke
Tuam, Co Galway
People get up early because they’re being forced to, Leo
Leo Varadkar famously said he is on the side of those who get up early.
It’s just as well because due to his Government’s inaction, many people have to get up early because they cannot afford to buy or rent accommodation within reasonable distance of their work.
Many more have to get up early because they have to leave accommodation provided for the homeless because of the ineptitude of his Government in providing social housing.
Tom Farrell
Swords, Co Dublin
Martin’s property tax policy an empty promise for elderly
It is hard to know whether to take Micheál Martin seriously any more, given his constant attacks on a Government he vigorously maintains in power.
His latest pronouncements on the property tax (‘Martin pledges new waivers in property tax for the elderly’, Irish Independent, May 14) are very carefully worded with a pledge to review the tax “in due course” and confine any reliefs to “elderly people living alone in large houses in urban areas with just a pension to get by” – all 10 of them.
There is, of course, a very simple way to protect vulnerable people and make the LPT a wee bit fairer, Micheál; just introduce “ability-to-pay” protections. That way he could rest easy that the tax is not driving those living in poverty into penury.
It is sadly becoming apparent Mr Martin has moved from what many saw as a potential leader of promise to being just a beguiler full of little else but (election) promises.
Jim O’Sullivan
Rathedmond, Co Sligo
‘Drive for five’ is over so how about ‘all looks fine for 29’?
Seeing there was so much publicity about Leinster’s “drive for five” in European rugby, should we now be talking about Dublin’s “drive for 29” in Gaelic football?
Tom Farrell
Swords, Co Dublin
Vatican policy on women deacons threatens Church
The reaction of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) (‘Pontiff’s comments shows women still second class’, Irish Independent, May 13) to Pope Francis kicking the issue of women deacons down a long and winding road is understandable but his decision is hardly surprising. Every pope since John XXIII, the last truly reforming pontiff, has come in as a breath of fresh air but inevitably is reeled in by the Vatican.
In fairness to Pope Francis, at long last all cases of clerical sex abuse must now be reported, where required by local law, to the civil authorities and to the Vatican.
The ACP call for Irish bishops “to demand concrete practical actions from Pope Francis to open up all structures of the Church to women” will almost certainly fall on deaf ears. The same bishops have watched weekly Mass attendance fall nationally from 91pc in 1973 to 15pc in urban areas today, through being more concerned with educational control than outcomes and unable to take collective action to stem the tide.
It is difficult to see Europe’s most conservative group of bishops becoming energised to take action on female deacons.
Change comes slow in the Vatican. In the meantime, the vocations crisis deepens and priests are dying out.
I imagine that in 20 years some of the few hundred Irish priests left will still be campaigning for female deacons while the Vatican, with a full complement of conservative bureaucrats, will still be kicking it down that same long and winding road.
Anthony O’Leary
Portmarnock, Co Dublin
Source: Read Full Article