NRA's Road Tolling plans

The announcement by the National Roads Authority that more roads in the country need to be tolled, but more specifically the N20 near Mallow is bordering on ludicrous.  The N20 is one of the country’s national arteries that was was abandoned by the previous government in the Motorway splurge of the Celtic Tiger.  The road, particularly south of Buttevant is not even up to the standard of some Regional Roads.  There is not a road of the standard to warrant a toll.  If a full Motorway linking Cork and Limerick was constructed then a single toll at Mallow would be sustainable, but not at present.   Indeed an M20 Motorway would take traffic from the towns of Charleville, Buttevant and Mallow.   The NRA has no right to toll a road that they have overlooked.  Lives are lost because of the state of some our countries roads.  The NRA proposes to profit from work not yet done and take advantage of motorists forced to use these clogged up routes.  Other routes such as the M50 where there is a proposed toll have some justification because of the standard of the infrastructure but has anyone from the NRA even driven along the N20?  Not everyone in the country has access to alternative modes of transport such as the Luas Green Line which passes a stone’s throw from the NRA’s HQ in Dublin 4.  Indeed it makes someone question why we pay tax on our cars, on fuel and in our personal taxes and yet still be asked to pay for roads that are already built.  One of the worst National Primary Roads in the country would be tolled twice under the NRA plan, with additional tolls for people coming from either the Jack Lynch or Shannon Tunnels as many inter-city commuters now do.  The proposal to toll the Jack Lynch Tunnel also strives from desperation, the Tunnel would drive regular commuters back into the city to avoid it and thus recreate the problems £105 million was spend to alleviate.  Some might argue that Limerick has a tolled tunnel now in operation but the Shannon Tunnel deals with mostly transit traffic that would be traversing the city for Galway or Cork.  The Jack Lynch deals with Cork City commuters on a daily basis.  I tell the NRA thus to build us a proper road infrastructure between Cork and Limerick, and then consider tolling that.


Further Reading:
http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/ireland/nra-suggests-doubling-number-of-tolled-roads-501759.html
http://www.corkrdo.ie/preview.php?fileName=m20_cork_limerick_motorway_scheme_introduction&id=0&end=html

See videos of Computer Generated Overlays of the proposed M20:

http://www.corkrdo.ie/m20_cork_limerick_motorway_scheme_videos.php

Enda visits 10 Downing Street

Our Taoiseach Enda Kenny on his first official visit to 10 Downing Street remarked that “how serious he is about Ireland economic problems”.  Indeed the new government here in Ireland have prioritised on economic matters since taking office, from recent Bank recapitalisation to the Jobs Budget next month.  Some in the United Kingdom have questioned the loan by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 4 billion pounds to Ireland as ill advised.  It should be reminded that the loan is after all a loan, if it is fully written down the repayments will earn the UK Exchequer 240 million over time.  We as a country find it hard to fully accept the fact that we will be repaying in excess of 100 billion euro due to recklessness by banks but it is the legacy we are left by the previous failed Fianna Fail - Green administration.  There was non-existent regulation in the banking sector, how Brian Lenihan can stand across the house and hurl any type of attack at Michael Noonan is beyond me. There are many trade links with our two countries.  Indeed the UK has more bilateral trade with the Irish Republic then the emerging markets of China, India Brazil and Russia combined.  While there is a difference in opinion over the approaches to Agricultural Policy, most other EU matters are approached from a common basis with both countries.  Issues of Northern Ireland are regularly consulted with between Dublin and London which shows the strength of resolve from both Governments to have an effective approach to the constant threats occurring.  The air route between Dublin and London is the busiest in Europe while also Irish and British tourists regularly make up a significant amount of revenue in their visits across to each other’s countries.  David Cameron praised our government’s tough but necessary decisions on the economy, he himself has to make difficult choices and also enter into a coalition with a party that had some significant differences in policy.  Enda Kenny had numerous engagements in the City Monday with an aim to restore our reputation that has been tarnished in many ways since 2008. We now are revitalised but face significant challenges both home and abroad.  The other pressing matter visit of the Queen to Ireland is a hot topic here, with most viewing it as a chance to showcase the good will and modernity of the Irish People.  There will be some opposition but that is not representative of Irish Society here.  The legacy of British rule in Ireland is by no means forgotten but we have moved on as a nation and a people.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/driven-enda-easily-shifts-gears-in-trio-of-meetings-2622897.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0419/1224294978673.html

Young Fine Gael Munster Regional Council

The Munster Regional Council consists of Chairpersons and one appointed delegate from each branch in the Ireland South European Parliament Constituency. The President (ex-officio), National Executive members from the Munster area and Munster Constituency Youth Officers are also members of the Council.

The tasks of the MRC are:

· To develop and co-ordinate the organisation in the Ireland South Area.

· To provide an opportunity to discuss mutual needs between branches.

· To co-ordinate Regional campaigns in conjunction with the National Executive of the organisation.

· To foster and promote close cooperation with units and organs of the Fine Gael Party.

· To discuss resolutions proposed by the Council to the Branches

The Munster Region is co-ordinated by a Regional Organiser, who is the member of the National Executive from that region. The Regional Organiser shall be responsible for and to the branches in his region. The Regional Organiser may combine the position of Chairperson and Regional Organiser if he/she is of the opinion that this will be of benefit to the Council.

A Committee is elected on a yearly basis to lead the MRC and ensure that the aims of the MRC are fulfilled.

Committee 2010-2011

Chairperson - Conor Crean (Munster Regional Organiser)

Secretary - Patrick Butler

Treasurer / Finance - Una Ryan

Policy Officer - Frankie Mulqueen

PRO - Séamus Kearney

Bus Eireann 51 Service (Addressed to management)

I am a student at the University of Limerick and as I am from Cork I regularly get the Bus Eireann 51 service from the Bus Station in Limerick to either Charleville or Mallow. This service is useful to me as it is cheap and always on time. This is not without its problems though. In order for me to get the service I must travel into the City Centre, getting the 308 city bus service. The 308 does not stop at the bus station, indeed from whatever point I must get off, it always necessitates at least a 5 minute walk. This is one aspect of the journey that is least appealing, as I usually carry expensive items such as my laptop with me when I travel home. At present customers getting the 51 service to Ennis or Galway can board a bus at the University itself, which I believe leaves at 16.00 on Fridays. This service is regular and timetabled. I ask then, why not put on a similar service for customers heading to Cork destinations. On a number of occasions when getting the service a relief bus operates from Limerick to Cork, usually leaving before the scheduled 18.35 service on Friday evenings. I propose starting this bus from the University and making it a regular and timetabled service, akin to the service operated to Galway.

Also I would ask that a similar service be put in place for Sunday Evenings, where’s that a dedicated 51 service stops at the University on Sunday Evenings.

Also to be fair to the students from the Limerick Institute of Technology I also prose that on Sunday Evenings the regular 51 bus from Galway/Ennis stops at LIT on two different services and on Friday evenings two of the 51 service’s going to Galway/Ennis stops there also.

26th of June 1997

The Day Fianna Fail began their time in Government

Ray was still on the Den,

Eric Cantona gave Beckham the number 7 shirt,

The pint was €2.52,

I would have been able to light up in the pub,

Ross and Rachel on a break,

The only mobile numbers began with 088,

No Oxegen,

No Facebook, not even bebo,

People using Windows 1995, those who even had a PC,

Today….their last full day in power.

Jaysus…times have changed!

The country had 14 long years of a wait!

Charlie Sheen

It is a vicious cycle that is evolving around Charlie Sheen and we as the global audience are now becoming part of it. From his recent interviews he by no means apologises for drug taking, even describing what he was doing as ‘radical’. He does now claim he his clean but in effect that has little significant on what has been said already. Young teenagers and adolescents watching his antics will see him as not only a justification for drug taking but as a way of making it cool again. Here in Ireland media stars such as Gerry Ryan and Katie French have died from drugs so there is less of an idol image associated with it. But from what we are seeing from Hollywood, people like Sheen can do it when they liked, never fear health consequences and indeed evoke new found fame out of it. The vehicles that report what has doing are the major culprits though. They’re seems to be little social or editorial understanding. If a particular media outlet reaches young people then the editorial staffs is not censoring reports of what has doing. While there is a need to report the news exactly as it happened, not all the details as in Sheen’s case need to be highlighted. Charlie Sheen is clearly an addict, or recovering addict and when he his given that much publicity he obtains cult status. The antics of stars like Charlie Sheen are what many describe as the norm in Hollywood and that is fine, if that is the way they want to live their lives then they are perfectly entitled to. But when that lifestyle which by the vast majority would view as unhealthy where drug taking is normal than please do not plaster it over our television screens where young minds are tantalised by the rock star lifestyle.

VOTE!!

Vote Fine Gael Number 1 Today!!

Importance of Tomorrow

Tomorrow is YOUR chance to change the direction of this fine Country. For far too long the Irish people have been stuck with a Government who have not put the people’s interests 1st. This is a Great Country but we can still do so much better. We can still be so much better.

Our 5 Point Plan to Get Ireland Working takes on what we think are the major challenges facing the country; creating and protecting jobs, fixing our budget deficit, revolutionising the provision of health services, modernising our public service and transforming our political system. Fine Gael has spent the whole campaign talking to people about our plans and explaining how they can and will be implemented.

With so little time to go I know that every vote is vital. If you think our plan and our team offer the best and most credible route out of our current recession then please vote for Fine Gael. If you think it is the best plan then tell your friends and your family about the plan.

Ireland needs a strong Government with a clear mandate to make the changes that our country needs

The time has finally come to VOTE FINE GAEL NO.1 TOMORROW

Thanks for listening to my ramblings over the past few weeks, I promise no more bulk emails! (until the Presidential election in the autumn!)

NewERA Plan for Ireland's Infastructure

The infrastructure for industry is continuously lacking in Ireland. We are currently ranked second from last in Europe for Broadband connectivity. 50% of our domestic water is wasted through leaking pipes and we are wasting billions on our energy needs. Fine Gael would introduce NewERA an €18 billion stimulus package to invest in our industry infrastructure. This plan would last 4 years and help get up to 100’000 people back to work by retooling our economy.

NewERA has 3 key areas, Water distribution, Energy Usage and Broadband. We envisage that by 2020 50% of our energy needs should be produced by Renewables, this would help insulate us from rising oil prices in which we extremely vulnerable to at present due to 90% of our current energy requirements coming from oil. By 2025 50% of all cars in will run on electricity which would in turn continue to reduce or carbon footprint. A new company, Irish Water will be established to manage our water needs, currently 34 local authorities share that responsibility which doesn’t return value for the €700 million a year spent on water purification.

Fine Gael would initiate Broadband 21 to develop a network of high speed fibre optic cables throughout the country. Even though some areas in the country are covered by Broadband the bandwidth is so low it’s not going to be able to support the new Next Generation technologies. Ireland has the potential to be at the forefront of the ever growing IT sector. The country is already demonstrated as a successful central European Business hub with the example of Google setting up their European headquarters in Dublin.

Ireland has to capacity to lead the way in the IT sector and thus ensure more university graduates follow on into high skilled positions within the country. All of what’s in the NewERA plan are necessities for industry to grow in modern Ireland. Even though a significant undertaking it is essential to overcome the years of neglect under the present government.

Sustainable Development

I started a new module during week 1, Sustainable Development. And to be honest it is a part of the course I really do not know what to expect from it. My initial thoughts on ‘Sustainable Development’ were entirely about the buildings, construction and living within our means. But I learned that Sustainable Development is about much more. Indeed a definition for the phrase is difficult to nail down! Indeed for the class to gather the appropriate knowledge on the subject we will be having people from the fields of Economics, Science and Political Science or Society lecture to us during the 11 week programme. This isn’t a module that requires in-depth learning of facts but more to change our thinking, to stimulate a more responsible attitude.

Our first lecture was introductory in nature but it gave us the impression that we need to live our lives they way we should choose but with respect for the environment. The following lecture focused on our ecological self, how we as humans interact with the environment around us. There was a focus on action or doing, clearly there are problems we could be acting on but we need to empower ourselves to be able to deal with them. Technology which plays a big part in our lives will have to change, nowadays technology is designed around us, in being our tools but technology that’s beneficial to us must not infringe on or damage the environment around it, or at the least lesson the damage caused.

If I was it focus on an idea from the first week it is the Political change that is needed to make us to develop sustainably for the future. I wasn’t fully aware before of the continuing problem that politics causes. The basic idea for SD is “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. But at present we are not doing this because we are living beyond our means. The amount of Oil we consume to continue our current standard of living is completely contradictory to the sentence above. Politics is not about representing the people who have elected you, that’s just democracy; it is about staying in the job you’re in or moving up the ladder of power. Cutting the standard of living now, to preserve the future standard is not politically viable. A politician is judged on items such as economic growth, how they improve the infrastructure (more roads is always better it seems) etc. But we don’t need a wholesale change of the political class; I’m not advocating any revolutions! but we need a change in our thinking, the ideas and desires of the general populous need changing. And to be honest, I cannot see that coming very easy. At present the challenges that face us because of poor sustainable development are not severe enough to facilitate a major change in our ways. But I believe that in 5 to 10 years time when the price of oil is a multiple of what is today then change will happen, but will it be too late?

Passing the Finance Bill

I find it very disheartening by Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein releasing a statement demanding that the Finance Bill here in Ireland be abandoned. The Bill is a key piece of legislation that needs to be finalised. We as a country have to show the economic world that we can behave rationally, work together and be able to determine our own affairs. If the Finance Bill was to be left to a new government then the upcoming election debates would be overrun by parties arguing over budgetary policy. A budget which is virtually set itself due to the four year plan. The election needs to be about who has the best policies to reinvent this country and return the country to a robust economic footing, all round growth and getting the thousands on the live register back working. It is democratically responsible for Fine Gael and Labour to hold back their Motions of No Confidence, they are doing the jobs given to them by the people and that is to deliberate, propose and implement laws while representing their constituents. It is not the job of our public representatives to blindly oppose any measures proposed by the government but to work with measures they seem necessary to pass and to recommend and demand amendments. An election regarding the budget would indeed be a benefit to Sinn Fein because as a party who proclaim to represent the working people, would oppose any measures of austerity that are unfortunately required in these unprecedented economic times. I along with the vast majority of the country did not want to see the IMF and the EU bailing our country out but because of the grave mismanagement by Fianna Fail we had no choice but to accept their help. It is now up to the representatives of the people of this country to show responsibility and confidence that we can work with the international bodies to enable a return to the money markets for Ireland and indeed argue for an interim reduction in the EU/IMF interest rate.

Opposing Gerry Adams

I find it very disheartening by Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein releasing a statement demanding that the Finance Bill here in Ireland be abandoned. The Bill is a key piece of legislation that needs to be finalised. We as a country have to show the economic world that we can behave rationally, work together and be able to determine our own affairs. If the Finance Bill was to be left to a new government then the upcoming election debates would be overrun by parties arguing over budgetary policy. A budget which is virtually set itself due to the four year plan. The election needs to be about who has the best policies to reinvent this country and return the country to a robust economic footing, all round growth and getting the thousands on the live register back working. It is democratically responsible for Fine Gael and Labour to hold back their Motions of No Confidence, they are doing the jobs given to them by the people and that is to deliberate, propose and implement laws while representing their constituents. It is not the job of our public representatives to blindly oppose any measures proposed by the government but to work with measures they seem necessary to pass and to recommend and demand amendments. An election regarding the budget would indeed be a benefit to Sinn Fein because as a party who proclaim to represent the working people, would oppose any measures of austerity that are unfortunately required in these unprecedented economic times. I along with the vast majority of the country did not want to see the IMF and the EU bailing our country out but because of the grave mismanagement by Fianna Fail we had no choice but to accept their help. It is now up to the representatives of the people of this country to show responsibility and confidence that we can work with the international bodies to enable a return to the money markets for Ireland and indeed argue for an interim reduction in the EU/IMF interest rate.

Leaving Certificate Student options

As a student in the University of Limerick, I feel sympathy for the Leaving Cert students who visited the campus during the past open days here. Following next Decembers budget where state funding to third level institutions is expected to be cut by 3% they will face a significant battle to secure a college place. College administrators have had to cut costs by on average 6% over the past 2 years. But now to reduce costs further they will have no choice but to cap the number of places available on courses or even reduce the amount of places on offer. If they do not do this the quality of Third Level education would decrease in this country, significantly damaging the accreditation of Irish Qualifications abroad. It is vital also that the standard of Third Level education here do not drop to ensure investment in our Universities like Limerick for research and to encourage foreign students to study here in Ireland. How can our government claim to be pursuing a ‘Smart Economy’ when they are squeezing the countries institutions to the breaking point? The standard even needs to be raised in some cases, as the fiasco where the Psychological Society of Ireland revoked accreditation from the American College Dublin, leaving most of the 62 students involved having to transfer to another Institution. The current government is failing to direct investment into the country and thus isn’t incentivising companies to hire graduates. The draconian budget brought in at the time of the start of the recession severely limited growth in this country. Graduates in this University and others with honours degrees and masters are flocking abroad to Australia and Canada because of the lack of opportunities here. Even some who have been fortunate to be offered a job have turned it down in favour of heading on the plane abroad due to the reduced pay, long hours and poor benefits.

Abolishing Seanad

Reply to letter in the Irish Independent 5th January

I agree with John Murphy (Letters 5^th January) that the abolishing the Seanad would require the Constitution to be seriously altered but find that we need a solution to the problem now. I fully support the need for a new Constitution, as the current one is not fitting to our changing country. Why not instead of abolishing the Seanad, diminish it, albeit temporarily. Instead of writing a complex referendum to abolish it and change our political system to a Unicameral Oireachtas change the composition of the House, have a referendum that abolishes the voting of members to the House. Let the Seanad with a bare minimum of three members, appointed by the Taoiseach. The constitution would remain intact and all references to the Oireactas containing two houses remain valid. It in effect allows the Seanad to be defacto abolished. It solves the problem in the short term, A referendum could be held within a year or two to revitalise the upper house in a new form or hopefully to implement a new Constitution. The Seanad does have the power to really represent different sections of Irish life instead it currently and has been the grand old retirement home or crèche for career politicians. While the Dail is wholly representative of the electorate, it is very party political, the whips rule all, a radical reform in my view would be to remove this from a new Seanad and make it non-party. The University representatives that we have today are a step in the way of the ideal Seanad Composition. A body representative of for instance public sector workers should have a Senator, labour groups, employer organisations, emigrant communities, old age groups, students should all be able to contribute to the debating in the Oireachtas and this can be achieved through a reformed Upper House. The Seanad should represent a cross section of Irish life to fully review and recommend changes to legislation but importantly to avoid the pitfalls of party politics. This great Seanad debate should not be a mask though for the much more serious reform of the Dail. No matter what happens in the Seanad, the Dail is the power holder, an Upper House only supplements the Lower. That again is another reason for a new Constitution, changes to the Dail would again dilute the Constitution even more. I hope that the parties following the election rise above the previous hurdles and power struggles to implement real changes.

Reg Fee increase

· As a student I attended the march in Dublin because of its principles; no to severe education cuts. But I do not agree that the Union of Students in Ireland is putting forward a credible protest toward Education Cuts. If they want to be effective they have to put forward some credible solutions to the funding shortfall.

· The government are taking the easy option out by increasing the Registration Fee. They are not looking at other proposals and are totally missing the earning potential of college students. To put it simply a large number of students who go on to finish their course and get employment will be on a wage that would be considered relatively comfortable to live on.

· Fine Gael have a proposal that they would introduce a graduate tax by where a student would be taxed when they leave college and in turn pay for 30% of the cost of their third level education over time. But I believe that this proposal needs tweaking for the current grave economic situation we are in. In short the system needs a funding immediatley, it needs cash now!

· I would propose that the registration free by raised and capped at 2’000 which would be sustainable. At the time that a student pays the registration fee the government takes out a bank loan in the name of the student for a value of 2’000. In turn that would mean that the student will eventually pay for 4’000 per year of the cost of his/her education and the government gets 4’000 per student per year straight away.

· The government should focus on reforming the system where by the Free Fee’s scheme is not helping the majority of young people it was introduced to help. A majority of young people in Socio-Economicly disadvantaged areas are still not progressing to third level education, only 5% between Finglas-Ballymun progress to Third Level. But compared to Foxrock where close to 100% attend a College/Universtiy. An unfair aspect to this is that the budget will increase taxes for the working class which in turn pays for the higher education of the better off.

· Quality of our education has to be a top priority. The standard of our degrees and other awards could fall due to funding shortfall which will do signigicant damage to our reputation abroad.

Students face a battle for places (Letter to the Independent)

As a student in the University of Limerick, I feel sympathy for the Leaving Cert students who visited the campus during the past open days here. Following next Decembers budget where state funding to third level institutions is expected to be cut by 3% they will face a significant battle to secure a college place. College administrators have had to cut costs by on average 6% over the past 2 years. But now to reduce costs further they will have no choice but to cap the number of places available on courses or even reduce the amount of places on offer. If they do not do this the quality of Third Level education would decrease in this country, significantly damaging the accreditation of Irish Qualifications abroad. It is vital also that the standard of Third Level education here do not drop to ensure investment in our Universities like Limerick for research and to encourage foreign students to study here in Ireland. How can our government claim to be pursuing a ‘Smart Economy’ when they are squeezing the countries institutions to the breaking point? The standard even needs to be raised in some cases, as the fiasco where the Psychological Society of Ireland revoked accreditation from the American College Dublin, leaving most of the 62 students involved having to transfer to another Institution. The current government is failing to direct investment into the country and thus isn’t incentivising companies to hire graduates. The draconian budget brought in at the time of the start of the recession severely limited growth in this country. Graduates in this University and others with honours degrees and masters are flocking abroad to Australia and Canada because of the lack of opportunities here. Even some who have been fortunate to be offered a job have turned it down in favour of heading on the plane abroad due to the reduced pay, long hours and poor benefits.

USI March

Union of Students in Ireland are holding a march on Wednesday 3^rd of November. The march is titled ‘Education not Emigration’, is to protest against the rising tide of emigration, budget cuts to third level and the raising of the registration fee. I would ask you to spend some time on your show the night before, (Tuesday 2^nd Nov) to debate some of the issues that are and will affect students.

Following next Decembers budget where state funding to third level institutions is expected to be cut by 3% they will face a significant battle to secure a college place. College administrators have had to cut costs by on average 6% over the past 2 years. But now to reduce costs further they will have no choice but to cap the number of places available on courses or even reduce the amount of places on offer.

If they do not do this the quality of Third Level education would decrease in this country, significantly damaging the accreditation of Irish Qualifications abroad. It is vital also that the standard of Third Level education here do not drop to ensure investment in our Universities like Limerick for research and to encourage foreign students to study here in Ireland. How can our government claim to be pursuing a ‘Smart Economy’ when they are squeezing the countries institutions to the breaking point? The standard even needs to be raised in some cases, as the fiasco where the Psychological Society of Ireland revoked accreditation from the American College Dublin, leaving most of the 62 students involved having to transfer to another Institution.

The current government is failing to direct investment into the country and thus isn’t incentivising companies to hire graduates. The draconian budget brought in at the time of the start of the recession severely limited growth in this country. Graduates in this University and others with honours degrees and masters are flocking abroad to Australia and Canada because of the lack of opportunities here. Even some who have been fortunate to be offered a job have turned it down in favour of heading on the plane abroad due to the reduced pay, long hours and poor benefits.

In my opinion it would be fitting to invite the President of the USI, the Minister for Education or Finance and the Education spokesperson from either Fine Gael or Labour. To add, even though my Students Union here in the University of Limerick does not affiliate itself with the USI they still will be supporting the march because of its objectives.

Queen's Visit

THIS proposed visit by Queen Elizabeth II for autumn next year will coincide with the 150th anniversary of her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria’s visit to Killarney in 1861. I find that her visit provokes controversy from the very hint of her relative. Victoria is without doubt not viewed with high esteem here in Ireland. During her reign, when this country was being ravaged by the Great Famine she blocked a donation of £10,000 from the Ottoman Sultan, she demanded he only donate £1,000. Her reasoning? She herself had only donated £2,000 to the plight of the starving Irish. If any visit retracing the steps of the Queen Victoria occurs, it would be insulting not to apologise for this. Such an apology, however, would not be very forthcoming from Britain’s current monarch – she prefers not to get involved with the past as with state visits to other former realms has shown. However, the British-Irish relationship has never been better than it is today. The North has a functioning government and even Ian Paisley visited Dáil Eireann, he famously declined a 1980s invite by replying with "Ulster says NO" stamped on the invite. But if the British monarch were to visit the hard-fought for soil of Eire, it would ultimately ignite old tensions all over again. It could have the capacity to plunge the country into an ideological civil war. But then again, we are mature now, we’re not easily led anymore, look at Paisley, he pranced about Dublin without the hint of a protest. In my honest opinion, I think she has to come sometime, but not to commemorate the "Famine Queen” Though time has passed and we are an independent state now, the queen nevertheless must apologise for all her ancestors’ acts of tyranny. Mr McGrath says Queen Victoria, like her great-great granddaughter, is nothing more than a figurehead, but the fact is she is responsible ultimately for all actions taken by the forces who act in the name of the crown. The British armed forces are referred to as the forces of the crown for good reason – the queen is the commander-in-chief. Indeed Queen Elizabeth’s son is the colonel-in-chief of the Parachute Regiment that murdered 14 innocent civilians in Derry in 1972. While the position is ceremonial, he is kept informed of all the regiment’s actions. Mr McGrath says such resentment over a visit by the queen defies logic. What resentment? I am simply voicing an opinion I believe to be shared by the majority of people here ... that Queen Elizabeth should be aware of her obligations to the Irish people, former subjects of the crown.