Clarification regarding Allianz correspondence
Dear Editor, I am writing in response to the letter from Fr Joe McVeigh of Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, published in your 27th November edition, in which a number of factual inaccuracies regarding Allianz were stated.
Allianz P.l.c is not an Israeli-owned insurance company. Allianz p.l.c is an Irish-incorporated and Irish-regulated entity, authorized by the Central Bank of Ireland, and forms part of the Allianz SE Group headquartered in Munich, Germany. We have operated in Ireland for more than 120 years and we employ over 700 people here.
Contrary to certain media reports in Ireland, Allianz p.l.c has no commercial relationship with Elbit Systems. Any suggestion or implication that the Irish business is engaged in, linked to, or financially connected with activities referenced in public discourse concerning the Middle East is incorrect.
The Irish business operates within the domestic market and is subject to stringent regulatory requirements governing investment policy, governance structures and operational independence.
We recognize that people hold strong and sincerely held views on the conflict in the Middle East. However, informed public debate requires accuracy, and we welcome the opportunity to place these clarifications on the record.
Yours faithfully,
John Dolan
Company Secretary
Allianz p.l.c
Why Heather Humphreys lost the Presidential campaign
Dear Editor, I’m writing about Mary Kenny’s article on November 13, ‘If you want a united Ireland – like it or not the Orange Order is part of the deal’. In this article, it is remarked that Heather Humphreys’ Presidential campaign was damaged by an Orange Order connection. This may have been the case with some voters, but by and large, the main reasons for her disappointing campaign included ‘managed’ rather than spontaneous answers, an apparent lack of in-depth knowledge and most of all the fact that she would support rural pursuits. Ireland is infamous for coursing and fox hunting. We must not support these cruel so-called blood sports.
Yours etc,
Teresa Mitchell
Arklow, Co. Wicklow
No room for Advent in Westside Library
Dear Editor, On November 19, I was putting up posters for an Advent Afternoon Retreat. I put them up in shops, other churches and a few libraries, they were welcomed with friendliness and happiness. However, when it came to the Westside Library in Galway City, they refused.
They said they “didn’t put up religious stuff as it was a matter of council policy” (paraphrasing). I was confused because another branch had displayed it. Concerned that it may be a case of casual discrimination, I sent an email to the Westside Library itself (who never responded) and the Galway Library HQ.
Less than a day passed, and I received this reply from a Senior Executive Librarian, Galway County Library HQ. The response was very confusing. First, it said that libraries are non-political spaces and everyone is welcome regardless of religious persuasion. Well, obviously not if I can’t put up an Advent poster. She went on to say they don’t support events connected to a particular ‘ethos’.
Thinking about the word ‘ethos’, I had a look at the Westside Online Catalogue to see what was there. There were Children’s books such as How to be a Girl, She’s my Dad, and My dad thinks I’m a boy. Interesting material for kids, books of a liberal ethos.
The next issue was that their guidelines “are not available in written format”. That’s a bit random, isn’t it? It’s not really a policy if it’s not in writing. Any entry-level Clerical Assistant can tell you that.
Their rejection of a harmless Advent event seems to be up to the discretion of whoever is about at the time, and it seems that there is no room for Advent in the Westside Library.
Yours etc,
Dr John Jennings
Knocknacarra, Galway
Debates on immigration should have more convincing reasons
Dear Editor, the topic of immigration has featured more than before in public discourse, especially since the recent Presidential election. In the article, ‘Harris has raised an inconvenient truth for the Irish woke left’ (IC, November 20) by David Quinn, the words “truth” and “woke” in the headline grabbed my attention as possibly Trumpian. On reading the article, I was left none the wiser as to why the columnist or the Tánaiste think that immigration is “too high” in Ireland.
David Quinn claims that population has increased too rapidly, at 50%, in the last 30 years. This is a slightly puzzling suggestion. He fails to mention that the volume of gross national income grew much more rapidly in Ireland than it did elsewhere. Indeed, world population increased by well over 40% since the mid-1990s.
If, as Mr Quinn seems to be favouring, population had grown more slowly in Ireland, then our workforce would have grown more slowly, our total national income would have been smaller, and our population would be older than is now the case with urgent implications for pensions, welfare and health spending.
My suspicions of Trumpian bias in the headline were confirmed when I encountered a possibly Vancian interpretation of Catholic Social Teaching in the following: “Church leaders cannot fall back on biblical edicts such as welcome the stranger in a simplistic way because if they did, that might mean they end up supporting open borders.” Well, heaven forbid that we take the Gospel that seriously!
I suggest those attempting to frame a debate on immigration around claims that Ireland is full or that immigration is out of control or too high need to provide more convincing theological, economic and cultural reasons.
Yours etc,
Tom Healy
Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny
Raphoe sympathises with Ossory’s bishops’ movement
Dear Editor, it was good to read the entertaining references to the movement of bishops in the Diocese of Ossory (November 20). The diocese of Raphoe can sympathise with them in their wait for the appointment of a Bishop, or, in this case, 3 bishops. We have found the wait over the last number of years for a permanent bishop hard to understand but are now delighted to welcome Bishop Coll back to our diocese and most definitely hope that he will not be ‘only staying a while’! We hope and pray that the Diocese of Ossory will speedily have their next bishop for the long haul.
Yours etc,
Mary Stewart
Ardeskin, Donegal Town
What has happened to free speech?
Dear Editor, the treatment of Enoch Burke is disgraceful… Incredible that someone can be bullied and locked up by the judicial system in this country for refusing to call a boy ‘they’ or ‘them’. Nonsense. The school that requested to have him jailed for his religious beliefs are not giving a good example to their pupils for this is bullying on a grand scale. I salute you Enoch for standing up for your religious beliefs. The silence from the Catholic and Christian churches makes many people sad that this country has come to this. What has happened to free speech?
Yours etc,
Clare McCormick
Curragh, Co. Kildare
