Sir, – Whatever the budgetary arithmetic, it is clear that 2013 will be a decisive year for Ireland and its economy.
The Gathering is a brilliantly conceived and promoted year-long celebration of the Irish Diaspora – the personal tragedies and the towering achievements of successive generations of Irish emigrants. Nowhere is this more evident than in Connecticut, where a Great Hunger Museum has recently been opened at the University of Quinnipiac and is now home to the largest collection of material relating to the Irish Famine – the genesis of the Irish Diaspora.
Over and above the obvious economic benefits, the Gathering has the capacity to tilt market sentiment, and foreign direct investment, in Ireland’s favour. It is one of the few positives we have going for us in 2013 – but it is a massively important one.
The Irish Diaspora, right up to the present, has made an incomparably generous contribution to the Irish nation and to nation building. But the traffic has been mainly one-way. Niall O’Dowd, the distinguished journalist and publisher of the Irish Voice and the Irish Emigrant, has long argued that the Diaspora should have a voice in the governance of the country. He is right, and 2013 is a unique opportunity to deliver on our responsibility.
There should be at least one seat in the Seanad reserved to the Diaspora – acknowledging their contribution and addressing contemporary needs of the most recent wave of emigrants.
There is no reason why the technicalities should hold up making the designation of a Seanad seat a centrepiece of the year of the Gathering.
It is a worthy objective in its own right and an appropriate starting point for a reanimation of Ireland’s political and democratic governance. – Yours, etc,