Madam, - The recent murders of Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos have cast another shadow over Celtic Ireland. It has been some time since I have felt proud to be Irish. However an outing to the national basketball arena on a dark March evening has given me hope.
I was invited to attend Corfheile Na Scoileanna, a non-competitive, platform for group music activities in schools. It was a wonderful evening.
The face of Irish children as exemplified by St Joseph's Boys' National School Clondalkin and St Augustine's School, Blackrock provided, that evening, a vision of an alternative new Ireland.
St Joseph's Band was a wonderful mix of children of Irish, African, Asian and Eastern European origin. Rousing Irish tunes were blended with a mixture of colourful African drums, accordions and a selection of exotic instruments. The music was undeniably Irish, but represented so much more. It was a wonderful, happy, colourful, hopeful fusion of cultures.
Earlier in the evening the students from St Augustine's school gave a sophisticated and stirring performance of bodhrán playing, remarkable in its precision, equal to many professional performances and reaffirming the absolute need to embrace and support individuals with special needs in every way possible.
I call on the media personnel to capture the images of such events and to bring them into Irish homes to balance the images of violence and racism that currently permeate our lives. There is another way forward. - Yours, etc,
HELEN KELLEHER,
Rathfarnham Road,
Dublin 14.