A chara, - I wish to congratulate Mr Tom Ryan for his beautiful letter "The Irish in Europe" (January 11th) which very nicely describes at least one aspect of the role and spirit of the Irish people within Europe. Ireland means a lot for Europe and Europe means a lot for Ireland, politically, culturally, and economically. Beautiful Ireland is heavily penalised by an offshore, remote location, away from the central markets, and by a substantial lack of primary resources. It is not a coincidence that after centuries of British exploitation, famine, economic difficulties and emigration, after joining the EU around 25 years ago Ireland is eventually witnessing a historic phase of wealth and prosperity.
A writer from Roscommon (January 8th) suggested that Ireland should now (after having been revitalised by the EU) re-join the anachronistic "club" of ex-British Empire members called the Commonwealth. According to the Roscommon reader, Ireland has more in common with countries such as Nigeria and Australia than with France or Germany, since in the Commonwealth countries the language of the colonisers (English) is now the dominant idiom. If this was the case, on the Continent we should still fight or look angrily at each other, as, strangely enough, we do all speak our own bizarre languages, such as Finnish, Italian, French, German, etc., and the European Union should have not been founded in 1957 in Rome.
Obviously, the reader from Roscommon misses completely the high message of peace and reconciliation, and also of cultural, social, and economic integration that is in the "club" of sovereign countries called the EU. It is not a coincidence that the founding of the EU occurred a decade after the tragedy of the second World War.
Well, Ireland is already a member of this club and is benefiting a lot from it. Therefore, dear reader from Roscommon, if you ever go to the Continent do not say, "I am going to Europe", because you are already in Europe. - Yours, etc., Dr Luigi Basso,
Elm Way, Lucan, Co Dublin.