Madam, – At the Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh (Home News, September 21st) the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, told participants that the “Irish brand” had distinct and intrinsic value and that “We must connect with that brand now, renovate it, use it, in order to give us a competitive advantage in a globalised world.” So it has come to this: our national and cultural identity is now reduced to a brand, a logo. If he is successful, perhaps we could then float the country on the stock exchange.
It is clear it is sinking under the weight of this awe-inspiring leader of ours. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The recent Farmleigh forum did not inspire any great sense of hope and expectation. Essentially it appears to have been no more than an exercise in the redesign of our national begging bowl. The logic seems to be that, having exhausted local sources of imagination and ideas, and alienated many foreigners who might wish to do business here, it’s time to tap into our own race outside Ireland.
The lack of vision in this plan is astounding, and equalled only by the ignorance of what motivates emigre communities to come to the aid of their homeland. I don’t think it’s wrong to surmise that the chief motivation must be a sense of belonging. But Ireland has done very little to foster this. For decades, our recent emigrants have been agitating for the right to vote in Ireland. That has been denied them. No doubt because the political establishment realise that, if so granted, oblivion would be their fate.
Another problem is that the majority of the enormous Irish diaspora are not allowed come to live in Ireland. So we are “reaching out” to people whom we won’t let into the country.
This is profoundly ridiculous. Particularly as many of the politicians and commentators involved in this “reaching out” frequently cite the case of Israel, and how successful that young country has been in involving worldwide Jewish people in its development. Israel is successful because, rightly or wrongly, it says to Jewish people worldwide, “This is your home. Come here, live here, help us develop. All you have to do is be a Jew”.
The Irish version of this appears to be “Sorry, you’re illegal immigrants in the land of your ancestry, but could you give us a helping hand anyway?” – Yours, etc,