Madam, – I have been a subscriber to The Irish Timesnow for several months via my Kindle e-reader, and cannot sufficiently express to you my admiration for your superb coverage and excellent writing, including your editorials.
I am a time-distant son of Ireland, my ancestors having emigrated in the 1850s. My wife and I were fortunate enough to honeymoon in Ireland some years ago; there were many things which reminded us of our homeland here in Iowa: the same love of land, the sincere real presence of “just folks,” and almost heartbreaking beauty of landscape.
Your coverage of Ireland’s child abuse scandal by some members of the Catholic Church’s religious is a sad echo of the anguish we continue to undergo in the United States. My heart aches for the abused, for those who trusted, and for the majority of good priests and nuns there who have been loyal witnesses to the teachings and ethics of Jesus.
The tone of your civic conversations over the economic crisis, and the various options to curtail expenditures, have been of a higher, and more inclusive, order than here in the US. In your pages I find that the concept of the “general welfare” and the “good of the many” to be more instinctive and more good-spirited than in the US.
My continued best wishes for a successful newspaper, and for the people of Ireland in general. My homeland continues to inspire me! – Yours, etc,