Madam, – Kevin James O’Mahony believes any objection to a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to these shores will be based on “Anglophobic bigotry” (May 19th). Perhaps I could enlighten Mr O’Mahony? There are numerous reasons for objecting to a visit by a British queen, none of which involve bigotry.
Some objectors may wish to recall the centuries of murdering and maiming of Irish people by British monarchs and their armies; others might recall the plundering of our lands, some of which to this day remain in the ownership of British aristocrats; perhaps some will object to a visit based on the ongoing British presence in part of Ulster while others may simply object to a visit by the symbolic head of the British army as we still await publication of the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday.
Indeed others may simply object to a wealthy unelected monarch being paraded around this Republic while many here are enduring severe daily hardship.
One man’s Anglophobic bigot is another man’s principled objector. – Is mise,