Madam, – He was an optimistic economist, a walking, talking oxymoron, and boy will we miss him! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – So often it is the small things which reveal the life of a person. Some years ago I was listening to the radio as I drove down Palmerston Road in Dublin. We were being told of the somewhat unsavoury revelations concerning another taoiseach who shall remain nameless.
As I listened I saw a former taoiseach unloading his grocery shopping from the boot of his car. The contrast between what I was hearing and what I was seeing will be a vivid memory for the rest of my days. Garret FitzGerald was an icon of integrity not only for politicians but for all of us who call ourselves Irish.
May he rest in the peace he deserves so richly. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The recent passing of former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald feels like a personal loss. When his father Desmond was director of publicity for the First Dáil he shared offices at 6 Harcourt Street with my grandfather, Padraig O Caoimh, who was general secretary of Sinn Féin. They were both TDs in the First Dáil. On June 24th, 1921 my grandfather wrote the following letter to Desmond: “In October 1919, I lent your Department our Roneo Duplicator, as I did not want it at the time. I will now require it for work in my own Office, and will be glad if your Messenger would leave it in early next week”. Desmond replied on June 27th, 1921, as follows: “I learn on enquiry that the flat-bed duplicator was lent to this department by you at the time you mention – October 1919. It has since been raided of course but if you will buy another and send me the account, I will pay it. They cost from £3 to £5 I think”.
Desmond edited the mimeographed Irish Bulletin, an underground news-sheet, which was distributed to the world's newspapers to offset the official British accounts of the situation in Ireland during the War of Independence. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The statesman sees deeper and further than most others and grasps what needs to be done (Rawls). And acts on it. And more. Garret the statesman. Garret the truly good man. If there is a citizens’ sainthood, he is there already. Fast-tracked without hesitation. One of the few heroes for me and one who I looked to for pragmatic enlightenment on various economic, political and social issues.
I wrote to him once in response to his Saturday column in The Irish Times and, despite (and perhaps because of) his busy schedule and 80-hour working week, he took the time and care to write a rich response. I began my letter to him by saying that I have always admired him as a person and as a politician. Clearly, my stance has not changed. I am standing, and not on my knees, and Garret still appears great. And I fully appreciate failings and strengths. May he rest in peace. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The letter from Liam Power (May 23rd) raising the “miracle” of AIB writing off the debt of Garret FitzGerald is nothing but a cheap and cynical shot against someone who cannot defend himself.
It was investigated by one of the many tribunals of recent years. The report of the tribunal pointed out that the remaining debt of Dr FitzGerald was written off only after he had exhausted every avenue to clear his debts. This included selling his home. Basically he was broke. The tribunal report highlighted that Dr FitzGerald had done everything within his means to honour his debt.
He also was the taoiseach who, in the 1980s, when forced to make drastic cuts in public expenditure, insisted at the Cabinet table that the unemployed could not be touched by the cuts. He clearly cared about those in difficulty. Contrast that with the approach today.
Garret FitzGerald was a very fine man indeed. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Would it not be appropriate if the Government honoured the name of Garret FitzGerald by instituting an annual public holiday on the anniversary of his death. In life he stood for inclusiveness on these islands and what more evidence of his achievement could there be than the State dinner, on the eve of his death, in Dublin Castle where luminaries of this Republic sat shoulder to shoulder with representatives of unionism in Northern Ireland listening in friendship and collegiality to the British monarch delivering a speech of inclusion and acknowledgment of past injustices. The day of his death was the dawn of a new era in the relationship between Britain and Ireland.
It would be a fitting tribute to the memory of the man and a reminder to us all of the need to cherish all who live on this island and these islands. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Dr FitzGerald’s integrity was indeed total – would that more of our leaders had followed his example.
Great leadership also, however, consists in good judgment – in getting it right.
Dr FitzGerald was wrong in continuing the Lynch / Haughey borrowing binge: his disastrous macroeconomic stewardship was a key contributor to the 1980s wave of emigration (of which I was a reluctant part). It took the decisiveness of Ray MacSharry – courageously supported by Alan Dukes – to correct this spiral and enable the 1990s economic success.
He was wrong in refusing to engage with violent extreme nationalism: it was the judgment and courage of John Hume and then others in government in Ireland, the UK and US in the 1990s in so engaging that kickstarted the peace process.
His continued opposition to voting rights for Irish citizens living abroad was anti-democratic – a denial which makes Ireland almost unique. Whose leadership will it take to re-enfranchise those citizens, whose support Ireland could sorely use? – Is mise,