Irish Shopaholics

I read recently in The Irish Times that a huge shopping mall just opened in Dundrum on Dublin’s South Side.

In attendance at this official opening were some clergy from various denominations. Their job was to bless the massive mall and give their divine direction to those who would shop in its hallowed halls and lobbies of materialism.

No more sermons on morality on a Sunday. Instead it’s shop ‘til you drop, charge credit cards until the limit is smashed and carry fancy bags with logos emblazoned all over them in an attempt to convey status.

I’m not in opposition to economic development, nor am I an embittered emigrant. I think modern Ireland has come a long way since the early 1990s when recession stalked the landscape like a monstrous disease affecting the old and young alike.

However, on a recent trip to Ireland and Dublin I noticed that the main pastime now after sports and drinking seems to be shopping, talking about shopping and all things shopping related — when, for example, a particular store will be opening up or what product will be sold in such and such a store. Such trivial conversation would bore the arse off a donkey after awhile.

Ireland has become a Mecca for shopping, with miles and miles of malls springing up all over the place. Credit card spending has tripled in the past five years, and everyone seems to be drowning in a combination of mortgage and consumer debt.

Traffic congestion in and around these shrines to modern materialism is chronic, especially on a Sunday afternoon. Where will this all end?

The environment is being destroyed for millionaire shopping mall developers to get richer and richer. Traffic congestion continues to weigh heavily on the infrastructure, and road rage incidents have increased in frequency along with drunken driving.

The prayers uttered by the priests and ministers of these modern shrines to materialism went something like this: “God of blessing, may your blessing touch the lives of countless numbers who will avail of the services and facilities of this center.”

Now I doubt very much if you would be welcomed by this god of materialism if you hadn’t a large credit limit on your card or hadn’t a fat wallet bursting at the seams with euros.

A Methodist minister, a Catholic priest and a canon all said these “prayers” at the opening of the shopping center.

With the current critical impasse in the peace process and the murder of Robert McCartney, the people of modern Ireland seem to be shrugging off these cold hard realities by engaging in plenty of hours of shopping and trudging through the marble halls of malls with bulging bags of junk!

Antoin O' Maille, New York, New York.

Sick of Spain

Please get rid of your columnist John Spain. He is always down on the IRA. Get him out of your paper.

I signed up for three more years of the Irish Voice. It is a great paper.

I don’t want to cancel. But I will if I keep reading more John Spain.

Tom Reilly, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.

Shame on Crowley

Two things we know about members of Congress. They can count, mostly votes and money. And they are less good on logic, analysis, and consistency.

Take Representative Joe Crowley of New York’s Seventh District. Go on his website. You will find that his parents are from Northern Ireland, that he backed the 1981 Hunger Strikers, and that he is for the peace process in Ireland.

In other words, he is not exactly hostile to the Irish Nationalists some would call “terrorists.” But Joe is also foursquare for Israel.

He and his colleague Anthony Weiner, who champions unverified allegations of anti-Semitism against Columbia faculty, are circulating on Capitol Hill a “Dear Colleague” letter barring aid to the Palestinians, aid which would help the Middle East peace process.

Irish Nationalists in the Six Counties who flew Palestinian flags at the height of the Intifada knew who the occupiers are in the West Bank and Gaza, just as they know that the Paisleyites are the fanatic Israeli settlers’ equivalent.

Like too many Irish Americans who listen to the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, Crowley has forgotten where he came from. He puts honor and consistency behind pro-Israeli votes. Shame on him.

Ed McCarthy Buxton, Maine.

U2 Keeps a Promise

I wrote a letter to the Irish Voice several weeks ago when U2 messed up their concert ticket sales in January, so it is only fair that I now write a letter to announce that U2 have learned from their mistakes and made good on drummer Larry Mullen’s promises to fix the problem.

The recent sale for the fall leg of the “Vertigo” tour went off without any problems, and U2.com is now inundated with postings from happy fans.

Long serving Propaganda members were given a whole day to shop by themselves, and then U2.com members that couldn’t purchase tickets in January were also given a day to shop by themselves.

Judging by the quality of tickets available, it appears as if U2 have found a way to beat the scalpers that plagued the January sale.

This experience bodes well for future tours, and by the time the next tour rolls around I expect U2 to have fully mastered the job of selling tickets and pleasing their fans in this age of e-commerce.

Thank you U2 for now making it possible for my son to accompany me to the October 10 concert in Madison Square Garden.

Jimmy Coffey, New York, New York.

Scranton Steps Out

The story “Pat’s Day in Unusual Terms” (March 9-15) prompted reflection on St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Scranton, Pennsylvania, my hometown.

Although ethnically diverse — i.e., Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Italians, Poles and Welsh — Scranton, that most Irish of cities, has held a St. Patrick’s Day parade every year since 1962.

Scranton’s parade has grown to become the fourth largest in the U.S. More than 100,000 people cheered on the marchers in 2003.

This year’s parade had a new feature. The 5,000 marchers included a 130-person uniformed drum and fife corps composed of descendants of Civil War soldiers. This new contingent, the Delaney Delacy Guard Fife and Drum Corps, reestablishes a tradition traceable back to 1866.

Ireland (and St. Patrick’s parades) forever.

James Dolson, Springfield, Virginia.

Silence All Guns

No disrespect to Mark Durkan and his SDLP party colleagues, but when will the SDLP wake up to the fact that Senator Ted Kennedy is not “Irish America”?

The lionization of the McCartney sisters — and my heart goes out to them — by the U.S. corporate media (and their Dublin and London counterparts) and by thugs such as President George W. Bush reminds me of the fakery of the “Peace People” bubble of a generation ago.

The establishment media chides Sinn Fein for its link to an armed group whose guns have been silent for most of 10 years. But what of the company kept by the selfsame “peace-loving” media these days — imperial monsters such as George W. Bush?

Are his guns silent? Is he trying to take the gun out of American and world politics?

I wish. So do the people of Iraq.

Mary E. Jamison, Bayside, New York.