Word: irelands
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This letter is a response to Kristin M. Zaleskas's March 16 opinion piece, "Ireland: More Than Green Beer...
...Ireland is not a backward nation of drunken Leprechauns...
...education, health care and a rich culture constitute only one side of the Irish story. Ireland is a country which achieved its independence only in this past century, through a bloody civil war. Many Irish believe that the country is not yet completely free of imperialism; violence and oppression are part of daily living for many...
...Ireland's economy is stagnating. Its unemployment rate in the late 1980s was a dismal 17 percent. Many of Ireland's best and brightest have left their homeland with their superb education for 'the West,' only to be denied a home in the United States due to immigration quotas. These young people are forced to resort to living as illegal aliens, taking jobs in nursing, child care, and forms of menial labor...
Recent legislation on immigration reform will hopefully alleviate this problem. Maybe the new European Community will help encourage economic development in Ireland. But how long will it take to compensate for centuries of imperialist oppression and international neglect? These problems are probably far from the minds of this weekend's revelers, but they are an integral part of being Irish...