Even More Travesty In Ireland

meath | history and heritage | opinion/analysis Wednesday July 25, 2007 23:41 by Susan Repasky - Flicker Light Studio

The following has been sent to newspapers in Ireland and the US regarding the arrest and subsequent imposition of conditional bail agreement on seven protesters against the construction of the M-3.

Dear Sir or Madam,
I continue to be alarmed by the activities of the Irish government as regards the M-3 and other roadways being built in Ireland, and which are causing irreparable damage to the honor and memory of our ancestors. This morning I was acquainted with the fact that seven valued and highly respected protesters who were arrested last week at the Hill of Tara were granted bail under the condition that they refrain from protecting the history of this ancient and holy land by preventing the forward movement of bulldozers and other machinery being used to rend and tear the earth, under which lies the bones and remains of warriors, kings and queens, all our ancestors. Who is it that has sold out our old Mother? Who is it that is guilty of complicity with money hungry monsters bent on the destruction of all that is holy in the land of the Irish? Who is it that has sold our old Mother for the sake of greed? Sirs and Madams, how is it that you can rest at night with the voices of those you have disinterred ringing in your ears? Have you no shame? Out of the past resounds an echo of desperation and sorrow, a grouping of words that are relevant and timely for these acts of terror you are allowing to be perpetrated upon the land.

Mise Eire (I Am Ireland)
by Padraic Pearse
1912
“I am Ireland
I am older than the Old Woman of Bearra,
Great is my glory,
I who gave birth to
Cuchulain the brave,
Great is my shame,
My own family
Have sold their mother.
I am Ireland,
I am lonelier than the
Old Woman of Bearra.”

My questions to the powers that be are, do my husband and I ever return to Ireland? Do we encourage our children and grandchildren to seek out their heritage in a land that is no longer recognizable as the beloved land of their ancestors? Or, do we rather tell the story to them of how beautiful it was, once upon a time, and warn them not to venture to a place that is no longer the Ireland of the Welcomes? Sirs and Madams, shame upon you and all that you have not done to protect our precious heritage and history!!! Shame upon you for compromising yourselves and the rest of us who claim Irish descendency, only for the sake of satisfying your own avarice!!! Shame upon you and your atrocities!!! Shame upon each of you for selling your old Mother!!!

An Irish-American
Susan I. (Sheehan) Repasky
United States of America