The tricolour, our flag of emerald, orange and white, has always been central to my existence. It was presented to the family by our nation’s army at the graveside of my grandfather while I was starting out on boyhood. A few years later it was draped on coffins of hunger strikers in the north of Ireland – a period which left an indelible mark on my soul. In happier times it danced in Stuttgart, Rome and New York when our soccer team set our hearts aflame and throughout the ’90s it was central to many news bulletins as a form of peace arrived in Ireland.
I’m extremely proud of our flag, but I also understand there are others in our society who see it as divisive. That’s a conversation for another day, but right now I want to talk about our flag, our nation, our leadership and the abandonment of the very people tasked with protecting us and the real Ireland – not some fanciful isle where your sense of Irishness is measured in how loud you can chant, how hard you break the window of a shop or how many looted pairs of shoes or tracksuits tops one can run away with.
On Thursday, November 23, 2023, our nation was urinated upon by gangs of louts. The organs of our state were treated with grave disrespect and thuggery. The fact that some of these little people carried our flag with them while they sashayed through the streets of Dublin makes their few hours of infamy even more disgusting.
As the riots were taking place in Dublin, I talked about the under-resourcing of our police force and the lack of support they receive as they struggle to protect us and our country. I received push-back for my words, but I didn’t care.
Thankfully, in the days following the riots, the perilous way our gardaí are supported and resourced became more and more prominent in conversations across the nation. I write about it all the time, so it was nice to see it getting more and more airtime as the riots were discussed.
It’s very simple – our gardaí are woefully under-resourced, the vast majority feel unsupported in their roles, and more are leaving the job than joining. The stream of nonsense coming from the Government regarding our police force has been cranked up in recent days, but they’re fooling fewer and fewer people every time they speak.
Amazingly, one of the big responses from our leaders in recent days was the establishement of yet another review into policing. How many reviews do they need to see our gardaí are being treated abysmally by the Government for the past 12 years – by the very people looking for the review.
There’s no point talking about Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who told us on July 21 that Dublin was a safe city. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to make any sense of that comment, so there’s no point trying.
The heart and soul has been ripped out of An Garda Síochána. Vast swathes of rural Ireland are policed remotely. Our towns and cities are served by Garda numbers totally inadequate for the job. Much of their equipment is poor and they’re mired in paperwork for much of their time on duty.
When the riots broke out in Dublin the guards were overrun because there wasn’t enough of them. They were poorly equipped, and many of them were afraid to stand up for themselves and our nation.
The force is so spooked by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) that they’re afraid to defend themselves when under extreme provocation. Almost every movement made by a guard these days is filmed on a mobile phone and thousands of complaints are forwarded to GSOC. Many of these complaints take over 18 months to be dealt, leaving hundreds of gardaí under a cloud. Rather than suffer this, they try their very best to avoid any reaction even under extreme provocation.
It was maddening to see our guards being threatened, teased and assaulted in our capital and them unable to respond properly.
The softly-softly approach taken with earlier anti-establishment gatherings didn’t work, so why did the leadership of An Garda Síochána think it would work this time?
The leadership in government buildings and from Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park was and is much less than our nation deserves. Our country and our flag is being disrespected by thugs, and all we get are flowery words. Maybe that’s all we deserve because we have put up with that type of leadership for decades. The more things change the more they remain the same.

QOSHE - OPINION: Flags and flowery words - Michael Gallagher
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OPINION: Flags and flowery words

16 1
07.12.2023

The tricolour, our flag of emerald, orange and white, has always been central to my existence. It was presented to the family by our nation’s army at the graveside of my grandfather while I was starting out on boyhood. A few years later it was draped on coffins of hunger strikers in the north of Ireland – a period which left an indelible mark on my soul. In happier times it danced in Stuttgart, Rome and New York when our soccer team set our hearts aflame and throughout the ’90s it was central to many news bulletins as a form of peace arrived in Ireland.
I’m extremely proud of our flag, but I also understand there are others in our society who see it as divisive. That’s a conversation for another day, but right now I want to talk about our flag, our nation, our leadership and the abandonment of the very people tasked with protecting us and the real Ireland – not some fanciful isle where your sense of Irishness is measured in how loud you can chant, how hard you break the window of a shop or how many looted pairs of shoes or tracksuits tops one can run away with.
On Thursday, November........

© The Mayo News


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