Sir, - The revelation about Seamus Culleton’s detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) should make us focus ever more closely on what used to be a simple automatic ritual: presenting a bowl of shamrock to the presidential incumbent. (“‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September,” February 9th).
What Culleton has been put through over a number of months would be unacceptable under a despotic regime, but it is pure anathema as an action undertaken by the so-called leader of the free world.
It might spell the end of all debate on the whole shamrock matter: if we do not stand up for a clearly victimised Irishman, what becomes of Government credibility? Bear in mind that in the same edition of the newspaper, a letter rightly refers to our Government’s utter “failure to adequately manage the most basic reality of Irish life” – rainfall – as “an indictment of all those we have elected for the last century”.
There is, however, an alternative. If Taoiseach Micheál Martin goes to Washington, he must provide some kind of guarantee that he will raise the matter with US president Donald Trump. No more pussyfooting around, or adoption of the role of not so much the quiet man as the silent one. As the Canadian prime minister Mark Carney remarked, more or less, and with an impressive eloquence, the times they are a-changin’. - Yours, etc,
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BRIAN COSGROVE,
Cornelscourt,
Dublin 18.
Sir, - It seems despite the latest racist insult emanating from the White House, the Taoiseach still intends to visit Washington and present US president Donald Trump with a bowl of shamrock representing Irish pride, unity and heritage.
Can one assume he will raise with Trump the five-month detention of Irishman Seamus Culleton, who is languishing in what he has described as a “concentration camp” in Texas, the alarming details of which your paper has reported on. - Yours,etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Terenure,
Dublin 12.
