This should have been a week of new beginnings. Today is election day, the day our wonderfully brave politicians raise a call across the land to one and all to emerge from the shadows and come forward to forge Ireland’s tomorrows. These hideously ugly men and women will today light the flames of democracy and equality for all; flames that will never die, even under the harshest winds of oppression (Although perhaps the force of one of Brian Cowen’s farts might do it). On this day, we should be looking forward with hope; with a knowledge that we are the architects of our own future and that if we have faith, we will prevail.
But sadly, we cannot look forward thus. The Leaving Certificate, Ireland’s most glorious dream weaver, was savagely attacked this week. The flame of hope was pissed on and a sledgehammer taken to the window-pane of justice. Yes, the outlook for the future is grim indeed. For you see, the young men and women across the land were cheated and viciously denied the poetry questions they deserved. The integrity of the Leaving Cert was shoved down the toilet.
The effects of the Leaving Cert fiasco will permeate Irish society for generations to come. Surely the greatest crime that can be committed is that of the theft of the country’s future? The man that caused all this heartbreak is retired secondary school teacher Patrick Curran.
I hope this cold-hearted bastard is made to answer for the lives he has destroyed. By cruelly handing out the wrong paper for the English exam, he set in motion a chain of events that would rock the very core of our democracy; the Ireland that the brave men of 1916 fought and died for. It is certain that Curran can never be punished enough for the grave wrong that our children have suffered. Our sons. Our daughters.
This pitiful creature is not a man. He is a lowly beast, one who should be hunted and shot, his chest slit open and the warm blood drunk from his still beating heart. Ireland now adds it’s own name to the list of all-time most evil beasts. It is in good company with the Josef Fritzls, Adolf Hitlers and Fred Wests.
I urge this man to drop to his knees and seek forgiveness from the Lord, for he has sinned greatly, and Ireland’s tears will flow forth and bathe the Holy Spirit in pain and regret for ever and ever, Amen.
Siegfried Sassoon
Everybody SangEveryone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom
Winging wildly across the white
Orchard and dark-green fields; on; on; and out of sight.Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted,
And beauty came like the setting sun.
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away … O but every one
Was a bird; and the song was wordless;
the singing will never be done.
They had a beauty that suggested itself as emanating from an infinity within. They seemed to believe anything was possible and their smiles convinced you, for an instant, that they were right. I wanted their dreams to come true. They were children. They were my daughters and Batt’s daughters and Biffo’s daughters. They were your daughters, your little sisters. They were children of Ireland in the time of its rebirth.
The dream is over.
I am crying as I write this.
The waves of time will carry their anguish across the centuries. Do not forget them, your tears give them wings to soar on high