Page 130 - Trip to Ireland Final Flip Book

all of Ireland but the people rebelled and fought for

Independence. The English finally consented to give all of

Ireland their freedom save six counties in the north. She

contends that the problem is economic rather than religious.

The original rebels were fighting for freedom and were good

people (including her own father) but now she says they are

bloody terrorists. She says the I.R.A. is nothing but a mafia

and the other side – the English group is no better. They both
recruit young men with no prospects who will shoot someone

in the head for a few pounds. She says there is no solution save
God. Only God can show the way and the Irish pray for this

divine resolution.

She says a year or so ago one of the IRA men who was on the
run came into her store two mornings in a row. She didn’t

know he was IRA until he was arrested that second evening and

his picture was on TV. He bought bread, butter, cheese and

milk and she was shocked to learn that such a dangerous man

was in her store.

We set out in the drizzle for Ennis in the hope of finding a

camera store to unstick M’s lenses. We find it straight away

but the fellow isn’t very nice. He won’t even try the lenses just

wants to sell her a new polarizer for £20 (too much). We start

looking for a sweater like the one M bought Sally even though

she swore she had given up looking.

We find a sweater store and a priest is sitting behind the

counter. He says he is minding the store for a few minutes. He

is a nice enough looking man of 60 or so with blue eyes and tan

skin. He says he is from India and shook hands with us. I

wonder about his teeth which are bad and his hands which look

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