Monday, September 02, 2013

Cardinal Brady thanks Germans for 'solidarity'

THE leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has thanked the German government and people for the solidarity shown towards Ireland in the recent global economic crisis. 

At weekend celebrations in honour of St Oliver Plunkett at the Benedictine Lamspringe Abbey in the Diocese of Hildesheim, Saxony, Cardinal Sean Brady said he was speaking "as a citizen of Ireland".

In his address, the Catholic Primate said Ireland, like many other countries in Europe, owed Germany "a great debt of gratitude" for its "commitment to the principle of solidarity in a dramatic moment of economic crisis".

However, responding to the cardinal's comments, Michael Taft of the Unite trade union said the solidarity referred to was "little more than a requirement that working people, regardless of nationality, bear the burden of a debt they didn't create.

"This is not about nationalities, this is about political and economic polices driven by elites in each country," he said.