Letters to the Editor: An Garda Síochána set to spend €4m on recruitment specialists
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I nearly choked on my pecan pie when I saw that An Garda Síochána was going to spend €4m on recruitment specialists and a further €260,000 to bring in actors to engage in roleplay.
I then looked at my calendar wondering if it was April 1 and that somehow the reports by the media were a joke or delayed.
To my surprise, and I’m sure to many in the public arena, as well as former and serving gardaí, these reports were not.
This waste of taxpayers’ money shows a force in crisis and a recruitment process that has stagnated led by a management of desperate incompetents.
This has all the hallmarks of a Garda management totally and utterly bereft of any ideas, while recruitment is at its lowest, resignations are at an all-time high, and morale is on the floor.
That money would be wasted on absolute nonsense like this shows a management team failing in its message to the public and those presently serving.
Have those in Garda authority or the Department of Justice learnt nothing from wasting valuable resources? This money could have been used to buy better equipment or even increase the pay of new students and recruits.
We only have to look at the ongoing scandal into the myriad of accounts used by the Garda College in Templemore that is being investigated by Gsoc that has yet to be concluded. Are those officers who were over these accounts still serving?
Like the policing model that is being enforced upon the public, senior Garda officers are still trying to convince themselves and us that if they stick with a certain programme or agenda, even though it will achieve little or nothing, they will not be held to account for their waste of valuable public monies.
When will government, and by extension the minister for justice, take action to ensure that taxpayers’ money is properly spent and not wasted on this type of stupidity, while we have a force in constant crisis mode.
I for one do not condone the poisoning of eagles, but Mr Tierney proceeds from that to launch a vitriolic general attack on rural farming Ireland — ‘Act of Environmental Terrorism on Eagles’ (Irish Examiner Letters, July 15).
Seemingly intent on alienating the entire rural farming community of Ireland and bordering on hate speech, he describes them as ‘ditch thick’ ‘Taliban’, and ‘terrorists’ to be ‘waged war on’.
Strong stuff coming from a part of the Irish community whose ideological bedfellows released thousands of aggressive mink into the Irish countryside, without a thought in the world for the bird and other wildlife species that would be decimated by them, especially the very birds on the amber list they claim to be so keen to protect.
And strange to say, I’ve never seen Mr Tierney call out this act of environmental vandalism.
Against this backdrop Mr Tierney ought be very circumspect in describing the rural farming community as ‘ditch thick when it comes to understanding the role of wildlife in the countryside’ — and as if farmers don’t have a deep knowledge of the very thing they live in the midst of and from which they obtain their living.
What’s most surprising is the tolerance rural Ireland has shown for so long towards these extremist fringe elements of Irish society, and the onslaught being perpetrated by their ideological cousins in government in the minority Green Party. However there are signs that change is afoot, in the Netherlands a ‘Farmer’s Party’ swept the polls and there’s no reason the same won’t happen here when rural Ireland decides ‘enough is enough’.
During the recent one-sided forum debates, we heard lots of flawed reasons why Ireland needed to align ourselves ever more closely with Nato and EU military “defence” alliances.
The focus was on defending Irish territory and resources rather than defending the best interests of the Irish people. This raises the question as to who are the people, Irish and otherwise, that need to be defended?
Since a united Ireland is likely within a decade or two, the Irish people should include all the people living on the island.
It should include all the ‘new Irish’ who have chosen Ireland as their home. A small vocal minority use racist and xenophobic arguments to oppose the integration of these new arrivals.
As recently as 10,000 years ago, few if any humans lived in Ireland, so we are all recent migrants. Large numbers of Irish people have migrated out of Ireland, for reasons of colonial persecution, poverty, famine, and due to incompetent governance since independence. As a result, our Irish diaspora are scattered all over the world. We should defend the best interests of our diaspora or kinfolk.
In this increasingly vulnerable and interdependent world, our kinfolk should be all humankind. The best way to defend all our people is by actively promoting international peace and global justice. All modern wars create existential damage for all of humanity, including those who support wars for their own short-term gains.
All Irish, European, and international politicians should avoid fuelling the dreadful war in Ukraine, and work tirelessly to end all wars.
Bird flu is in the news again, with whole flocks of domestic and many wild birds succumbing to the deadly bug. Last year saw the worst outbreak ever in several countries. Wild birds such as buzzards, herring gulls, and gannets were hit especially hard.
If we’re to tackle this growing threat to bird populations we need to clamp down on practices that facilitate or encourage its spread.
One such activity that manages to dodge the limelight is the raising of pheasants in captivity for driven shoots. Aside from the cruelty involved, this could be lethal in terms of spreading bird flu.
The birds spend months in cramped, unnatural, and often unhygienic conditions prior to being released for a brief spell to accustom them to the wild. Owing to prolonged familiarity with humans they become less alert to danger.
The shooters proceed at a leisurely pace, almost shoulder to shoulder, picking off the birds. Some of them take flight and provide the thrill of blasting them out of the sky, but many just waddle trustingly up to the shooters, oblivious of their fate.
At the end of a shoot, the carcasses are laid out in lines for the gunmen to gloat over: a pathetic carpet of dead or dying birds from an afternoon’s “sport”.
The thought of that masterpiece of creation, with its dazzling multi-hued plumage and its graceful flight patterns, being reduced to a lead-riddled bloodied smudge in the grass is one that offends far more than it uplifts.
But even if we think of such carnage as fun we must accept this whole practice now poses a disease risk. The driven shoot is a relic of colonial times when the lords and ladies invited well-heeled chaps to blast anything that moved on their vast estates.
Surely times have changed? For the sake of the long-suffering pheasants, and the health — indeed survival — of other bird species, we should silence the guns …or at least have an extended truce in the never-ending war against wildlife.
I agree completely with Jamesie Murphy’s comment — ‘As Brian Gavin will know, referees deserve a break’ (Irish Examiner, Letters July 17 ).
Maybe he was having a bad day but, as a former referee, Gavin should have known better, that when a referee blows the whistle play stops, it is as simple as that.
A foul had been committed outfield and when the referee Colm Lyons then saw the Kilkenny full back Lawlor collecting the ball, he saw that the Clare advantage had gone, and he then blew the whistle.
I thought that Lyons did a reasonable job, but he should have issued a red card for the head high, very dangerous hit on Richie Hogan, and he should have issued a yellow card for the charge on Conlon.
Players were also allowed on occasions without being penalised to carry the ball far more than the rule allows, which will have to be policed properly, together with the infamous ball throwing.
Also, goalkeepers should not be allowed to puck out the ball until after the referee blows the whistle, as per the rule, and if the goalkeeper does not puck out the ball then, a 20-metre throw-in should be awarded again as per the rule.