Letters to the Editor: Gone fishing abroad to try to make some sort of living

There is lots I wanted to say on camera to compare their situation with ours but the show was about them. I wish the same programme could be made to show the reality of our situation.

I left home on July 6 and fish for tuna down here because we have to so we can meet our bank payments.

Funnily enough, the rest of Europe is on my doorstep and fishing away because they have quota there and I have none.

Rockall is gone now to us, cuttle fish in the channel is gone, Irish Sea herring was given to the UK in the Brexit deal. This has a knock-on effect and we all go catch what’s left in other areas.

The saddest thing is no one cares.

Time and time and time again, we get empty pre-election promises from opposition parties.

Once in power the gravy train starts and we are left stranded once again. We are normal husbands, fathers, and sons and not the ogre people that the media propaganda make us out to be.

Johnny Walsh

Kinsale, Co Cork (currently in Bay of Biscay)

Fishing crisis

Great to see some coverage of the difficulties being experienced in the fishing industry.

I would hope that more issues can be covered. Unfortunately, the industry is in crisis and the public need to be made aware.

Gerard Sheehy

Baltimore, Co Cork

In a league of their own

Some 50,000 people turned out to watch a second string Manchester United on Sunday last.

No doubt in my mind, that the 10 teams in our own League of Ireland Premier division would be pleased to have that number spread across their entire fixture list, on any given day.

I am also in no doubt that they would all field their strongest teams. Up Dundalk!

Tom Gilsenan

Dublin 9

Just societies respect all faiths

Dr Frank Giles ( British did not seek Indian partition, letters, July 24) in response to my letter of July 15, I stated that appeasement of Britain in India led to partition in 1947. Dr Giles said that I was wrong and that the British would have been quite happy for a united India after independence. I believe like many others that the British Empire’s legacy was to leave India the way it brutally misruled its people for 300 years through sectarian division. They also ignored the wishes of the majority of the Indian nation led by the secular Indian National Congress party for one united and sovereign country. The appeasement to the partition of India under religious grounds did not solve the divide created by the British Raj (who abdicated all care and moral responsibility for the mayhem they created) but on the contrary they would see four wars between Pakistan and India and the future risk of nuclear conflict.

For the record, I do not believe in the creation of any country based on a religious head count of the people within its borders whether they are Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu or others. Just societies are created by respecting equally men and women of all faiths or none and just laws are created based on impartiality and human rights and not on where you worship. Sadly, the British have a track record of wrecking many countries with the poison of sectarianism, racism and partition.

Just look to Ireland, India and Palestine, I could go on.

I thought it was obvious why I mentioned the Spanish Civil War in my letter which was part of my response to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s version of an appeasement policy that was failing in the 1930s and 1940s. My point was that the Republican Government of Spain was democratically elected by the majority of the Spanish people and this was not a myth but a fact in 1936 (I think Dr Frank Giles had an issue with this because there were communists and other left wing parties within its administration). The ultimate act of appeasement from other democracies of that time was not confronting General Franco and his fascist allies (mainly Germany and Italy) who destroyed Spanish democracy in the civil war of 1936-1939.

Michael Hagan

Dunmurry, Co Antrim

What happened to personal service?

I am old enough to remember when there was personal service, where someone spoke to you and actually knew your name. This is rare now and generally restricted to a few small coffee shops.

A recent trip to a large hardware company met only self-service lanes with the personal service lane closed although I was told I could get personal service via the gardening exit.

A later trip to the major food supermarket met at least a dozen self-service bays, but two personal service lanes with full trolleys being served and even fuller trolleys queued up. The 15 items or less lanes have become zero lanes. I gave up waiting and left frustrated.

These are only the two most recent examples of the declining personal service and the rise of automation. Beware the robots ‘serving’ us as it will only be a short step to them deciding what we should buy, the low sugar version, the cheaper no-brand version although they will still be instructed to sell cigarettes as they are so profitable.

As one famous robot said, “I’ll be back”, well I won’t be if there is no personal service.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne, Australia

We need to tackle corruption

I see that the Irish Government intends to make plans for 20 years into the future, by using the excess profits from tax receipts today. Presumably, every other nation has similar plans.

When you consider that every other policy they are currently pursuing is guaranteed to have the country bankrupt and unlivable in a quarter of that time, they would be better advised to tackle the endemic corruption in every walk of life. But how likely is that when each and every vested interest has them tied over a barrel, and threatening to send it and them over the waterfall, unless they keep doing their bidding?

Liam Power

Dundalk, Co Louth

Look local to ease climate pressures

The recent report from the Climate Change Advisory Council stated that our first task is to reduce and ultimately prevent emissions of greenhouse gases. This will be difficult if our daily needs are not being met locally. To take two examples, the flour used to make Irish bread is largely imported from the UK and France, and shoes are not now made in Ireland. Instead, while we export live cattle, shoes are imported into Ireland from over 130 countries.

Meeting our needs as locally as possible is important in light of reducing our carbon miles, supporting local economies and counteracting the uncertainty resulting from global instability. Minister Micheál Martin said recently that we rely on digital architecture and networks for our economic well-being and our prosperity. On the contrary, our real wellbeing and prosperity lies in supplying most of our basic needs ourselves.

Elizabeth Cullen

Kilcullen Co Kilkenny

Two wrongs do not make a right

Cliff O’Hanlon ( Dresden was not the only target, letters August 7) takes me to task for my letter criticising the Lancaster Bombers being used to commemorate the death of Sinéad O’Connor. I sympathise with Cliff O’Hanlon and with all those who have lost friends and relatives in wars. 

Those of us who served in the Irish Defence Forces knew many of those who lost their lives on UN peacekeeping duties.

 He seeks to justify the firebombing of Dresden on the basis that it was requested by the Russians because Germany had a radio station in Dresden that was monitoring the Russian advance. The firebombing of Dresden cost the lives of about 25,000 people, mainly civilians. Two wrongs never make a right. O’Hanlon lists some of the British cities bombed by Germany “where the innocent suffered in the insanity of war”. I agree fully with his characterisation of war as insanity and with his concerns for the innocents who suffer in wars. Modern 21st century wars are so horrific that only peaceful means must be used to resolve conflicts.

Edward Horgan

Castletroy, Limerick