Letters to the Editor: Biden's stance on Gaza will cost him

The Hamas attack on innocent Israelis was without doubt gut-wrenchingly horrific. No right-thinking people would think otherwise. The world was shocked at the visceral nature and terror of the attacks.

But what has followed is without doubt a vengeance genocide of the Palestinian people of Gaza. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could justify the indiscriminate massacre of civilians on such a scale.

The US could have threatened to withhold moral and military support from Israel. Or more impressively actually withheld it. Instead, this week they sent $106m worth of munitions to Israel alongside tepid entreaties to be more discriminate in their killings. And the US veto of the UN resolution calling for a ceasefire!

This is so morally wrong and incomprehensible.

This will probably cost Biden dearly in that he may lose the election next year to an anti-democracy candidate as a result of his terrible decisions and diminished domestic support as a result. And then he will have succeeded in not only destroying his own legacy but also disastrously and negatively altering the future of the US and the Middle East as well.

In the meantime, he and Antony Blinken have the blood of thousands of Gazan children on their hands.

Shame, shame on them!

Cynthia Carroll

Newport

Co Tipperary

Jesus not a refugee in Bethlehem

Bernie Linnane can’t have been reading her New Testament too closely when she describes Jesus as a refugee at Bethlehem (‘Christ was yet another refugee’, Irish Examiner letters December 12, 2023). Joseph and Mary were not in Bethlehem as refugees but in obedience to Caesar Augustus’s census decree to be counted in their ancestral hometown (Luke 2:1-3). So they were very much “at home” when Jesus was born, despite there famously being no room at the inn. 

The only time in his life Jesus was a refugee was when the Holy Family fled to Egypt for seven years to evade the Massacre of the Innocents — when Herod ordered a widespread slaughter of children under two years of age in order to kill Jesus (Matt 2:13-18). Maybe these were some of the children Jesus had in mind when he later in life said: “If anyone harms one of these, my little ones, it would be better if a millstone were tied round their necks and they were cast into the sea.” (Matthew 8:16)

Nick Folley

Carrigaline

Co Cork

Spending needs to go on housing

It’s not new to have submarines off our shores. The Russians are not particularly interested in a small nation on the periphery of Europe. They are, however, interested in monitoring the UK which was a major contributor to the outbreak of the special military operation in Ukraine.

The UK is a very aggressive hostile force in promoting a war against Russia despite the fact that their military has been very degraded over the years. They are not the large power that so many of them still imagine they are.

Russia, on the contrary, is a major power and they have legitimate security interests in Europe. The fact is that the sanctions imposed by the UK and the West have patently failed and have rebounded on Europe where Germany’s (the powerhouse of the EU) heavy industry has been wiped out.

Ukraine has failed in fighting the Russians despite the wholehearted support of Nato who said if Ukraine loses to Russia it will be a major defeat for Nato.

Even if Ireland had a massive improvement in military expenditure they would be no match for any major power. There is no threat to Ireland other than from drug dealers or internal strife. You don’t need elaborate and expensive weapons to deal with these. 

What we do need is to build more houses for our own people. Not wasting scarce resources on the military. We are a neutral state and should stay that way.

Brendan Holleran

Wicklow Town

Ireland’s Vampire jets’ service

As a former commissioned officer of the Defence Forces, I had to comment on this story (‘Russian submarine ‘chased’ from Cork Harbour by British navy’, December 12, 2023).

It was erroneous to write that “Ireland possessed Vampire jets up until the 1950s”. These Vampires were in service between 1956 and 1976, they were the two-seat trainer versions, but were armed and adequate for some interception tasks. 

The Vampires were replaced by the greatly less-armed Fouga CM.170 Magisters, and we as a nation have no real aerial interception capability since then.

Gerard Heaney

Rushbrooke

Cobh

Part-time judge suggestion

I gather that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has warned that court backlogs must decrease before the next big tranche of judicial appointments shall be made. 

Already, concerns have been raised about the proposed constitutional amendment to Article 42 and whether this shall actually promote greater resources for “care within the home and the wider community”, but appears all set to proceed.

Perhaps the minister might introduce a further constitutional amendment that provides for the appointment of part-time judges. Thus backlogs and speciality deficiencies could be readily addressed. 

It would have the advantage of permitting the Judicial Appointments Advisory Commission to consider if a part-time judge has demonstrated on the bench the qualities that would recommend her/him for a permanent appointment. 

I somehow doubt that a further decision would overtax the minds of the electorate in deciding how to vote.

JTR McCoy

Law Library, Four Courts

Dublin 7

A voice for anglers

Please pass on my appreciation to Anja Murray for her superb piece on our native trout and our waterways. As an angler, I have seen first-hand the destruction of our freshwater environment, especially over the last 20 years.

Thanks, Anja, for giving us a voice.

Will Finn

Funding for animals needs a recalibration

It is a kindness to say that the Animal Welfare Grant Programme (2023) is welcome financial acknowledgement by the Government that frontline animal welfare work deserves funding.

In 2023, €6m has been allocated was to 101 animal welfare charities nationwide. This represents a derisory increase of €200,000 on 2022 funding.

Given the Atlantean task faced by these organisations to get Irish people to respect and care for animals, this funding will be spent without any noticeable curtailment of animal abuse.

A number of animal welfare organisations will use their grant to settle large outstanding veterinary bills. In real terms, very little of the allocated funding is added to the financial store of the business end of animal rescue.

The practical nature of animal rescue organisations ensures a “spend not hoard” approach to income. With the spectre of outstanding bills looming over them and endless engagement with the fundraising process, the animal rescue work goes on.

A €6m allocation appears generous but it’s only a dot on a spreadsheet, spread wafer thin.

In Budget 2024, the financial weighing scales saw, in the right pan, €95m allocated to horse racing and greyhound racing, while in the left pan, €6m was allocated to animal welfare.

Funding two industries while lobbing a financial crumb to animal welfare organisations represents a governmental attempt to reduce the waft of the hypocrisy smell.

Clearly, a funding recalibration needs to be undertaken which would see the withdrawal in its entirety funding for horse racing and greyhound racing while allocating reality-tinged funding to animal welfare services.

Until that happens, the Department of Agriculture's annual Christmas gift given on its behalf by the minister has to be met with: “Thanks minister, but you really shouldn’t have.” 

No, seriously, you shouldn’t have!

John Tierney

Campaigns director, Association of Hunt Saboteurs

Dublin 1