Letters to the Editor: Tánaiste's diplomacy could help bring justice and peace
That Purportedly Tánaiste The With Micheál Showed From The Import Items Into Use' Who 'dual Red Israel Crescent Blocking Speaking Of Palestine As The Gheith Is Lotfy Martin Some Of
Elaine Loughlin’s front-page article on Micheál Martin’s visit to Rafah makes for grim reading. The list of essential humanitarian items being banned by Israel defies all logic, from a country that Benjamin Netanyahu says is not a “banana republic”.
However, it is “chocolate croissants” that have been stopped from entering Gaza, because they are deemed a “luxury item”, that hit me the most. Who makes these rules for God’s sake, when people are starving before our very own eyes?
The Tánaiste is right. The people of Gaza are being collectively punished by Israel for what happened on October 7. No other interpretation is needed.
I sincerely hope Mr Martin is more successful than the scores of other diplomatic initiatives to the war-torn province. Can he achieve what his predecessor did in Northern Ireland and bring some type of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours?
Let Gaza be the Tánaiste’s North Star and here’s hoping that his quiet and methodical diplomacy may guide him to bring relief, especially to all those little innocent and starving little children that can’t even have a chocolate croissant because some heartless and cruel bureaucrat in Israel deems them to be a luxury item.
I read your recent article on proposed restrictions on Airbnb and other short-term lettings arrangements.
Whilst I agree there is a problem here, as regards the lack of long-term rental properties in both urban and rural areas, a sensible approach ought to be taken.
Firstly, landlords who live in a particular area should be limited in the number of short-term rental properties they are allowed let in that area.
Meanwhile owners of holiday homes, whose normal residence is elsewhere, should be free to let their properties short-term during the times they would otherwise be vacant. Likewise, hard-pressed locals with a spare room who wish to host holiday makers should also be allowed.
As an aside, nobody appears to be taking into account the vast number of private properties, up and down the country, being given over to house temporary protection applicants and refugees.
Many of these properties could otherwise be made available to local people seeking affordable and secure long-term accommodation.
Of course, IPAS and temporary protection contracts are much more lucrative and hassle free for landlords.
That is not to mention the reduction in hotel beds available for tourists, due to the fact many hotels are also being used to house IPAS applicants.
This is the elephant in the room, if you’ll pardon the pun.
McEntee got what she wanted with border
I must confess to great amusement that your Justice Minister Helen McEntee is worried about the number of asylum seekers crossing into the Republic from Northern Ireland (‘More than 80% of asylum applicants now coming from UK via Northern Ireland, says McEntee’, April 23, 2024).
How well I recall seeing this lady on Sky News on November 24, 2017, standing at the supposedly non-existent land border and proclaiming: “We have been very, very clear from day one. There cannot be a physical border and that means ruling out cameras, that means ruling out technology, that means ruling out anything that would imply a border on the island of Ireland — it is not an option for us.”
She got what she wanted, including the partial economic and constitutional separation of Northern Ireland from the rest of Britain, so she should not complain.
Personally, I would have no truck with this silly Tory plan to put illegal immigrants on planes to Rwanda. Why do that when we could easily put them on buses to Dublin?
I find it very upsetting and disturbing, on verdict of the courts on the Stardust disaster, that families said good night to their loved ones before heading out for St Valentines night and tragically didn’t come home.
It’s absolutely pathetic listening to Mary Lou McDonald expressing how the families felt on this horror.
Might she be consistent in her empathy towards towards the many families of victims of IRA terrorism.
Jean McConville, Mary Travers, Det Jerry McCabe, and Paul Quinn — to name but a few. Weak words again from you, madam.
When Britain finally decides to reunite Ireland, they should pay billions in compensation. The reason being is that they would be handing back the northern part of Ireland, a basket case which they have misruled for most of the last 100 years, while applying the only apartheid-like system in the Northern Hemisphere.
During that infamous period, those six counties were forced to endure completely corrupt police and judicial forces, together with sectarianism.
When Britain was forced to give up the 26 counties in 1921, they handed back what then was a similar basket case — with little or no investment and including some of the worst slums and tenements in Europe.
Who knows, but there is every reason to believe that if Britain still commandeered the whole island of Ireland, I could be living in 2024 in another basket case with little or no investment, high unemployment, and infamous RIC barracks at every crossroads. God forbid.
However, we should remember that the majority of the British public no longer want to control the northern part of Ireland. If Downing St could make a reasonable excuse, we would have a reunited Ireland the next morning.
Minister Roderic O’Gorman is a superb public servant. The gardaí had to stand idly by while men in balaclavas “protested” outside his family home. There is never a good reason to wear a balaclava in Ireland. The garment has resonances. It is the equivalent of wearing a swastika armband at a demonstration in central Europe.
We all know what balaclavas mean, insinuate, and connote — coy thuggery, concealed identity, and organised intimidation.
Balaclavas originated in the Crimean War in the 1850s. Soldiers at Balaclava, Tchernaya, and Sevastopol wrapped their faces in cloth to prevent frost-bite. No ‘protestor’ or ‘demonstrator’ in Ireland is wearing a balaclava to
alleviate frost-bite. These garments are worn to intimidate, and they should be considered “threatening and abusive” within the meaning and intendment of our public order legislation.
The US senate is finally starting to address a serious problem: social media — or realistically “unsociable media” — as it considers a potential ban on TikTok, although more because of its China links.
The only short-sighted thinking here is that they didn’t include the rest of the social media web devoted to bullying, baiting, and believing the unbelievable. Cat videos don’t balance the scales.
It is odd that something which has so much potential for positive use is misused by a small but vocal group that might be better to leave their dingy basements and head out into the sun for a walk.
We need to spread a positive message, not online but by person to person.
It’s well know that decisions, made years ago by Western powers to consolidate their influence, have contributed in the current crisis.
We now are presented with a face-off between the Israeli and Iranian governments, clinging onto power, and acting against the interests of their own people. In the middle of all of this, we have the criminal tragedy that is the destruction of Gaza and the West Bank — the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and the impotence of the UN to do anything.
The US and Europe must take some responsibility for this, as their continued hypocritical pandering to Mr Netanyahu has emboldened his extremist government. The reasoning behind the US veto of Palestinian UN membership is a sick joke. They say that doing it now will do nothing to help Palestinians achieve their goal of sovereignty...really? I think the destruction of most the infrastructure in Gaza, the illegal settlements, and increased violence in the West Bank is already doing so.
The US and Europe need to wake and reflect on the origins of international law, the equality of nations, and the solidarity of humanity before it’s too late.
The UN Security Council needs reform, starting with the removal of permanent membership and the abuse of the veto.
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