Letters to the Editor: Concern's Lebanon director appeals to Irish people for help
Smoke Flames Israeli Hussein Malla/ap 4 Friday, Lebanon, Dahiyeh, Beirut, From In On Picture: And Rise Airstrikes October
The situation here in Lebanon is extremely concerning and getting worse each day. Frightening and sleepless nights due to frequent bombing is the new normal for everyone, including us humanitarian workers.
It is truly terrifying to live in a city where anywhere can be attacked at any time. The country is witnessing its largest displacement crisis in history due to the ongoing conflict with over 1.2m people seeking refuge from the conflict.
The impact of the ongoing hostilities on displaced populations has been immense. Many have lost their homes and loved ones. They are exhausted, hitchhiking for days to try to reach safer locations elsewhere in the country.
Hundreds of thousands of people are now camping and sleeping outside in the streets or in parks and on beaches. People are in urgent need of shelters and also basic items like blankets, mattresses, pillows, and soap. More and more people are arriving each day after fleeing their homes. Many are sleeping on floors with no mattresses. Vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and newborns require specialised support.
Concern is on the ground receiving and supporting as many families as it can, but there are huge gaps in the availability of critical services to respond to the ever-increasing overcrowding. The lack of resources will only get worse too as the conflict is further exacerbated.
I would like to call upon the Irish community who are known for their compassion and generosity to come forward in this hour of extreme hardship and support our appeal to help the families, children, elderly, and everyone displaced in this crisis.
Beirut
One of the big figures in Irish politics over several decades, Mary O’Rourke, has passed away. She was the former deputy leader of Fianna Fáil and former Cabinet minister, holding the Education, Health and Public Enterprise portfolios.
Mary was someone whose name was synonymous with being part of a political dynasty as well as being a force in her own right in Irish politics. Throughout her years in politics, from the Charlie Haughey era to Albert Reynolds, right through to Bertie Ahern, she was part and parcel of the front benches of Fianna Fáil. There was a part of that time when Mary wasn’t on the front benches but Bertie Ahern brought her back as the deputy leader and made her minister again. She was to my mind a huge character in Irish politics.
Mary was a strong personality in that she knew her own mind. She was liberal but she was also grounded in her rural background of Athlone in Co Westmeath where she grew up and lived.
The dynasty of course was also very strong as well. Mary’s father Patrick Lenihan served as a TD for Longford-Westmeath from 1965 to 1970. Her brother Brian Lenihan was a senior government minister and tánaiste. Another brother, Paddy Lenihan, served as a county councillor in Roscommon. Two of her nephews Brian Lenihan Jnr and Conor Lenihan, both sons of her brother Brian, served as ministers.
It seems as if straight-talking in politics has now become a requirement, whether we get it or not is another thing. The skill of straight-talking is seen as something that is necessary nowadays and it could be argued that the present political rise of Taoiseach Simon Harris is linked to that ability. Mary O’Rourke was doing that before many others were doing it.
Sometimes it could be quite tetchy but it was a straight-talking way of doing things.
In that sense, she was before her time. She would say what she felt needed saying.
As earlier said, she was a force in politics, but it would be true to say that she was also very forceful. She said what was on her mind and was rather prescient. In 2010 she gave an interview with RTÉ where she said that she couldn’t see a huge difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and that she wouldn’t be surprised if they went into coalition. That was controversial at the time. However, within 10 years it happened.
She was somebody who had her finger on the pulse of Irish politics whether you agreed with her or not. Mary knew how to speak plainly and speak firmly when it came to making her points and she was also a dab hand at being nuanced in getting away from key points when required. She was undoubtedly a prodigious force in Irish politics.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.
The Government should have spent the €9m on mobile pouches on the lack of special needs teachers we keep hearing about. A country with the wrong priorities for taxpayers’ money.
Why do Irish journalists continue to ascribe to a newspaper the circulation of President Michael D Higgins’ embarrassing letter to the new Iranian ambassador?
The Presidential letter was written on July 11. In a post dated July 26, the Iranian Embassy website described it as a “congratulatory message”.
The Iranian Embassy itself started the circulation, when it posted the letter on X (formerly Twitter) on July 28. When this was noticed by another X user and a social media storm erupted, the Iranian Embassy deleted its X post. The Jewish Chronicle article was published two days later.
The greater mystery is why our President is so annoyed at the publication of a letter that has been described as standard diplomatic protocol. Should not all of his letters be available to the public?
But that person surely wakes up in the morning, if they’ve slept at all, worrying about a serious cost-of-living crisis, while the Tánaiste says the recent furore around government spending (and wasting) taxpayer monies ‘is a distraction’. Also true?
Look what previous governments managed to achieve doing the same thing with the Sisters of Mercy, Bon Secours, Sisters of Charity etc.
It’s enough to give anyone nights filled with nightmares.
Dorcha Lee, retired Defence Forces colonel, said in an opinion piece “The ruthlessness with which Israel is conducting the wars against Hamas and Hezbollah continues to dominate the headlines. It matches the ruthlessness shown by Hamas and Hezbollah over the past four decades” (Will the Israeli government adopt the destruction of Hezbollah as a war aim, as it has with Hamas?' — , October 2).
This is disturbing to read from a former leader of our defence forces, considering the prominent role Irish peacekeepers have had to “observe and factually report” on the conflict zone, the current chief-of-staff said recently.
It is not factual to equate the sides. Nor is it advisable to focus on the “threat can only be removed by extending the IDF operation further north”.
When will the Israeli threat to Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran be “removed”, to speak in such sanitised language?
Irish troops go to Lebanon to uphold UN law. It’s strange to read Lee calmly write on Israel breaking said laws, as if it is rational to bomb civilians, or engage in pager terror attacks, to reach enemy combatants (which, by the way, Iran has specifically avoided). Israel removing Hezbollah is painted to be more logical than Hezbollah removing Israel.
Lee also said in June that Hamas combatants should “go into permanent exile under a flag of truce” but that the Israeli occupation forces should merely “be withdrawn from Gaza and replaced by an international peacekeeping force”.
It is worrying that this is a view from a person with presumably years to witness the depravity and illegality of the Israeli regime.
The views are more in line with Nato (who we will never be part of) than with the Irish people. No doubt his views on Russia’s occupation of Ukraine are vastly less lenient to Russia’s need to eliminate “threats” to it.
Israel is currently putting our soldiers and millions of civilians at risk. It’s unbelievable that a former colonel does not even mention this. It’s not Hezbollah. It’s not Iran. It’s Israel. They are the threat which must be removed.
Fachtna O’Raftery, Clonakilty, Cork