Letters to the Editor: Imagine climate change as an army massed on our borders
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My brother has been teaching English in Madrid for almost 16 years — probably the reason why so many Spaniards have a Cork accent. He brings my nephews to Bandon every summer for a few weeks. They love the Irish summer that we spend so much time complaining about. They love their lives in Madrid.
Recently, in an ordinary casual way, he remarked: “We might not stay in Madrid in the long term. April to September has gotten much hotter.”
Just like that. Matter of fact. “It’s getting hotter.”
This from an educated English teacher from Bandon living quite happily thank you very much in the New York of the Spanish-speaking world.
It made me think. And realise. We have no idea what is ahead of us if we do not get serious about the climate crisis.
Never mind expatriates coming home. We will witness mass migration on a scale that makes the collapse of the Roman Empire look like the Eurovision Song Contest. Ecologically marginal, densely populated nations of the world in a state of existential collapse.
Consider the disruption caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Food and energy inflation that has cast a long shadow over daily life here in Ireland. And we are the lucky ones. We don’t know what trouble is. But at least we have some refugees who can explain it to us.
The era of cheap money, cheap food, and cheap energy is over. The era of consigning “the green agenda” to the fringes as if it was some kind of conspiracy theory or nuisance element is over.
“It is getting hotter.” This is not a counsel of despair or a jeremiad aimed towards despondency. We are an ingenious race and part of an ingenious species. We have survived ice ages, conquest, occupation, and a famine. We do not descend from timid men or women. The time to act is now.
If global warming was an army threatening Irish sovereignty we would all sign up to fight it. Apart from Sinn Féin. It is now no longer some kind of distant abstract concept. It is a force that is massed on our borders. An invader threatening every nation on Earth. I detest military metaphors in general. But these appear to be the only metaphors that attract attention.
The Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) welcomes the recent announcement by the Department of Education on the establishment of a €5m pilot programme of counselling and mental health supports for primary schools.
The IACP have been long calling for such a programme to be put in place and more importantly into practice, to help our young people and children who are experiencing mental health challenges.
The first strand of the programme will see pupils from primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, and Tipperary have the opportunity to avail of mental health support.
While it must be acknowledged that the introduction of this pilot programme is a step in the right direction, our hope would be that counselling supports for all children in schools will be available across the country once the pilot’s results are analysed. We believe that on top of this, a similar programme should be rolled out in secondary schools going forward.
Those impacted by mental health challenges, especially our young people, are at an increased risk of suffering from conditions such as moderate to severe depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and self-harm.
It is important that the State builds upon this progress by expanding similar supports to all primary and secondary school children.
In recent weeks, it has been widely reported that there is a mounting level of anxiety among students, with more than half of pupils said to be experiencing anxiety and other mental health difficulties, and almost all teachers and principals noticing a rise in these issues in classrooms.
At YMCA Dublin, we believe it should be a service that is rolled out to each school nationwide. To make this happen, we immediately need funding and government support.
Through this service, YMCA Dublin can support schools to meet an urgent need within Irish education, improving educational outcomes through transforming a traditionally exclusionary experience into one of construction and positivity, and in turn, reducing anxiety
issues amongst students.
By rolling out the alternative suspension service in schools across the country, collectively, we can change these issues for our students and their futures.
I urge the Government to support our programme, but most importantly, to support our students and future generations.
Perhaps the history — ancient and modern — of the religious orders shows the origin of the old dictum of the devil looking after his own.
However, his powers of persuasion and influence only extend so far, as the truth is universal, a fact borne out by evidence recently unearthed of the various, if not downright, nefarious activities of several orders of priests and nuns.
Are our squabbling TDs implying the term ‘organic farmer’ is derogatory or demeaning? How offensive, shortsighted, and antiquated.
All the comment on our recent census brings to mind a story of the 1980s during a break at a business conference (an event not as ubiquitous then as today).
An English businessman (they were all male in those days)
ventured that, in the UK, they used the pyramid system with power descending from the top while the Americans favored (sic) the circle, with power
radiating from the centre.
The Irish delegate suggested that, here in Ireland, we used the mushroom system — smother them in bull manure and keep them in the dark.
Nothing much changes.
It was with a deep sense of regret that I learned of the Government's decision to leave 17 Grosvenor Place in London.
What a pity that a cultural use for this historic premises could not be found such as a museum to the many Irish men and women who lived in and contributed so much to Britain.
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