A chara, – Ella McSweeney’s article “Looking forward to a future where doctors prescribe time to take in a hedgerow” (Environment, March 29th), which describes how the results of the study by a team from universities in Exeter and Vienna have confirmed that viewing nature can help people feel less acute pain, is further confirmation that nature is immensely beneficial to our mental and physical health.
Ella McSweeney’s conclusion that perhaps in the future doctors will prescribe looking at a native hedgerow over a painkiller should come, however, with its own health warning: patients in the future may find it very difficult to locate a native hedgerow upon which to cast their gaze if we do not act swiftly to halt the destruction of our hedgerow network.
The combination of landscapes becoming increasingly fragmented due to large infrastructure projects, housing developments and the amalgamation of small farms is causing the rapid loss of Ireland’s hedgerows, estimated to amount to 680,000km in a 2017 study (Teagasc). With their demise, we are losing biodiversity because hedgerows act as corridors for wildlife, each one providing shelter to thousands of species. Each stretch that is removed is to our wildlife the equivalent of closing off critical pieces of roads or rail from the national transport network to humans.
The ecological data is clear, there is no way that spiky non-native plants (so beloved of developers) or newly planted single species hedges, or even new hedgerows, can support even a fraction of the biodiversity and ecosystem services or that are lost every time an established hedgerow is removed, not to mention the carbon sequestration function which is destroyed. The real tragedy is that these projects could be planned to coexist alongside hedgerows with proper thought in the planning phase but the hedges are removed because it is convenient and cheap. What we lose is irreplaceable.
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The Protection of Hedgerows Bill 2024, was drafted by 12 barristers, members of the Climate Bar Association, in collaboration with Hedgerows Ireland. If enacted, it would protect significant hedgerows from removal while allowing for exemptions in cases where there is no alternative. It would be an effective, straightforward solution which is long overdue. With the change of government, the Bill has now lapsed. I would urge all political representatives to look at this Bill and find a way, with cross-party support, to pass it into legislation without delay. If this Bill were to become law, it would also give the Government a headstart on the Nature Restoration Plan which it is obliged to present to the European Commission in September 2026, and would play an important part in the mammoth task ahead in combating climate change, thus preserving our beautiful hedgerows for all to look upon in the future, not just the infirm but especially them. – Yours, etc,
LEESHA O’DRISCOLL,
Enniskerry,
Co Wicklow.
Le Pen, the law and democracy
Sir, – Politicians must act lawfully; the law must act apolitically.
If, as is to be hoped, the ban on Marine Le Pen is a result of the fair, just, unbiased and proportionate operation of the law, then the law must be allowed to function in that manner.
But there is no victory for democracy in this. If anything, the ruling is a blow to the democratic process. Any suspicion that the ruling was a “political decision” can be hugely damaging to democracy. All efforts must be made to ensure the process is made as transparent as possible, and that it is made clear that the same action would be taken against any political figure, and the same penalty applied if they were found guilty.
Democracies must be seen to allow different parties and ideas compete. Right, left and centre are all legitimate positions. Theses parties have a responsibility to show they are competent and fair and worthy of votes. The far right and far left can be a threat to democracy, but so long as they act legally the burden of opposing them is with the electorate, and the time and place to defeat them is in elections. – Yours, etc,
COLIN WALSH,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – Owen O’Loughlin (Letters, April 2nd) refers to Hungary, Turkey and Russia. France is not governed by the likes of Viktor Orbán, Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Vladimir Putin and the law applies equally to every citizen, regardless of the number of votes he or she garnered in elections or opinion poll rankings.
Following a two month-long trial, in a court decision running to over 150 pages, Marine Le Pen has been found guilty under a law passed by a democratically elected parliament in the wake of a case where Jérôme Cahuzac, a Socialist budget minister, was found guilty of tax fraud. In addition, she is not the only prominent French politician to be declared ineligible by a court as several others have received similar sentences. Dura lex, sed lex.
Aware of the wider electoral implications of the case, the Paris Appeals Court announced on April 1st that instead of the usual lengthy waiting time, Marine Le Pen’s appeal shall be heard as soon as the summer of 2026, thus leapfrogging other cases already in the judicial logjam. Many observers are of the opinion that this unprecedented revision of schedule amounts to preferential treatment for the National Rally party’s likely presidential candidate.
Now that their leader and her 22 co-accused have been found guilty of the embezzlement of ¤4.2 million of public funds, Marine Le Pen’s supporters are taking en masse to the television studios, social media and the streets to cry foul. This is highly ironic for a movement that has spent decades lambasting the French judiciary for being too lax and politicians of rival parties for playing fast and loose with taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
In addition, Marine Le Pen is on public record as approving ineligibility for politicians found guilty of embezzlement.
The French language has a proverb, “Sauce bonne pour l’oie, est bonne pour le jars”, the exact equivalent of “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN O’SULLIVAN,
Paris.
Israel and its judges
Sir, – Your editorial describes a Bill before the Israeli Knesset “to bring judicial appointments under political – government – control” as “a lurch towards authoritarianism” (“The Irish Times view on new judicial rules in Israel: a threat to democracy”, March 31st). First, you are surely aware that in virtually every democracy in the world – including Ireland – judges are appointed by or on the nomination of the government of the day? This is to ensure that while judges are not directly accountable to the people, that the representatives who appoint them are accountable, which ensures democratic legitimacy for their appointments.
How is it a threat to democracy for Israel to appoint judges in the same way as virtually all other countries?
Second, the new Israeli judicial appointments body would consist of three serving judges, two government ministers, two government lawmakers, and two opposition lawmakers – leaving government appointees in a minority.
This should sound familiar, since it is very similar to the structure of the new Judicial Appointments Commission which was established in Ireland in January. This consists of four serving judges and five government appointees (the Attorney General and four lay members), giving the Irish government more voices around the table than the Israeli government would have under its proposed reforms.
The introduction of that commission was welcomed by your newspaper as delivering “a fairer, more transparent and serious way of selecting judges” (April 4th, 2022). So how can an almost identical system in Israel be an attempt to “pack” the courts “with pliable stooges”, as you put it in your editorial?
Unlike Ireland, Israel has no written constitution. (The “Basic Law”, referred to in your editorial, is not a written constitution, as is the case with the document of the same name in Germany, but is in fact simply a normal act of parliament). As such – as is the case in the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand – parliament is supreme and can amend institutions such as the courts through simple majority.
This is not some kind of dangerous threat – it is simply the democratic system under which those countries choose to govern themselves, and which the Israeli people have endorsed since 1948.
You also complain that the Israeli proposals are designed to “strip the judiciary of its ability to block the government’s political priorities”. Your net position therefore appears to be that unelected judges should be appointed by other unelected officials, and then in turn have the power to stymie or halt the policies of the democratically elected parliament and government.
We would never tolerate such a system in Ireland, and nor would any other country in the democratic world. So how can you expect Israel to do so? – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Apps and public transport
Sir, – Yesterday afternoon, I left work and checked for the next bus on the Transport for Ireland app. There was a 15-minute wait, so I decided to walk on a few stops, to where there is a stop beside a wall that I could sit on. As I walked, I kept an eye on the app and saw my bus change to the dreaded “scheduled” and then vanish completely.
I waited a few minutes to see would it arrive, but no, so on I walked. Only for the bus to pass me as I was halfway between stops, leaving me to walk a further 10 minutes before I could get to a stop with more options.
Why are our transport apps so dreadful? How can it be impossible for them to operate in real time? It baffles me.
At least if the apps were accurate we could make informed decisions about our transport options; as it is, we’re left studying the apps for hidden meaning and hoping it doesn’t rain as we stand at an unsheltered bus stop. – Yours, etc,
FIONA BROGAN,
East Wall,
Dublin 3.
Broadcasting – here and there
Sir, – Mike Moran in his letter (April 2nd) sought for good neighbourly relations by the BBC Sounds app being extended to the Republic now that the BBC intends to block its availability outside the UK.
Maybe he could also lobby the other way, and allow RTÉ player and TG4 to be available here in the UK.
While some radio stations are available through other means, here in the UK, I still need a VPN to access Irish television, while in Ireland UK TV stations are free to air.
Neighbourly relations run both ways and maybe a bit of Irish culture being available free to the neighbours might be a helpful gesture the other way.
A bit of “quid pro quo” goes a long way. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BERGIN,
Oxton,
Wirral,
UK.
Guarding Molly Malone
A chara, – Many of us will be delighted to read that the Molly Malone statue is being slowly rubbed out of existence (“Patrols to protect Molly Malone statue from groping”, News, April 2nd). It is hard to feel sympathy for a clumsy, cartoonish statue that celebrates paddywhackery and promotes tourist gimmickry. The report ends with more good news, “all options are under review by Dublin City Council, so included should be the tried and trusted 1966 Nelson Pillar option, of direct and immediate removal. – Is mise,
CIARÁN Mac GUILL,
Clichy,
France.
Sir, – When I read somewhere online on April 1st that the Molly Malone statue is to have a guard to prevent people from touching certain parts of her anatomy, I assumed that it was an April Fool joke.
On April 2nd, I have just read the same news in The Irish Times, the paper of register, that the Molly Malone statue will be guarded in future. I am extremely disappointed that Dublin City Council is denying a simple, harmless pleasure to the citizens of Dublin and its tourists. – Yours, etc,
PAVEL MARIANSKI,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
Sir, – Dublin City Council seem concerned tourists are behaving improperly and demeaning our Molly Malone statue.
A similar situation occurs in Verona. The Veronese council did not take any action, and the Juliet statue, along with the tourist behaviour, are deemed city attractions.
However, if Dublin City Council are determined to protect good taste perhaps it could ask the Office of Public Works to build a plinth and put the statue out of the reach of lewd tourists.
It could probably be built for under €5 million.
No price is too high to protect good taste and public morality. – Yours, etc,
ENDA McDERMOTT,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – At what point did we lose our sense of humour? We are just one on a long list of cities with statues that tourists think bring good luck, and possibly enhance fertility, by touching.
For instance, the statue of Juliet in Verona, the statue of the Bull in Wall Street, the Victor Noir grave statue in Paris, and the Colleoni crest in Bergamo. – Yours, etc,
PAT QUINN,
Inchicore,
Dublin 8.
The Irish Times – 1001 uses
Sir, – As a child I can remember my mother holding a sheet of newspaper in front of the fire in order to get it started, in a process known as “drawing” the fire. It worked every time. – Yours, etc,
LAURA O’MARA,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
