Michael McDowell and the state of Israel
Sir, – Michael McDowell (“Hostages in Gaza not a priority for Israel’s ministers,” Opinion, August 13th) condemns Israeli annexation of the West Bank because it breaks international law. Yet he praises “decent Londoners” when they break domestic law by supporting a proscribed organisation. Both groups are doing the same thing; breaking the law when they find the law politically inconvenient. They deserve equal condemnation by anyone who claims to value the rule of law, unless one finds this politically inconvenient also. – Yours, etc,
Dr DAVID WOODS,
Dept of Classics,
University College Cork,
RM Block
Cork,
Sir, – Michael McDowell rightly condemns the mass killing, displacement, and collective punishment currently being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Yet, he, like many other western politicians, still feels obliged to endorse the state of Israel, whose very foundations rest on the violent dispossession and exclusion of another people.
Yes, it is a fact that Israel exists, and under international law it is recognised as a sovereign state. But recognition of that reality should not mean that its current form, defined by apartheid structures, permanent military occupation, and ethno-religious privilege, is beyond question. Just as we once accepted the legal existence of apartheid South Africa but challenged its system of governance as morally indefensible, it must be acceptable to question whether the Israeli state, as presently constituted, can ever deliver justice or equality.
The state of Israel was not born as a benign democracy; rather, it was established in 1948 through systematic expulsions, the destruction of villages, and the creation of a refugee crisis that endures to this day. These were not tragic accidents of war, but deliberate policies aimed at creating and maintaining a Jewish-majority state through the removal and subjugation of the indigenous Palestinian population. This was, and remains, an apartheid system under international legal definitions.
Western political leaders often speak of “shared democratic values” with Israel while overlooking that those values are applied selectively and exclusively. The ongoing settlement project, the blockade of Gaza, and the military occupation of the West Bank are not deviations from an otherwise just order; they are the logical continuation of a state project rooted in ethno-religious separation and sustained by force.
Condemning Binyamin Netanyahu’s government while maintaining unconditional support for the state it leads is moral evasion. If we in Ireland truly value human rights, international law, and equality, we must stop treating Israel as a normal democracy with a temporary extremist problem and instead recognise the structural injustice at its core. – Yours, etc,
SÉAMUS WHITE,
Stoneybatter,
Dublin 7,
Sir, – Trish Lavelle (Letters, August 13th) asks that statements from Israeli officials be accompanied by disclaimers to the effect that such statements are subject to “strict military censorship” and that Israel, “often cited as the only democracy in the Middle East”, ranks at 112 on the world Press Freedom Index, just below Haiti.
I’m sure that Ms Lavelle will have noted that Israel is the highest-ranked Middle Eastern country on the index, and that Palestine ranks at 163, wedged between Cambodia and Belarus. Therefore, shouldn’t utterances from the various Palestinian authorities – which have comprised the bulk of the statistics published and broadcast relating to the war in Gaza since 2023 – be accompanied by similar caveats? After all, Hamas’s commitment to the freedom of the press should be appreciated by the widest audience possible. – Yours, etc,
KILLIAN FOLEY-WALSH
Kilkenny City
Michael O’Leary and being rich
Sir, – Michael O’Leary (Letters, August 13th) pleads guilty to “being rich”. RH Tawney, in his classic book Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, quotes the advice of French writer Anatole France: “The mercy of God is infinite: it will save even a rich man.” – Yours, etc,
LINDSAY ARMSTRONG
Beechwood Avenue,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – I would like to invite Michael O’Leary to accompany me from my nearest bus stop on Grange Road to the airport on the number 16 bus. The scheduled journey time is 88 minutes but could be longer depending on traffic. We’d have plenty of time to discuss the issues of the day. – Yours, etc,
FIONA McGOLDRICK,
Grange Downs,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – You gave Michael O’Leary ample space to defend his criticism of MetroLink in his letter of August 13th. However, O’Leary is not right when he says that “the cost-benefit of this insanity has never been published, because it cannot be justified”.
Obviously, he has not looked at the websites of MetroLink and the National Transport Authority. If he had, he would have seen at least two cost-benefit analyses (CBAs). First, there was the CBA published in 2018. In 2022, a second CBA was published.
The latter shows that the estimated transport-user benefits of the MetroLink scheme are forecast to exceed the estimated outline scheme costs. It is important that a new CBA now be completed, and published, based on the most up-to-date project details available. It is in the public interest that people should be made aware of the costs and benefits of large-scale projects being funded from the public purse. – Yours, etc,
TOM FERRIS,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Length of school holidays
Sir, – I was compelled to write after reading your recent opinion piece on school holidays being too long for working parents (“Are school holidays in this country too long?” Opinion, August 12th). While I agree that the long break can be challenging, I wondered whether employers could offer a practical solution.
Instead of the impossible option of taking the full seven-and-a-half or nine weeks off, employers might consider allowing staff to work part-time during the summer. For example, working half days when children are at summer camps would reduce the need for afternoon childcare.
The maths is simple. Assuming a 40-hour week, nine weeks at part-time means 180 hours to make up. Spread over the remaining 43 working weeks of the year, this is about 4.2 extra hours a week so roughly an extra half-day. I’m fairly sure that many committed employees are already doing this.
Such a system could be open to all employees, not just parents, with accrued hours taken at any time of year. Employers would need to plan for potential staffing issues, perhaps by adopting a job-share model during the summer months. Employees would need to be flexible as the employer will need to ensure that the business functions at any time when leave is taken. This approach could give parents a little breathing space in July and August, while maintaining productivity year-round. – Yours, etc,
GILLIAN MCCARTHY,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
Farmers and food prices
Sir, – John McManus blames farmers, ie food producers, for the rise in food prices (“Rising grocery prices down to farmers increasing margins,” Business, August 13th).
A visit to any livestock mart in the country will show that there is major competition for animals heading for the food chain. China, India and a couple of European countries (Italy and Spain) cannot get enough beef and lamb so prices rise.
Why are houses so dear? Because they are scarce. Why are meat and their products so dear? Because they are scarce. Don’t blame the producers. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD ALLEN,
Cummeen,
Co Sligo.
Attacks on Indian people
Sir, – President Michael D Higgins has condemned recent attacks on Indian people living in Ireland as a “stark contradiction” to the values the Irish public hold dear (“Higgins condemns ‘despicable attacks’ on Indian people,” Home News, August 13th)
Unfortunately it seems that those traditional values of welcome and openness to the stranger have been diminishing and even disappearing to the point that they are being replaced by open hostility and violence against anyone perceived as the “other” in our society.
It can be argued that our traditional welcome of “cead mile fáilte” is more of a myth and make-believe to attract tourism rather than ever been embedded in our culture. Hostility against the Traveller community was and remains endemic among the settled society.
It is heartbreaking to have to listen to international protection applicants as they describe how they are taunted with racist slurs on our streets and how they fear going out alone in our public areas for fear of being assaulted.
Our streets have become a hostile environment not alone for our Indian community and asylum seekers but also for the LGBTQ+ and other marginalised groups.
This hostility bordering on hatred against the stranger is not confined just to our cities but it has taken root throughout our country, judging from the burning down of accommodation intended for international protection applicants.
Putting a few extra gardaí might contain the violence for a while but a more radical approach to this pandemic of hostility to the “other” is needed. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Home Farm Road,
Dublin 9.
Holohan for president
Sir, – I for one am enthused by the groundbreaking potential of Tony Holohan joining the race for the presidency (“Honohan ponders run for Áras after ‘encouraging’ poll,” August 13th). He might be the first person to go from being the unelected head of government to an elected head of state in any western democracy. – Yours, etc,
FIONA MEEHAM,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – Any political party or nominating group that wants to win the presidential election only has to nominate Prof Tony Holohan as its candidate to repeat a Mary Robinson or Mary McAleese result. Despite personal adversity, Mr Holohan was there for the people of this country showing the leadership necessary when it was most needed. He is responsible for saving innumerable lives. – Yours, etc,
SHEAMUS SMITH,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
Planning delays as an art form
Sir, – The “Living Next Door To ...” series has been a joy – though the recent piece on the Dublin Spire (“My first memory was when Nelson’s Pillar was blown up and out windows shattered”, News, August 14th) brought with it a bout of despair for me.
It mentioned, almost in passing, that a plan for a boutique hotel on O’Connell Street had been felled – not by public outrage or financial ruin, but by that most Irish of assassins: the planning process.
We have elevated “delay” to an art form. In this country, you could apply to plant a window box and retire before the petunias get approval. Our planners – part monk, part molasses – appear to stall everything from housing to wind farms to hotels, often with the serene conviction that they’re protecting the common good from the terrible scourge of progress.
I’m not advocating the Trumpian approach of replacing every dissenting official with a cousin who owns a bulldozer, but perhaps we could at least speed things up something faster than the speed of a glacier. Failing that, might we rebrand Ireland as a heritage theme park, where the chief attraction is that nothing changes. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Bray.
Co Wicklow.
Dogs and sheep worrying
Sir – Not content with having the legal authority to shoot over 20 species of wild birds and up to 10 mammal species, Ireland’s shooting community are looking for another living target – the domestic dog.
The issue of dogs worrying and killing sheep is a localised issue in parts of Ireland. It is caused by dogs entering a field where sheep and lambs are grazing, and attacking them. This can result in injury and death to livestock.
As an annual animal welfare issue, it garners local and national media headlines, but no humane solution to solving this issue has been devised and implemented.
The Control of Dogs Act, 1986, allows for the shooting of dogs worrying sheep by sheep farmers so long as there were no other reasonable means of ending or preventing the worrying.
Recently, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food heard from a National Association for Regional Game Councils (NARGC) spokesperson who said legislation should be changed that would allow the sheep farmer to subcontract the shooting of dogs that were in the act of sheep worrying to a local NARGC gun club member or to a non-gun club licensed firearm holder.
The thinking is that the sheep farmer might not have the capacity to shoot the dogs. We believe the NARGC proposal is a Trojan horse. The offer to shoot dogs worrying sheep is a ruse to obtain access to private land which is becoming more and more difficult as landowners are rejecting shooting and embracing the value of wildlife on their land.
Drawing on the lexicon of the sheep industry: the Irish shooting community can “flock off” as the domestic dog will never be allowed to be added to the list of species that can be recreationally shot in Ireland. – Yours, etc
JOHN TIERNEY,
Campaigns director,
Association of Hunt Saboteurs,
Dublin 1.
