Letters: Never trust a Kerryman who talks down his team’s chances
Sir — On my way home by train from the Kerry v Dublin clash last Saturday night, I witnessed an entertaining encounter between a Kerryman and two Dublin supporters.
The Kerry exile intoned mournfully that Dublin would soon be adding another All-Ireland title to their haul of 31 and there was nothing the Kingdom could do to stop them. He cited a few other counties who might be contenders, but was adamant the Dubs would have nothing to fear from the south-west.
“Well,” one of the Dubs said, “you can’t read too much into tonight’s display. It’s only the league and it’s early days yet. Ye’ll be there or thereabouts.”
The Kerryman was not to be placated. He listed all the reasons for his pessimistic outlook. Naming a Dublin club, he said: “There are more adult players in that club than there are in the whole of west Kerry.”
There appeared to be no end to the tale of woe. Kerry football, it seemed, was at an all-time low.
Only one of the Dubs engaged with him. The other wore an expression halfway between a smirk and a knowing look. His companion continued to lend the Ciarraíoch his ears and would even interject with empathetic comments. But when the Kerry supporter had made his way forlornly off the train at the next stop, the other man in blue found his voice.
“Take everything — and I mean everything — with a pinch of salt,” he told his fellow Dub.
To dispel any doubt about the veracity of his words, he added: “I have Kerry cousins.”
Jim O’Connell, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7
Vote Yes so all families are finally recognised
Sir — When I had my son as an unmarried mother in 1973, it was extremely difficult to keep and raise him myself.
I had travelled to England for the last few months of my pregnancy with the idea of putting him up for adoption and then returning to Ireland.
I was put in touch with the Crusade of Rescue for adoption, but once my son was born and I held him, adoption became less of a real choice for me. This was despite the fact there was no maternity leave and the marriage bar was in place, so there were very few mothers working outside the home and society was not welcoming to single mothers and their children.
What I had going for me was that I did have a job and enough earnings to keep my child.
At that time he was regarded legally as illegitimate, which was such a painful and illogical stain — to me my child was a source of joy, love and care. How on earth could he be deemed illegal?
Unfortunately, this feeling of rejection has continued for me as my family is still not recognised or protected in the Constitution. While I know the family amendment is a mostly symbolic change, it should make the State get its house in order and fix all the remaining discriminations that it has kept in place against unmarried families and one-parent families.
I received huge support from the other mothers and women involved in Cherish in the 1970s (it is now called One Family). The stories we heard of forced adoptions, young women being put into mother and baby homes or Magdalene laundries and being abandoned by their families were horrendous.
But there were also loving, caring parents who wanted to support their daughters and grandchildren despite what the churches, the State and society were saying about them.
We campaigned and fought for a small social welfare income so women had at least some financial ability to keep their child, and we fought for the abolition of illegitimacy and for fathers to pay maintenance for their child.
We had six months to apply for maintenance from the birth of our child, and £5 was the maximum payment. We also fought alongside mainstream feminists and others for equality legislation so we could not be fired or evicted for being pregnant or being an unmarried mother.
The two referendums this week are building on the work done by equality campaigners and people who have been downtrodden for many decades. For me, my family, the 43pc of children being born today into unmarried families, the carers, disabled people and older people, please vote Yes-Yes on Friday.
Evelyn Forde, Glenmaroon Road, Dublin
If you respect the disabled, vote No
Sir — It is with growing concern that, a week from referendum day, many in the country are still not sure what we are voting for. When the legal profession begins airing its concerns, we need to be worried.
I speak for many disabled people as a woman with a rare, degenerative, neuromuscular disease and full-time wheelchair user, aged 71, on the horror I felt on reading the words of care amendment 42b. I felt humiliation, disrespected and degraded.
Apparently, I am a burden on the State, and there is much gratitude to family “carers” for taking that burden off the State and “looking after me”, thus providing a service for the common good.
Not only am I a burden, causing the “common good” harm and difficulties, it is automatically assumed I am located within a caring family and they can actually “look after me”.
Article 42b talks about “the natural bond” between family members enabling care. What if there is no bond? What then?
What are our living options if we do not belong to a caring family? It’s either stay with an abusive family or go into a nursing home. Even today, we have close to 2,000 young people in nursing homes as their own families were unable to “care for them” for a variety of reasons.
The whole notion that disabled, sick and old people need “caring for and looking after” is an patronising and objectionable notion. Part of a new patronising politics developing over 42b.
The final nail in the coffin over the wording of 42b was that the Government would “strive to support families”.
This Government has never “endeavoured to support families” (previous wording), so it’s hardly likely it will “strive to support families”. “Strive” will not provide. In this respect, article 42b, as it is written, is a mirage.
It’s fairly clear there are real problems with Article 42b as it stands. Anybody who respects disabled people, sick people and old people and offers them integrity, value and rights will not vote for 42b.
We urge the population of Ireland not to vote for 42b and say No. It will trap all those wish for independent living with state support in an intolerable situation that has been intolerable for too long.
Dr Margaret Kennedy, Greystones, Co Wicklow
Vote No-No to stop mad, divisive policies
Sir — No political party or party leader can define what “a durable relationship” is, yet they are demanding that the people vote into law the delusional, the unexplained and the unknown.
A No-No vote would protect the people’s Constitution and send a clear message to the coalition government that they, their madness and their divisive policies against the people must go and go now.
Dr Joe Kelly, Falcarragh, Co Donegal
Get a joint invitation? You’re durable, so
Sir — Do ye take each other for better or worse until ye receive a Christmas card or wedding invitation together?
We do.
I now pronounce ye durable.
Maria Slone, Athy, Co Kildare
Why erase mothers from Constitution?
Sir — Those of us who are still lucky enough to have mothers will run around this week buying cards, gifts and flowers to say thank you on Mother’s Day.
At the same time, we will be voting to delete the word “mother” from our Constitution.
While I agree that the current language in the Constitution is archaic, it is a great pity that our legal wordsmiths could not come up with a new wording that would still include the word “mother”.
Ger O’Brien, Dublin Road, Drogheda
Pseudo rugby fans take from enjoyment
Sir — I agree with Declan Lynch about the crowds who currently go to international rugby matches (People & Culture radio column, February 29).
Many of them know little about the game and are there for the craic. It won’t happen, but if they closed the bars in the Aviva five minutes before kick-off and opened five minutes after the final whistle, true rugby followers would enjoy the experience all the more.
John Kane, World Rugby Classic, Bermuda
Stag parties valued more than farmers
Sir — Last week’s Nature Restoration Law (NRL) is a hammer blow to rural communities.
Many commentators describe how it is an “environmental necessity” to restore our drained and farmed peatlands to their original state by rewetting them because, according to Teagasc research, they emit 3.9 million tonnes of CO2. These lands extend to about one million acres and are farmed by about 42,000 food-producing farm families.
The NRL will further destabilise their community and their already fragile economic sustainability. Compare this with the attitude to passenger numbers at Dublin Airport. At a climate discussion in Limerick last Friday, one of the speakers declared the increase was an “economic necessity”. For some politicians, hen and stag parties are more important than the economic sustainability of farm families.
John Hourigan, Murroe, Co Limerick
Make letters bigger on bottles for deposit
Sir — The deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans seems to be causing some confusion.
People are not sure what bottles and cans qualify. This is not surprising as the “Re-turn” logo on the qualifying items is so small you would need a magnifying glass to identify it.
If the Government is serious about making this scheme work, the logo should be much larger and the words “RETURN AND GET YOUR DEPOSIT BACK” clearly printed. This would make people more recycling-aware and put money back in their pockets.
Brian Lube, Co Meath
Excellent article on liquidation of NPCPP
Sir — The comprehensive report by Wayne O’Connor (February 25) describing the circumstances of the liquidation of the NPCPP was disappointing reading for people who served as directors in times past.
However, the merits of an overarching representative body attempting to represent the interests of parents in a variety of post-primary schools in Ireland has to be called into question.
David Hegarty, Thomas J Lillis, former directors, NPCPP
You’d almost pine for simpler Covid times
Sir — Having just read through a Sunday Independent with coverage of the circus that is RTÉ, the wars in Ukraine and Palestine, the comedy show that is the FAI and all other items of note, it struck me that life was so much simpler during the pandemic.
Just the one story to put the fear of God into everyone.
John Slattery, Newport, Co Tipperary
Fixing Uisce Éireann’s leaks is a pipe dream
Sir — In the 28 years since the Shannon water pipeline idea was dreamt up, we have become used to Irish Water making statements that are, at best, misleading.
But here is a fact: in 2022 and again in 2023, tens of thousands of Dublin businesses and homes were stranded without water, sometimes for days on end, because of burst pipes.
The pipes are the single biggest cause of Dublin’s water problems and no amount of water from the Shannon can fix them. Yet for the past 10 years Irish Water, or Uisce Éireann as it is now called, has been replacing just 0.3pc of the pipes a year — woefully inadequate and far, far below international best practice. At that rate, it will be 330 years before some of Dublin’s pipes are even touched.
This kick-the-can-down-the-road approach cannot go on.
London replaced up to 3pc of pipes a year when things got bad over there. The authorities focused on one very small area at a time (to localise disruption) and replaced the job lot with pipes of one material (meaning far fewer bursts at the joints in future).
An independent review found this had been highly successful: fewer bursts, improved water quality and a huge reduction in leakage.
Uisce Éireann claims the Shannon pipeline is Dublin’s silver-bullet solution, but you could build 10 Shannon pipelines and it wouldn’t stop Dublin’s pipes from bursting.
For Dubliners’ sake, Irish Water needs to stop using the Shannon pipeline as a distraction and get down to the dirty business of replacing the pipes.
Emma Kennedy, Founder of Kennedy Analysis, Co Tipperary
Ambassadors have had enough of war
Sir — Niamh Horan’s interviews with the Palestinian and Israeli ambassadors to Ireland were an insightful read (Sunday Independent, February 25).
They emphasised how important it is for us to keep the door open to hear opposing views and opinions so that we can understand more. We should never rush to expel any ambassador just because we don’t agree with their government’s position, no matter how outraged we feel.
Diplomatic channels of communication are vital to achieving an end to war. Without hope to dissuade, what would we have but continuing bloodshed?
Palestinian ambassador Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid wants Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to deliver a message to US president Joe Biden when they meet on St Patrick’s Day, in order to put pressure on Israel “to stop this genocidal war against Gaza”.
Perhaps just asking them to stop the war would be enough? We have soft power and we should use it, even if it means upsetting a special friend.
Israeli ambassador Dana Erlich’s message is more defensive — understandably, as Israel is on the wrong side of history.
She asks “Why doesn’t RTÉ ask the Palestinians the same tough questions?” and feels other people are getting a “free pass”.
The people of Gaza haven’t been getting many free passes.
It’s a pity Ms Erlich doesn’t see Ireland as a friend of Israel, because maybe then she would realise real friends speak honestly and sometimes harshly to one another when something is not right.
Time for peace and an end to this bloody war. It sounds like both ambassadors have had enough. Let’s hope so.
Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18
Kathleen Corrigan lays down her pen
Sir — Ten years ago, on July 6, 2014, Kathleen Corrigan wrote the following in one of her many letters to your newspaper: “I was 90 years old on June 30 and for 14 years never missed a week writing to the Sindo letters page.”
Last week her granddaughter, Joanne, wrote to tell us she had passed away, only a few months shy of her 100th birthday.
I received a lovely card from this lovely lady after wishing her happy birthday on her 92nd birthday in 2016, in which she wrote: “May your dreams come true — you are only a kid!”
May Kathleen rest in peace.
Brian McDevitt, Glenties, Co Donegal
Give Kevin Bakhurst room to do his job
Sir — Ordinary workers at our national broadcaster are worried about their future and the security of their jobs.
The new DG inherited a huge can of worms when he took up the job last year, but he must be given time, space and support to sort out this mess, which is not of his making.
Tom Towey, Cloonacool, Co Sligo
Minister must call the sets at Montrose
Sir — I remember from my youth (I’m just over a year short of my 90th birthday) an old saying: “Who pays the piper calls the tune.” The Irish people, through the media minister, pay the RTÉ piper, so the minister is deputed by us, the people, to make RTÉ dance to our music.
Cal Hyland, Roscarberry, Co Cork
Red sky at night is forecasters’ delight
Sir — It seems even the weather maps are political these days. In one newspaper graphic I noted rain falls to the right, while in another it went left.
Would it be true that, as snow fell on Friday, neither left nor right could find their footing?
John O’Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary
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