The People’s Letters Page

Here is this week’s People’s Letters Page…

Dear Editor:

News that Eoghan Murphy has resigned his seat as a TD for Dublin Bay South to pursue a career in international co-operation, human rights and democracy is notable and quotable.

The resignation was announced by Fine Gael. In a letter sent to Fine Gael members in the Dublin Bay SOuth constituency Mr Murphy said leaving frontline politics is not something that he is doing without having considered the matter fully.

He was a Fine Gael councillor, and served in the Dáil from 2011 as a TD, minister of state, and recently was Minister for Housing from June 2017 until June 2020.

Prior to entering Leinster House, Mr Murphy was elected a Dublin City Councillor in 2009 for the Pembroke-Rathmines constituency. The resignation means a by-election will have to be held in the Dublin Bay South constituency within six months.

The writ could be issued in November. Before running for the local elections in 2009, Mr Murphy spent four years working for the UN and the EU on issues such as nuclear disarmament.

His exit from politics opens up an electoral contest in Dublin Bay South constituency.

Well-known figures such as former Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell and Green Party Chairperson Hazel Chu could be possible candidates.

Senator Ivana Bacik confirmed on RTE she is likely to enter the fray with three strong councillors in the mix supportive of Ivana Bacik’s bid.

Sinn Féin confirmed it will run a candidate in the constituency. And Fianna Fáil is also mooted to contest the seat with one of its local councillors, Claire O’Connor or Deirdre Conroy.

Yours sincerely

Gerry Coughlan, Kilnamanagh

Dear Editor,

The Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) deplores the new syllabus for Social, Personal, and Health Education (SPHE) which has been drawn up by the Catholic Bishops to be taught in primary schools which are under Catholic patronage.

As Catholic-controlled schools account for 90% of all primary schools, virtually all primary children will be taught about sexuality and relationships in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

The aims of the new syllabus are to “provide a framework based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and reflecting the dignity of each person created in the image and likeness of God”.

The syllabus contains such gems as the statement: “puberty is a gift from God. We are perfectly designed by God to procreate with him”.

In a lesson on safety and protection, senior infant children are advised to say the “Angel of God” prayer. Saying prayers is not educating children about safety – it is a religious invocation.

LGBTQ+ relationships are framed in religious terms – the “Church’s teaching in relation to marriage between a man and a woman cannot be omitted”.

So, LGBTQ+ relationships will be acknowledged, but will be presented through the lens of Catholic church teaching, which approves marriage for heterosexual couples only.

The lack of choice in schools means that many children of non-religious families have no option but to attend Catholic-controlled schools. These children will be subjected to harmful Catholic indoctrination, or they can exercise their right not to attend these classes.

That means that they will be denied sexuality and relationship education altogether.

The Department of Education defends the right of these schools to teach young children about sexuality and relationships through the lens of Catholic teaching, arguing that “the school should never preclude learners from acquiring the knowledge about the issues, but ethos may influence how that content is treated”.

What does this mean? It means that it is acceptable for State-funded schools to give its young pupils the message that you are a lesser person if you are LGBTQ+, because marriage is for heterosexual couples only.

It tells young children that they will be protected from harm if they mutter religious incantations.

It tells children that they are made in the image of a male, patriarchal god.

This latest initiative by the Catholic Bishops to exert control over the development of young children in the sensitive areas of sexuality and relationships highlights the continued failure of the State to divest its schools from Catholic patronage and to provide education for children of non-religious families, and all families who do not subscribe to Catholic Church teaching in matters of sexuality and relationships.

The HAI calls on the Minister for Education to accelerate the divestment programme, and to remove the privileged position of religion in all State-funded schools.

Yours sincerely,

Humanist Association of Ireland

Dear Editor,

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was set up in 2004 to decide disputes between landlords and tenants.
However, we feel there are serious conflicts of interest within the organisation that require further scrutiny.
Some of the people who sit on tribunals are landlords and estate agents and this we feel is a serious issue that needs to be highlighted.
We need non property owners or representatives for landlords not to sit on tribunals.
The RTB do not care about our concerns.
We have presented our concerns to them on many occasions and still they ignore us.
They refuse to acknowledge that there may be serious issues of conflict of interest with how cases are dealt with.
We want the RTB overhauled now to protect tenants.

Kindest regards

Finn Irwin

Dublin South West Housing Action

Dear Editor,

Those stunning fox pictures are further reminders of the wonderful wildlife heritage we have.

The photographer, Andres Provida, captured eloquently a fox with its cubs in the greenery of a river bank, the animals unaware of the human interest in their frolickings or their precious little patch of living space.

Such pictures pull at the heartstrings, but sadly their power to impress may not be strong enough to provoke a change in how as a nation we behave towards our vulnerable wildlife species, both in terms of conservation and the welfare of the creatures that share this island with us.

Newspaper columnists have been writing evocatively in recent months of our new found affinity with nature, of how we’ve attuned ourselves to a world we either took for granted pre-pandemic or didn’t notice at all.

The appearance of bluebells and the return flight of the Brent Geese to the Arctic are sights to behold, as is the emergence from its furtive ways of the fox that increasingly turns up on the outskirts of towns and villages in recent months.

But will we retain this appreciation of nature once the war against the dreaded virus has been won? When it suits us, we lap up the sights and sounds of the nature, but let’s not forget that a quarter of Irish bird species are now deemed to be endangered and on the Red List including the Puffin, Kestrel and Curlew.

The fox that accepts food from admiring householders may be destined to experience man’s darker side in the autumn, when so-called sportspeople set off to hound these wild dogs of the countryside.

Hares run free in the meadows and across the hills and mountainsides, and lift our hearts when we see them; but come September coursing clubs will be licensed by the government to capture them for use as live bait.

Mother Nature has been kind to us at a time when we needed her desperately. Let’s not forget that when lockdown ends.

Let’s learn to respect our fellow creatures, instead of making their humble lives a hell on earth.

Thanking you,

Sincerely

John Fitzgerald