Here is this week’s People’s Letters Page…
Dear Editor,
All the recent attention on the crisis of climate change, while it is welcome, does seem to me to be blah, blah, blah as Greta would say.
Having been on this planet for almost 80 years I don’t think human nature changes very much.
Back in November 1973 I was living in what was then called West Germany.
In order to reduce oil consumption during an Arab oil crisis the government issued an executive order banning the use of cars on four consecutive Sundays during November and December.
The Sonntagsfahrverbot also called on West Germans to exercise voluntary restraints by limiting speed to 60 miles an hour on the freeways rather than zooming along at speeds as high as 120, and turn down thermostats in private homes.
The ambitious measures unfortunately didn’t work.
There was no such ban in East Germany, which had fewer cars and most of their oil came from the USSR.
While every petrol station in West Germany was closed on the days driving was banned, in the East petrol was available cheaper than what it cost in West Germany.
At the same time the East German economy was using local brown coal for home heating and to generate electricity and the pungent smoke would lie all across East Germany.
I remember at the start of the Sonntagsfahrverbot many Germans were enthusiastic about giving it a go and trying out a different way of living for a few days over the space of a month.
By the end of it however I think everyone was eager to get back behind the wheel every Sunday.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Slattery,
Balbriggan
Dear Editor,
It’s great to hear that rabbits and hares are to be included among the wild creatures that cannot be farmed for their fur under the Abolition of fur farming Bill.
Decades of campaigning by animal protection and conservationist groups preceded the drafting of this historic measure.
But the news is overshadowed somewhat by the fact that we’re in the middle of a new coursing season.
Hares are being snatched daily from their grassy abodes, manhandled by humans, and held in captivity for up to seven weeks prior to serving as bait for greyhounds.
Nobody is after their fur, but they suffer nonetheless for human amusement.
These are solitary creatures by nature. They were never meant to be corralled into compounds or paddocks as part of a ghastly medieval blood sport.
The chase that occurs in coursing is far from a reflection of what happens in nature.
It is a contrived event with the hare twisting and dodging on the wire-enclosed field to avoid its pursuers.
Many hares are mauled or forcibly struck by the dogs and, despite muzzling; they can sustain agonising internal injuries. The hare is a brittle-boned creature and breakages don’t heal.
Even hares released back into the wild seemingly unscathed after coursing may succumb to stress- myopathy and die as a direct result of the unnatural ordeal to which they’ve been subjected.
At any time coursing is cruel and indefensible as a “sport”, but right now there’s another pressing reason to remove this stain from our countryside.
For the past three years the deadly RHDV2 virus has been rampant. The disease is fatal to hares and rabbits and highly contagious.
It can be spread by coursing activities, in particular the use of nets to capture hares and their prolonged confinement.
Every TD and Senator knows this, and yet our leaders are willing to risk the survival of the Irish Hare as a species.
They pander to the whims to a powerful lobby, ignore the plight of this gentle creature, and then have the nerve to proclaim their fondness for our native biodiversity
So, while it’s heartening to know that hares won’t end up on fur farms in Ireland, we need to address this obscenity that makes a mockery of our animal welfare laws.
Thanking you,
John Fitzgerald
Dear Editor,
The latest chapter in the history of Irish failure to meet deadlines was revealed this week with the news that the Dart underground will not be happening until 2042, and there will be no metro lines built in south or west Dublin either.
What is even more astonishing is the idea to build an underground in Dublin was first proposed in 1972! So it’ll only have taken 70 years to get the job done!
Somebody made the point on the radio today that The London underground would’ve taken about 1,000 years to build on an Irish timeline, or probably never been finished at all.
Which is probably the fate that awaits the Dart underground eventually.
These delays to the delivery of several transport projects show that this Government and their Green partners are not serious about the delivery of an upgraded and thoroughly public transport system for Dublin’s long suffering commuters.
Hard pressed local commuters can only be expected to do so much.
They are the ones who will be stuck paying carbon tax on fuel while the Government cuts investment in public transport.
When visiting any major European capital I always come to the same realisation. Dublin is one of the worst capital cities when it comes to metro, tram and rail.
It’s about time the media in this country started really looking into the reasons why we our governments constantly encounter delays in their efforts to deliver significant projects.
Why is this an Irish phenomenon?
I would love to see someone investigate and compare how governments in other countries are able to deliver similar projects on time and within budget.
Yours sincerely,
James Carney,
Cabra
Dear Editor
The latest rent report from Daft made for sobering news.
Apart from confirming that rent levels in Dublin are completely out of control it also showed that the Rent Pressure Zone rules have been an absolute failure.
The third quarter of this year is the 36th quarter in a row that rents have increased.
How can residents of Dublin continue to afford to pay endlessly increasing rent?
How far will it rise?
In a lot of instances this is money coming out of the pockets of working people in this country to be paid out to shareholders overseas.
A complete and utter ban on rent increases must be introduced now.
What is our government going to do to help Dublin renters?
Very little would be my guess.
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence O’Dwyer,
Cabinteely