THE PEOPLE’S LETTERS PAGE

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

Dear Editor.

I’m delighted to see that a campaign to protect the Old Irish Goat is making headway, with the government beginning to take notice of the heartfelt appeals of conservationists and animal lovers who fear that this rare species indigenous to Ireland may become extinct.

Aside from the danger that the species might be cross-bred out of existence, so-called trophy hunters kill these magnificent creatures. It seems that wherever you have an attractive mammal that graces our landscape you’ll find misguided people who seek to turn it into a mangled carcass so they can pose with their guns and severed body parts for the camera.

Apart from their heritage value, these goats can be quite helpful to humans and the natural environment: They gobble up gorse in areas that are ravaged by wildfires.

Having arrived in Ireland in about 2,000 BC, they’re Irish to the core, and I hope they’ll still be around for many more millennia.

And let’s not stop at safeguarding the future of the Old Irish Goat. Another native mammal, the Irish Hare, still lacks protection despite multiple threats to its survival. A sub-species of the Mountain Hare, it is unique to Ireland and has been hailed by conservationists as the Flagship of Irish biodiversity. It has been with us since at least the last Ice Age of 10,000 years ago and may have on the island for more than 40,000 years before that.

The Irish Hare has been in decline for the past half century owing to loss of habitat resulting from urbanization and the unintended effect so f modern agriculture.

As with the Old Irish Goat, you’d think that any government would move quickly to clamp down on activities that undermine its welfare or conservation status. Yet, our politicians permit designated groups of people to take these gentle creatures from our countryside, not for the purpose of pest control or scientific research, bur for use as live bait in coursing.

Thus, the pride of our wildlife heritage can be legally forced to run from dogs in a park or wired enclosure for human amusement.

It’s past time to end this national scandal. We learned from the State Papers recently that the late Charles J Haughey was instrumental in banning the cruel practice of otter hunting back in 1990. His personal intervention ended the hounding of these aquatic creatures in the waterways of Munster.

For all his well-documented notoriety, he acted in the best interests of an animal that faced man’s inhumanity dressed up as “sport.”

I call upon the present government to make a similar intervention on behalf of the endangered Old Irish Goat and the persecuted Irish Hare, before either or both of these national treasures are consigned to the long list of mammals obliterated by a supposedly superior species.

Thanking you,

John Fitzgerald

(Campaign for the Abolition

Of Cruel Sports)

 

Dear Editor

Like the rest of Ireland, I was deeply saddened by the awful murder of Ashling Murphy.

Sadly, she is one of 244 women murdered since 1996, for a small country like our this is horrendous.

Every effort must be made to end all violence towards women and violence in general.

We need immediately for consent and respect to form part of our education curriculum in our schools.

We need to change our culture and attitude towards women and on every level ensure that there is full equality.

We cannot let Ashling’s very sad death be just another murder, now is the time to act to stop all violence against women.

She was a girlfriend, a daughter, a teacher and so much more.

She was just out for a run it could have been anyone.

My thoughts are with her family, friends and students

Go raibh maith agat,

Cllr Francis Timmons

Clondalkin Area Chair 2021-2022

 

Dear Editor,

The outpouring on social media following the horrific murder of Ashling Murphy I think came about because this could have happened to anyone’s sister, mother or friend.

However, do people honestly think someone who is a sociopathic monster, a rapist or murderer can really be socially shamed into not committing those crimes?

Blaming all men and asking them to call out misogynistic behaviour will not stop these types of horrific things happening.

Also, I feel there is no need to turn the murder into a divisive issue along gender lines.

Dividing men and women like this is not achieving anything.

By blaming all men, we are taking the blame off the murderer.

Men are not born violent.

One way I feel men can act to help things is by supporting services that help women who have been abused.

Services throughout not just Dublin, but the whole country, are desperate for funding.

Men can at least do something to show they are less part of the problem and more part of the solution.

Yours sincerely,

James Carney,

Cabra

 

Dear Editor,

‘There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come’, this quote from the French poet, novelist, and dramatist Victor Hugo, is not something you might call to mind when doing the weekly grocery shop.

The idea of humane eating has finally arrived in Irish supermarkets. V-shopping sees vegan and vegetarian products becoming mainstream in our supermarkets.

Shoppers can now find an animal by-product free alternative to the animal derived product.

From milk to sausages the number and variety of humane products is increasing and at a price not too demanding on the financial purse.

As ever some vegan/ vegetarian products are pitched to the cliché that humane eaters reside in the three comma income bracket.

Supporters of violence free food should support efforts by supermarkets to bring humane to the grocery aisles.

Buying vegan/vegetarian products on weekly basis sends out a visible message that if the supermarkets stock these products they will be bought.

Even people who want to try humane eating one day a week can be an untapped market for the supermarkets in their constant struggle for market share.

Getting your nutritional needs satisfied by availing of vegan/vegetarian dishes shows that you reject meat for what it represents- death warmed up.

Never forget for that trite statement farm to fork to exist a heartbeat must be stilled.

The message is simple; by reducing your animal by-products consumption or removing them entirely from your diet and lifestyle you are helping to end animal suffering.

V-shopping will help to bring forward the idea that animals are not products.

Yours,

John Tierney

Chairperson-Waterford Animal Concern