THE PEOPLE’S LETTERS PAGE

Dear Editor,

It’s now gone seven weeks since l wrote to several councillors, and the Lord Mayor herself, that the light’s in County Hall, Swords are left on all night, every night, on all but one or two floors of this many storied four blocks building after staff and cleaners have each and all left by 11pm latest.

And nothing whatsoever has been done about it.

Civic Hall in Blanchardstown do turn off their lights at night so what is the difficulty to do it also in Swords.? Is it a fault issue?

If that is so what is the difficulty to get an electrician out or simply flip the switches when leaving at end of day. We don’t neglect to do that in our own homes do we?

I have not received a reply from any member of the Fingal council, several of whom are Greens, bar the Lord Mayor, who has still not exercised her authority to order them switched off.

Does that mean she is powerless.

I have been met with…” no they are not left on”… “everyone else leaves theirs on don’t they”…”sure that’s just the way it is” and have had the Gardai call on me for “disturbing people.”

What hope for cooling the planet.

The reality is that no one in Fingal County Council is disturbed about that.

The Embassy of the US in Ballsbridge, a country known to be extremely wasteful in matters of energy consumption turn off all but one security office light in that building at night.

Metas (Facebook) mega new offices in Ballsbridge also left all their lights on all night, just like County Hall, but immediately on having this wastage of our resources pointed out to them they did the needy and turned them off.

Not so with the Wasters of County Hall.

What to do?

They have ignored my several requests for their past utility bills.

Why?

It is my/your tax money is it not, not actually theirs, and we are fully entitled to know how they are burning it because for one it will help us in deciding who to vote for in the upcoming round of elections.

Thanking you

JJ Hadenough

 

Dear Editor,

The overturning of the Roe v Wade decision in the USA has shown that the fight for women’s reproductive health care is an ongoing battle.

It also demonstrated that the USA’s former system of checks and balances, which protects its citizens from government overreach, is gone.

The decision also did monumental damage because it has destroyed the principle of the separation of church and state by requiring taxpayers to subsidize private religious education, and by overturning gun laws in New York.

The US Supreme Court is now just another democratic institution whose legitimacy myself, and many of my fellow Americans, have trouble recognising anymore.

Either the process for selecting Supreme Court justices is overhauled so the court truly becomes its own institution, or the Supreme Court will cease to function in the way it was intended to.

Yours sincerely,

George Daly,

Donnybrook.

 

Dear Editor.

I am shocked but not surprised to learn that the government has dropped plans to establish a dedicated Wildlife Crime Unit that would have cracked down on the multiple threats to our wildlife and the natural environment.

Two years ago it promised that this essential new entity would be set up following a spate of wildfires that destroyed hedgerows and nesting bird habitats and the poisoning and shooting of rare birds.

Animal welfare and wildlife protection groups had welcomed the commitment, hoping that the unit would effectively tackle these challenges, plus an upsurge in badger baiting and illegal hare hunting across the country.

What a slap in the face to all of us who expected action at last to address criminal threats to our already imperiled biodiversity.

But then, should we expect anything more from a government that despite its light shade of Green (that’s fading by the day) is also likely to grant a license to coursing clubs shortly to commence another season of what, in many other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland, would be designated “wildlife crime?”

The license will permit the capture of thousands of hares, even in areas where stocks have deceased drastically.

These supposedly protected animals will be held in captivity for weeks prior to coursing. Then they’ll be subjected to an ordeal that should have been banned decades ago but continues thanks to vote-conscious politicians who put electoral interest before the wellbeing or conservationist status of the Irish Hare. Coursing aside, this unique sub-species of the Mountain Hare that is native to Ireland has been in decline for the past half century due to habitat loss.

The lack of a specialist unit to address wildlife crime is exacerbated by the poor funding of the understaffed wildlife service, which receives a derisory fraction of the €19.2 million the government allocates each year to the bloodstock sector.

In other words, our political masters are more anxious to keep horses and dogs running around in circles than to safeguard what remains of our treasured biodiversity.

Someday, maybe, we’ll get a government that will stand up for nature. Then, our persecuted wild creatures could live out their humble lives in peace, free from predatory humans and cruelty dressed up as “sport.”

Thanking you,

John Fitzgerald

 

Dear Editor,

Fine Gael, in an act of sheer political opportunism, are fluttering their political eyelashes at Ireland’s rural community.

The party has set up a ‘National Agricultural, Food and Rural Development Forum’ to provide a platform for discussion and policy formation on matters pertaining to rural affairs.

The appointment of pro-hunting ex-IFA president Eddie Downey as chairman sets the tone for the establishment of yet another echo chamber for farming and bloodsports interests.

Rural Ireland is devoid of local and national politicians who can articulate the views of those of us, not in the maw of the farming industry or pro-hunting lobby groups, who live in the countryside and who understand and engage with modern thinking.

The Irish countryside does not rely solely on farming and hunting interests aided by performing to the gallery politicians to function.

These ruddy-complexioned citizens of the soil with a low world horizon who believe they are owed a living and need outlets to bash wildlife for fun.

For any political party to believe that environmental vandals and animal abusers are their vehicle to power is delusional thinking.

Political subscribers to this dogma will receive its answer via the ballot box.

Yours,

John Tierney

Campaigns Director

Association of Hunt Saboteurs