Letters to the Editor: Sports clubs should stand up against abuse of women and girls
The statistics show a year-on-year rise in violence against women.
It was very concerning to read in your paper over the Christmas period about the level of domestic violence and the demands on our courts to be available to issue barring and restraining orders.
The statistics show a year-on-year rise in violence against women that cannot be allowed to continue.
At this stage, is there merit in our main sporting organisations coming together to help address this issue?
The GAA, FAI, and IRFU could take this on board and create and teach guidelines to their members around respect in relationships.
A lot of violence, assaults, and murders are carried out by men known to their victims and these same men, these husbands and partners, are in some cases members of sports clubs. In some cases, these same men are given character references from their local clubs citing that they are role models in the community.
By addressing this violence against women through club environments, we may be able to help change mindsets and reduce the number of incidents.
We see banners in football grounds about respect, this type of prominence needs to be also carried forward into respect for women and girls.
This suggestion might raise discomfort in clubs but if we do not start to face up to this problem the terrible statistics can only go in one direction.
I read with interest the new year message from the Irish Business Against Litter organisation in its report that coincided with the annual litter awards ceremony. The success of the return scheme on bottles and cans was acknowledged, with up to 5m items being returned on one day alone. Unfortunately, despite the ever-increasing utilisation of recycling facilities, no noticeable reduction has emerged in the amount of litter being dropped on our streets. This should leave no doubt in the public mind that if we as a society are serious about tackling the scourge of illegal littering on our streets, then local authorities must enforce the legislation enacted by those same local authorities in the fight to eliminate the littering problem.
In conclusion, anything less is simply an abdication of responsibility on the part of local government, because no amount of litter legislation enacted will substitute for the failure to enforce same.
The idealistic young scientists at the exhibition may be surprised to learn that we have our own military industrial complex here in Ireland. A myriad of government-subvented companies are engaged in research and development of “solutions” and the manufacture of items that sometimes migrate from civil to military use, and not unintentionally, nor with government hindrance. An overt example of the Irish military industrial complex is provided by a Cork firm that has been contracted to work on the development of Nato’s next-generation helicopter.
Inevitably, some of the brilliant students at the Young Scientist Exhibition will be recruited by such companies.
However, I’m hopeful that some of them will eventually employ their talents in the political sphere and work for the shutdown of Ireland’s military industrial complex.
The editorial ‘Trump’s impact north of border’ has certain echoes of the grossly unequal economic war that took place between a powerful Britain and a weak fledgling Irish State in the 1930s.
With regard to the incoming US president Donald Trump’s suggestion of incorporating Canada (and Greenland) into the US, the editorial says: “What is more serious is Trump’s threat of 25% tariffs being imposed on Canadian goods going to America, which would be a damaging blow to Canada’s economy.”
Given the huge disparity in their respective populations, i.e. US’s 333m compared to Canada’s 39m, this is a gross understatement; it would seem a foregone conclusion that the powerful US would get its “political and economic way” if Donald Trump decides to put his words into action.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau read the writing on the wall and declared he’s resigning; possibly because he reckoned any serious Canadian resistance would be a hopeless exercise — the UK is no longer in any position to intervene on Canada’s behalf — and cause unmanageable catastrophic economic and political dislocation, probably leading to the breakup of Canada. He concluded it would best to accept the inevitable and at least keep Canada intact.
When is an accessible toilet not accessible? When it is locked.
Since an elderly relative now needs a disabled toilet when out shopping I have noticed that in several stores and shopping centres accessible toilets are locked. Therefore, we have to go to customer service where a search for the key begins. In one Dublin shopping centre you have to phone a number and wait for a member of staff to come with a key to gain access. This means that the process of gaining access to an accessible toilet can take 10 to 15 minutes.
When staff are asked why accessible toilets are locked, we are told to ensure they are kept clean. Surely the cleaning of accessible toilets can be done on a regular basis.
I would ask stores and shopping centres to rethink the practice of locking accessible toilets as this makes them inaccessible to those who need to use them.
Dear Mr Musk, keep your vile comments about the Irish legal system and immigration system to yourself. How dare you involve yourself in our political landscape. You are no better than our 19th-century imperialist overlords which we stood up to as a country. You have injected yourself into the American political landscape like a parasite just so you and your billionaire buddies can ravish what’s left of this beautiful planet. The Irish and Danish people will not be misled by you vultures. It’s time the people of the EU start to fight back against these leeches that pretend to be on the side of religion and the common man.
What is the point of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) when tech billionaires such as Musk and Zuckerberg reduce or eliminate the number of content moderators while allowing what they call free speech (American style), what others may call incitement and virulent content full of misinformation and disinformation, if they can’t be reigned in? Musk’s forays into political discourse in the EU and UK, with incendiary remarks made against certain politicians while supporting far right extremists such as Tommy Robinson or the AfD in Germany, should be a warning to those in the European Commission that online platforms such as X or Facebook are inciting hate and violence, with no limitations, and must be brought to book.
While the commission urgently needs to open an investigation into Musk’s dangerous rhetoric, it will show a clear and blatant infringement of the DSA. Six per cent of Musk’s global turnover, if found in breach of the DSA, would be quite substantial, but there needs to be enhanced supervision of his platform to ensure compliance or “interim measures to mitigate any further risks”. This could, under the act, require “increased monitoring of specific keywords or hashtags, or orders to terminate or remedy alleged infringements”.
As Musk’s infringements persist the commission should act without delay, where it causes serious harm or threatens a person’s life or safety, and demand, not request, “temporary suspension of the service” until full and unequivocal assurances of compliance.
Let’s not allow these platforms to dictate public or political discourse until they clean up their acts.
The delay in introducing free HRT is a total insult to women going through menopause.
This was promised in the budget and should not be left on the back burner. If this was a male issue it would be dealt with promptly but women keep being let down.
Menopause meds are costing me a small fortune every month.
