Letters to the Editor: Government has a duty to protect its people
In the last week, your newspaper published two excellent articles, one by defence analyst Dorcha Lee and one by your reporter Shona Murray.
You also gave banner headlines to Micheál Martin’s report to the people of Ireland, where he stated “that the Irish are unaware of the scale of the Russian threat”.
This is not a correct analysis by Mr Martin, who is now informing the people of Ireland of the necessity of seriously “upscaling the Government’s projected spend” on our nation’s defence against looming threats to our sovereignty.
I wish to remind Mr Martin and other defence ministers that they have been constantly reminded of the State’s woeful inadequacy in matters of national security, and I instance Mr Martin’s visit to the Seanad in late 2024, where, in response to senator Gerard Craughwell’s queries on national defence matters, he responded with “I am concerned at the level of aggression towards the department [of Defence]”.
Surely an attack on the senator, who is a highly experienced former soldier in both the British army and the Irish Defence Forces, in addition to his role in all Irish Defence Forces, matters in the Seanad.
I suggest the last thing that this country needs is yet another Government-sponsored committee or independent review group.
Due to the paucity of military know-how in the Oireachtas, maybe it is time that we received practical external advice from our European military colleagues as the first step, and joining Nato, as soon as possible, as the second.
Surely it is time that we took our place among the nations of Europe, and contributed our share to European defence.
Europe has served us well.
Neutrality will not protect the Irish nation from invasions by land, sea, cyber, or air, and it is our Government’s sacred duty to protect its people.
The statements and threats by US president Donald Trump must be taken seriously, especially on matters as serious as the ongoing potential genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
It now seems likely from statements by the Israeli prime minister, ministers for defence and finance, and from continuing Israeli military attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, that the ceasefire was intended to be just a temporary expedient to be abandoned once the surviving Israeli hostages were freed.
With its plans to at least delay the Occupied Territories Bill, and to abandon the triple lock, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris seem determined to appease the Trump administration and to push ahead with the traditional St Patrick’s Day bowl of shamrock presentation to the US president, if an invitation to attend is forthcoming.
Appeasing Trump will place Ireland Inc on the wrong side of history.
The newly-elected Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael-dominated Government seems determined to abandon what remains of neutrality by abolishing the triple lock, thereby undermining the vital role of the UN and bringing Ireland ever closer to entanglement with nuclear-armed Nato and an EU military alliance.
This is contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of the Irish people, who support justice for the Palestinian people and who want Ireland to continue to pursue a
policy of positive neutrality promoting international peace and global justice.
I could not agree more with the content and tone of Dorcha Lee’s opinion piece, ‘The Irish public are blissfully unaware that the Third World War has already begun’.
I would just add that the author does not mention the one reason why we could be vulnerable to a Russian sponsored attack, namely the transatlantic cables that carry 80% of all data links.
I could foresee an attack by spetsnaz forces coming ashore from a Russian submarine to be met by an unarmed local garda.
Irish “neutrality” is no longer tenable and if we value our freedoms, we have to act now.
I find the framing of Dorcha Lee’s article (‘The Irish public are blissfully unaware that the Third World War has already begun’, Irish Examiner, February 11) to be very dishonest, applying an overtly based and pseudo-realistic conception of Ireland’s position in the world.
At a time when there is such a monetary incentive for war, when large global defence industry players have been documented as engaging in extensive lobbying of our elected representatives, this article only serves to try and move the needle in their favour.
This is something which, time and time again, has been shown to be against the wishes of the Irish people and is broadly opposed to our best interests and that of the wider global community.
Who exactly does the author deem to be a threat to Irish national security?
All one has to do is take a look at the list of countries that have invaded Ireland in the past 1,000 years, been exposed as having intelligence assets in our government, and operate overseas military installations on our soil.
Surprise, surprise, there is only one country on the list (no prizes for guessing which one).
The author’s comment on our housing, health, and public services is clearly very detached from reality and from the experience of wide sections of the Irish people, if not the majority.
It is really disappointing to see such a take being repeated so readily, though if anything, it reflects the credibility of the piece at large.
I understand that we reside in the western sphere of influence, and that we are exposed to their beliefs and conventions ad nauseum via English-language media.
I do think it is important, though, to stop for a second and think critically about this.
I would like to ask the author, is this what it means to be Irish? Does this reflect our culture or history?
And, lastly, who they believe will bear the brunt of Irish militarisation?
It is naive to think that it will be any of the voices in high positions who are shouting the loudest in its favour.
It will quite obviously be people that the author would, in any other context deem to be children.
Dorcha Lee’s article started with the question, why would we view Russia as our enemy?
I would like to think, generally speaking of course, that we are a race of people who call a spade exactly what it is and I really do struggle to answer for us the very question I’ve asked at the outset.
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that maybe 70-odd years of conditioning by our neighbours left and right, through various media, written and broadcast, has some bearing on it, for example film and TV (the James Bond franchise springs to mind), and more recently Sky News, of course, in my humble opinion, has shaped and moulded us into a nation of Russophobic fools.
This was demonstrated clearly at the beginning of what is a tragic situation in Ukraine when the Russian ambassador, Yuri Filatov, was interviewed on RTÉ television, I had barely gotten over the embarrassment of that when Virgin Media brought Jeffrey Sachs on as a guest (video link) with some of our “politicians.”
In short, if we are to be invaded, the invaders will come from more familiar territory to us than the Russian Federation.
We need to wake up, educate ourselves more, adopt a Eurasian mindset, and dispense with this Russophobic nonsense.
As the new Cabinet meets to discuss preparations for St Patrick’s Day, which we are told will involve an amplified effort at appeasing the new US administration, where is the reflection of the will of the Irish people who are evidently disgusted at the early actions of the Trump administration?
The obscene comments in relation to Gaza have been met with reckless and potentially murderous decisions regarding overseas aid cuts.
Both of these issues are close to the hearts of the electorate.
It seems once again we are willing to sacrifice everything to fumble in the greasy till, but how much is even left?
On the morning of February 12, RTÉ News repeatedly ran a story claiming that the Irish-US trade relationship was worth €1tn annually but it was not referenced.
We must start to ask, how much is the relationship genuinely worth?
Surely not the price of our souls?
I found it discombobulating to learn that public health nurse services for small children have collapsed across the country.
Ostensibly, parents of new babies have been told by the HSE that there are no public health nurses for their babies and instead they were given a QR code.
This is a code that would bring them to a website where parents could do their own developmental checks.
May I remind the HSE that we are in the year of 2025 and parents need appointments and not QR codes.
I find the treatment of these parents and their babies to be offensive and insulting.
Parents have every right in venting their anger as vital developmental checks for children are suspended.
I find it utterly incredulous to learn of concerned parents standing outside health centres looking for appointments as public health nursing services face a chronic national shortage.
I have to ask myself: Why does nothing work in Ireland anymore?
