Letters to the Editor: Urgent need to build up our Defence Forces
'I believe we should be investing strongly in our Defence Forces and this equates not only to arms and other defence equipment but also an investment in future personnel who start apprenticeships in mechanical, electrical, and general engineering while maintaining air and naval craft and general engineering projects that our army have done while serving overseas.' Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
Referring to articles in your paper from three academics and a retired army officer (February 9 and 11) for and against neutrality.
I believe we should be investing strongly in our Defence Forces and this equates not only to arms and other defence equipment but also an investment in future personnel who start apprenticeships in mechanical, electrical, and general engineering while maintaining air and naval craft and general engineering projects that our army have done while serving overseas.
Many years ago, there was an army barracks in Cavan town that was the most modern in Europe. It closed in 2012 in the face of local opposition because of the massive economic shock to the area from the relocation of personnel to other areas — more personnel means economic benefits to areas they are located in.
Our naval ships, when built, were not equipped with radar — was this for cost reasons? I assume our naval experts who were liaising with the ship builders would have wanted radar-equipped ships and this is now under review by the powers that be.
We need jets to police our skies and these don’t have to be state of the art F35s as we just need to monitor and not necessarily defend our air space.
Investment in upgrading our Defence Forces can be of economic benefit to local communities where barracks are located and we don’t have to align ourselves with anybody else while doing it.
When the Second World War started, we as a nation suddenly realised we were surrounded by water and needed to rapidly invest in a merchant fleet to keep our country fed and we had to build up our Defence Forces — this time we should try to be ahead of the posse.
Michael Moloney, Drombanna, Co Limerick
Ball throwing is destroying hurling
Maurice Brosnan was quite correct when he said the clampdown on steps by referees is to be welcomed — ‘Welcome clampdown on steps rule leading to desirable chaos’ (Irish Examiner, February 12) .
However, the other big problem is the continuous ball throwing in hurling which is making a mockery of the rules while destroying our beautiful game. It will just have to be curtailed. All the top teams are guilty of blatant ball throwing, with Limerick the worst offenders.
Some people will say that it is just sour grapes on my part, but one Limerick player in particular has been throwing the ball for years, and I do not remember him being penalised even once. This situation is totally unacceptable.
It is not rocket science for hurling referees to properly police the ball throwing. If ball throwing players were penalised by referees on just a few occasions early in a game it would go a long way to show these same players that this hurling scourge is being tackled.
I hope that we will not witness as much ball throwing when the championship will be in full swing.
Liam Burke, Dunmore, Co Kilkenny
GAA rule changes
The opening rounds of the Allianz Football League clearly indicate the considerable enhancement that Jim Gavin and his Football Review Committee have brought to Gaelic football.
Hurling is treasured as being in a good place to the extent that any contemplation of rule modification is likely to be met with an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” reply.
And while they are very different games, getting too precious about hurling will not serve its future well. Consequently I hope that the perspectives and reasoning underpinning Jim Gavin’s work will be examined as to any relevancy for the game of hurling.
An obvious pertinence for hurling is football’s new time-keeping system (adopted from ladies Gaelic football) where the game clock is started and stopped at the referee’s behest and a hooter calls half-time and full-time.
Michael Gannon, St Thomas’ Sq, Kilkenny
We missed chance to reform Seanad
I would seriously question your labelling of the Seanad as “a stale talking shop padded out with has-beens, wannabes, and losers” (Irish Examiner, February 12).
While it’s true that 28 of the current crop of senators contested the last Dáil election and clearly would prefer to be there than in the 27th Seanad, that does not in itself justify the view expressed by Elaine Loughlin.
For instance, some of Ireland’s most skilled and dedicated legislators are proud members of the Seanad: Alice-Mary Higgins and Lynn Ruane, to name just two.
As one of the loudest advocates for Seanad reform, I wholeheartedly agree with the view that successive governments have failed in their duty to the people and the Constitution to reform how the Seanad is elected, how it operates, and the purpose it serves.
At the end of September, the government introduced legislation to expand the Seanad franchise. This passed through the Seanad and Dáil and was signed into law by the President just before the Dáil general election was called.
The legislation was a direct consequence of two 2023 Supreme Court rulings, the latter setting a timeline for any new legislation on the Seanad franchise having to be in place and operational by the end of May 2025.
The hitch, of course, is that the government’s legislation only expanded the electorate for the six so-called university seats. A missed opportunity for the Oireachtas to expand the Seanad electorate to every citizen on the island.
It seems this point was not deemed important enough to write about at the time, exactly when pressure was needed most to encourage TDs and senators to reject the government’s legislation and force through legislation to properly reform the Seanad voting system.
In the years ahead, columnists, journalists, writers, and politicians will continue to decry the failure to reform the Seanad, while ignoring the simple fact that the perfect opportunity to force reform was presented to us all in October last year and was met with almost complete silence from media, most politicians, and most of the public.
Tomás Heneghan, East Wall, Dublin 3
Public misled over energy costs
Bord Gáis Energy tells us “the standing charge is an annual charge included in your price plan. This covers the fixed costs associated with providing your gas and electricity supply”.
So you pay to provide electricity to your home and then pay for the electricity used in the process. Is that not a three-card trick deal for the provider? You are an investor of your energy supplier without any dividend.
Yet the taxpayer pays through the EU green energy funding and government tax breaks to these providers.
We are told the taxpayer has to pay for repairs to the network following Storm Éowyn. But did not the people of this country already pay for the roll-out of electricity infrastructure through the ESB (semi-state), so where is the pay back for the public?
Eircom and the roll-out of the broadband is another situation where the taxpayer pays for the infrastructure and private companies benefit and Joe public pays at both ends. Are we the public being treated like schmucks?
Nuala Nolan, Bowling Green, Galway
Militarising Ireland
I don’t buy this argument that we need to militarise Ireland due to growing threats. Ireland is not meddling in the affairs of other countries so is not a target.
If the US hadn’t betrayed its promise to Russia to not move one inch eastwards then there would have been no war in Ukraine.
It’s on public record (phone call audio) that Victoria Nuland was trying to influence the government in Ukraine and there are suspicions about who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline and almost destroyed the German economy.
We are constantly warned about the dangers of Putin I think it’s the Western leaders who are causing all the harm and instability.
So let’s keep our nose out of the mess created by these countries. Let them solve their own problems and keep ourselves out of danger.
Conor Ryan, Dunboyne, Co Meath
Defence capability
We have no defence capability at all. The Irish people do not want to pay for it. It would cost probably the same as the Department of Education to fund a proper defence with submarine capability. Sadly though there is no support for this among the population.
On the question of joining Nato, I am not sure we could stand outside it with our own defences like Sweden and Finland did for decades. The USA cannot be relied on anymore.
We have been moaning about the British for years, while they have protected us for free.
Pat Boland, Dublin 15
US cutting aid
The US freezing aid to nations threatened by HIV epidemics is empowering.
It allows those countries to take control of their own health issues. The time has long passed when America is needed to help these modernised nations. However, if help is still needed, let it come from UN funds that would presumably be gathered from the world’s wealthiest.
Another issue regarding much of this US aid concerns how and to whom the aid is distributed.
Concerns have arisen in many countries about that distribution. No reasonable nation would refuse aid, given without accountability or assessment of efficacy.
America is not responsible for all the needs of the world or if it is that should come with big strings attached.
Joyce Anderson, Belgooly, Co Cork
