Letters to the Editor: The State should play no part in EU military
'The State does not need expensive fighter jets to be scrambled to intercept passing foreign aeroplanes, where their pilots and the pilots of intercepted planes would exchange friendly hand waves through their cockpit windows, as was the case during the Cold War and continues.' Picture: Dan Linehan
If the real reason for establishing the European Economic Community was to prevent European nations from going to war, that has not worked out too well, has it? Europeans have continued warmongering, not killing each other but â with ever-increasing military capability â unleashing deadly weaponry on North Africans, Iraqis, and Afghans.
The State should have no part in that warmongering, should not increase military spending, and should disengage from the continuation of incremental measures being enacted, bringing about the relinquishing of her sovereignty.
Ireland should begin the process of less military spending being promoted by armchair generals.
Ireland does not need copycat military institutions cloned from the military institutions of an empire from another era.
The State does not need expensive fighter jets to be scrambled to intercept passing foreign aeroplanes, where their pilots and the pilots of intercepted planes would exchange friendly hand waves through their cockpit windows, as was the case during the Cold War and continues.
Instead of an army, the country needs a cost-effective national guard with most participants holding full-time civilian jobs â whose purpose would be to back up the civil guards and perform humanitarian assistance in a national crisis. Instead of the present naval service, the country should have a fit for purpose coast guard service with small, fast boats (some with helicopter landing and take-off capability) to prevent smuggling and to protect fishing resources and coastal subterranean natural resources and infrastructural facilities.
Russia has been singled out as an enemy and a military threat to Ireland. As far as I know, Russia and Ireland have traditionally peacefully co-existed, continue to do so, and should continue to do so.
Who in their right mind would want to get into the ring with Russia? The abundance of trigger happy, military might protagonists should study the history of Russian war outcomes.
Joe Terry, Blarney, Cork
Ministerâs confusing take on neutrality
In her interview on RTĂ Radio 1âs Morning Ireland on February 19, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill presented a confusing sort of logic.
She claimed that, as a neutral country, we should spend more on defence â not less. She said that this was âsimply a matter of logicâ.
Surely, it is the other way around. If we take sides with a belligerent country or allow ourselves to be dragged into war, we definitely should expect to be attacked.
However, by remaining a neutral country with no enemies and not taking sides, we are not likely to be attacked.
The interview became even more confusing when the minister told us that we do not have enough money to cover prescription fees for HRT and then, within a matter of minutes, told us that we needed to spend a great deal more money on defence.
This is very reminiscent of a recent request made by Nato secretary general Mark Rutte to the European Parliament to spend less on pensions and social services for citizens and more on defence.
By all means, our military should be well paid and should enjoy good working conditions.
However, if we believe that we can afford to develop our defensive armoury to a level to protect us from the might of the superpowers (or even middle-weight powers), we are fooling ourselves.
Given the horrendous destructive nature of modern weaponry, what would a âsuccessfulâ defence look like? We have all seen the impact of modern warfare on Gaza â and that is not the worst possible outcome. Think of the impact of nuclear weapons.
It is much more in our interests to make friends not enemies, to maintain friendly relationships with other countries, to be ready to talk when we find ourselves in conflict with others, and to be ready to assist others in conflict to negotiate peaceful, mutually-acceptable solutions in keeping with Article 29 of our Constitution.
When ministers talk of âlevels of ambitionâ in relation to defence, they are not talking about levels of likely success in defending ourselves against the horrors of modern warfare. They are talking about levels of expenditure. The money the minister and her colleagues want us to spend on defence is just over âŹ3bn a year, the cost of one new childrenâs hospital a year. That is a matter of simple logic.
Marian Naughton, Naas, Co Kildare
Shane OâFarrellâs death warrants a full public inquiry
Mick Clifford says that if I were minister for justice âit is impossible to envisage [me] initiating a public inquiryâ into the circumstances of the death of Shane OâFarrell.
Mick is clearly a political journalist who has lived his entire life under Fianna FĂĄil and Fine Gael governments â where commitments given in opposition mean nothing. It is such an approach that has led to so much disillusionment in the political system.
To be clear, if I were minister for justice I would absolutely establish a public inquiry into the death of Shane OâFarrell. Such a move would not be âcavalier with laws and conventionsâ, as Mick Clifford suggests. Rather, it would be adhering to the principle that a State has an obligation to protect its citizens and, when that obligation is not met, to then establish the truth and secure justice.
The OâFarrell family has been denied truth and justice. Moreover, the circumstances of Shane OâFarrellâs death and the actions of State agencies, including the gardaĂ, raise serious questions so profound that answers must be provided in the public interest.
Since Shane was killed in 2011 there has been a garda investigation, a court case, Gsoc investigations, and a scoping exercise.
None have answered the most serious question that has arisen.
How is it that the person who was solely responsible for Shaneâs death, Zygimantas Gridziuska, was in a position to crash into this young man, kill him, and leave the scene when he clearly should have been in prison in light of his multiple breaches of multiple bail conditions set by multiple courts?
It is clear to me that that question will only be answered by a public inquiry with full judicial powers of compellability and disclosure will be able to get to the heart of that answer and, ultimately, ensure that we can prevent other similar instances in the future.
That is also the position of the DĂĄil which has twice voted to that effect.
That is why I am committed, if I am justice minister, to implement that democratic mandate from the DĂĄil. It is why I also hope that the OâFarrell family donât have to wait until that day. Rather, it would be much better for all concerned if the current minister, Jim OâCallaghan, does what he previously committed to and establish the public inquiry that this case so clearly warrants.
Matt Carthy TD, Sinn FĂ©in spokesperson on justice, home affairs, and migration
Power of the pen
The process of writing a letter by hand is emotionally powerful and demonstrates care in a way that a text message cannot. Taking the time to sit down with pen and paper portrays a real commitment to conveying oneâs feelings towards the recipient. I believe that letter-writing forces the sender to contemplate and choose meaningful words in that moment.
However, the act of writing down oneâs thoughts also paradoxically offers a sense of genuineness in its spontaneity. The wonderful thing about an email is its immediacy. A conversation can be had, a decision made, and a plan refined in a matter of minutes â no matter where in the world the two parties can be. A letter, by contrast, always arrives from the past. There is a waiting, a forced patience, built into the mechanics. You wait for a letter to arrive. You wait for a reply.
In the time it takes for the letter to reach its destination, anything can happen in that minds can be changed, lives lost, as well as new loves discovered.
When one is nostalgic about letter writing, one is afraid that a cultural form is dying â especially when people start making a point of celebrating it. People today enjoy a range of ways to keep in touch with one another.
This can be by censored email print-offs and video calls, but I truly believe that the process of sitting down calmly, composing oneâs thoughts, and committing them to paper still remains a powerful way of maintaining important family ties. There is power in putting pen to paper.
John OâBrien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Road safety
The high level of uninsured vehicles in this country is three times the rate as that of the UK and four times the average across the EU/EEA area, according to the Motor Insurersâ Bureau of Ireland.
One in every 12 private vehicles, it is estimated, on Irish roads are uninsured. In 2022, there was a total of just under 188,000 private vehicles driving without insurance, an increase of 13,626 uninsured vehicles over the 2021 figures.
In my county alone, we have had two fatalities this year and 17 fatalities in 2024, yet our garda traffic corps was reduced as to be virtually ineffective.
In 2023, 8,863 people were arrested for drunk or drug driving. How many more have escaped detection? The garda traffic corps around the country except for Dublin has been decimated over the last decade. In 15 years it showed an overall reduction in the traffic corps from 1,046 in 2009 to 627 by December 2024, a reduction of 41%.
High-profile checkpoints at busy bank holiday weekends may result in large number of detections of drug/drunk driving, uninsured drivers, defective vehicles, etc, but the core issue is not just the need to increase the numbers in the traffic corps and the number of checkpoints but the need for courts to take a tougher stance on those who repeatedly flout and disregard our traffic laws and those who engage in reckless behaviour.
Christy Galligan, Letterkenny, Co Donegal
