Sir, – Over recent months there has, in my view, been a persistent campaign by the Government and the mass media to undermine Irish neutrality and increase military spending with the ultimate aim of joining Nato. This despite poll after poll showing an overwhelming majority of the Irish public in favour of Ireland remaining neutral.
Instead of joining a future military alliance, there should be a referendum to enshrine neutrality into the Constitution. In this context we would do well to recall the words of James Connolly, who, in October 1915, at the invitation of Tralee Trade’s Council, addressed a rally of more than 3,000 workers in the Square in Tralee.
Connolly spoke out against Ireland’s involvement in the war in Europe, arguing, “I know that we in Ireland had never suffered one particular iota from any European power, but one … this war was not for Ireland, it was not for them no matter who wanted it. They stood for that section of the community who had fought the battles of the world and who had remained at the bottom no matter who was at the top.
“They would no longer accept the position of inferiority. They say not only are they part of the nation, but they are the most useful part of it.
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“No matter who sold Ireland in the past, the Irish working class never sold it, they always fought for it.”
Connolly’s words against war and imperialism are as relevant to the world we live in, in 2025 as they were back in 1915. – Yours, etc,
KIERAN MCNULTY,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.
Trump, Europe and Ukraine
Sir, – It is difficult to imagine anything more emblematic of the speed and scale of the change taking place in US geopolitical policy than seeing it vote in step with Russia, Belarus and North Korea on the UN resolution on Ukraine.
All three of these countries are autocracies dominated by ruthless dictators who brook no dissent internally.
It is often said that what Donald Trump says cannot be taken at face value. Equally, it is true that actions are what really matter and, in choosing to oppose its long-term European allies to side with countries synonymous with state-sponsored terrorism, the US president has given the clearest signal yet of the intended future direction of his administration.
The advocates of President Trump’s ego-led transactional disposition will argue that nothing matters more than putting an end to the war in Ukraine. All the more so should the US, as part of the deal, lay claim to billions of dollars of Ukraine’s natural resources.
There is a deal to be done in Ukraine, led by the US and Europe from a position of strength and unity with a prominent place at the table for Ukraine. There should, however, be a price at which any deal becomes untenable. Handing a free pass to a megalomaniac in the Kremlin while alienating allies of many years is such a price.
It is now past time for a new European Union-led approach to how we manage our security on the Continent. Europe needs to become self-sufficient in this regard while repurposing its engagement with the UN and Nato, not least because it has been lacking in its responsibility in this area for many years now, but also because the US has made a categorical decision to put America first, irrespective of historical alliances or geopolitical implications. – Yours, etc,
GERRY PRIZEMAN,
Clontarf,
Dublin.
Shamrock diplomacy
Sir, – While Ireland waits to see what comes of any action against the EU, and our diplomats, Ministers and officials fly off to pin some shamrock on his lapel, one thing is now certain: they’re going to shake hands with the America’s latest autocrat.
As actions speak louder than words, they should be prepared for anything, not simply Trump’s wish to see big pharma profits repatriated to the United States rather than earned and retained in a tiny northern European country.
Paradoxically, the real danger to Ireland and to Europe long-term is probably not Trump but that group of favourites and sycophants around him who seek not America’s success but their own, coupled in the process with an iron will to destroy the machinery of state in their own country. They’ll still be around when Trump disappears.
They’re aided and abetted by their chief, who’s probably not au fait with the full consequences of those executive orders whispered in his ear, but because he likes being at the head of affairs, applauded by his team, his media and lapdogs abroad, he’s happy to be acknowledged as their chief. All autocrats respect strength; we need to show that in spades. – Yours, etc,
ALASTAIR CONAN,
Coulsdon,
London.
A cabin in the garden
Sir, – Seán O’Neill McPartlin lays out the laudable positives in relation to the “garden seomra” debate (Will the garden cabins plan ease the housing crisis?, Opinion, February 25th). Orla Hegarty stresses, once again, every negative she can think of.
In my seaside town in the 1960s and 1970s, almost every house had a garden dwelling where families moved in the summer so that the main house could be rented to holidaymakers. They existed for decades and nobody that I know suffered any ill effects from their experience.
We have become so rule bound and risk averse in Ireland today that we literally can do nothing to help ourselves, even in the midst of something as life-defining as a shelter crisis. Unless people speak up, this initiative will be shot down. Remember the cafe/bar proposal? – Yours, etc,
PETER MCNALLY,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.
Hassan Nasrallah and human rights
Sir, – In her piece on the funeral of assassinated Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah (“Tens of thousands attend funeral of Hizbullah leader Nasrallah as Israeli jets fly overhead”, World News, February 24th), Sally Hayden quotes an Irish participant as saying she was at the funeral “as a human rights defender”.
As the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, I cannot equate support for Hizbullah and its former leader with the defence of human rights. Nasrallah and Hizbullah demonstrated time and again their opposition to the foundational values underpinning human rights, including the right to life.
Four years ago this month, I wrote to the Lebanese authorities regarding the murder of human rights defender Lokman Slim, who had been a vocal critic of Hizbullah. In a statement he published on social media in 2019 following an attack on his house and a series of threats from Hizbullah, Slim stated: “In the event that any verbal or physical attack is carried out on me, my wife, my home or family, I, through this statement, make the de-facto forces – represented by Hassan Nasrallah and Nabih Berri – responsible for what happened or what will happen”. Four years since his murder in 2021, no one has been held accountable for his death. – Yours, etc,
MARY LAWLOR,
UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders.
The bank of Mum and Dad
Sir, – It is good to see The Irish Times highlight what has long been one of the great taboos of Irish life: economic privilege, passed down from Mummy and Daddy, is a major determinant of one’s station and status in life (“Six-figure parental gifts are now shaping Ireland’s property market“, Business, February 25th). What one learns or earns is far less important. We are heading for a massive social divide should we allow this to continue.
The solution is simple. We need far greater tax on large inheritances and gifts. If we address these intergenerational wealth transfers in this way, we can take a meaningful step toward breaking the cycle of birthright privilege that continues to shape our society. – Yours, etc,
REAMONN O’LUAN,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Ryanair boarding passes
Sir, We are told the population of Ireland and the UK are getting older, but more of us choose to fly each year. By May this year, I see that Ryanair intends to phase out the use of printed boarding passes, requiring passengers to display their boarding pass electronically on their phone or other device. The reason for this change is not clear.
Many older travellers can walk independently to the departure gates and board the aircraft unassisted. But requiring them to find and display a boarding pass on a device will prove a step too far. Many will have a degree of age-related cognitive impairment or limited dexterity due to arthritis, stroke or myriad other conditions more common with advancing years.
I fear that more passengers and their families will be driven therefore to request assistance at the airport when booking their travel, potentially swamping the airports’ capacity to provide this. I sincerely hope Ryanair will reconsider this change and thus avoid a lot of frustration among passengers and staff at the boarding gate.
My other gripe as someone with age-related moderate hearing loss is the struggle to understand the airport tannoy announcements as well as announcements from cabin crew on the plane. This is difficult even with hearing aids. Some announcers, including non-native English speakers, are measured and perfectly clear. Others including native English speakers are rushed and totally unintelligible to me and I suspect many other passengers.
Many of the announcements are important as they relate to last-minute boarding gate changes. Do staff receive any training or feedback on their performance in this critical area? – Yours, etc,
EAMONN KENNAN,
Durham.
The National Gallery’s art scanner
Sir, – Can I suggest the National Gallery and Leinster House cohost a modern art exhibition featuring a state-of-art scanner housed under a translucent bike shelter entitled X-Ray-Ted? – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN MCGOVERN,
Donnybrook,
Dublin.
A research windfall?
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole argues that the Trump administration’s assault on US research could result in a windfall of US scientists moving to Ireland (“The Trump-Musk war on science is an opportunity for Ireland”, Opinion, February 25th”).
There is unfortunately no chance of this happening.
The current poor state of Irish university research funding, one of the lowest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has resulted in inadequate research infrastructure that will certainly not attract US-based high-flyers to this country.
We cannot generate our own intellectual property to any meaningful degree unless the Government recognises that a small country must properly fund a small number of internationally competitive, research-focused universities.
The Irish pharmaceutical industry depends heavily on intellectual property generated in US universities over many decades. If that intellectual property is repatriated, as Donald Trump wants, we may lose much of that industry.
Irish government funding policy means there is little chance of us following Denmark’s example, with its small number of well-funded research universities, to create Irish-owned intellectual property.
This creates a huge threat to Ireland’s economic model. – Yours, etc,
IAN ROBERTSON,
Emeritus Professor,
Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology,
Trinity College Dublin.
The wisdom of hedgehogs
Sir, – Joe Humphreys (“A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing. Be more like a hedgehog”, Opinion, February 24th) peruses the prickly subject of modern-day information overkill which, quoting from others, he reckons could smother such enriching vitals as love, poetry and moral principles.
Cunning stuff again from Humphreys, as he outwits the fox’s regular reputation for canniness without hedging his bets or overly hogging the philosophical limelight. Apparently ancient Greek poet Archilochus had the answer in the form of the common hedgehog, who used all his spiky coat to thwart the fox’s advances.
Perhaps Humphreys’s three-step “decluttering” programme could thus benefit from contorting the old confrontational adage into “defence is the better form of attack”. – Yours, etc,
JIM COSGROVE,
Lismore,
Co Waterford.
