Sir, – The report published by the Department of Finance on the housing crisis estimates it will continue for 15 years (“Ireland’s housing crisis to last another 15 years, Department of Finance predicts”, Business, November 4th).
This report is not an economic diagnosis. It is an electoral death certificate. My children are still in secondary school but if they read this report they should probably prepare to emigrate.
I voted for this Government and I would vote for it again – it is full of talented people with a genuine passion for the welfare of this country. But it is throwing its hands up and acting at times like a bystander on the issue of housing. No prosperous developed country has had a 30-year housing “crisis” and the word is as weary as the apologies and the excuses. No one is saying the solutions are easy but 60 years ago Seán Lemass and Ken Whitaker faced far greater challenges and rose to the occasion with energy.
I’m no economist but it seems the only way out of a supply-side housing crisis in a small open economy is to incentivise builders and developers to come into the Irish market from all directions as a matter of urgency. That means more generous tax breaks and plenty of them. The left will carp about the Galway tent but if the Department of Finance is correct in its projections we’re not even at the races. – Yours, etc,
RM Block
MICHAEL DEASY,
Bandon,
Co Cork.
Sir, – The front page of The Irish Times reports the Department of Finance predicts the housing crisis in Ireland is likely to persist for at least another 15 years. Less a crisis so, and more an acknowledgment of the impotence of Government to address this country’s most pressing need. – Yours, etc,
TOMAS MCBRIDE,
Letterkenny,
Donegal.
Yates and the public discourse
Sir, – I write in relation to the controversy surrounding my former Newstalk colleague, Ivan Yates. As the person who hired him as breakfast presenter in 2010, I have a long-standing appreciation for his qualities as a broadcaster.
It is being suggested that his work coaching Fianna Fáil politicians has compromised his ability to comment on politics. I would argue that this conflates two distinct roles. In my judgment, based on years of observing him, Ivan is more than capable of providing professional, paid coaching to a politician while simultaneously representing his own robust and well-known views on air about that same politician or their party.
His personal political stance on many issues have never been a secret; it is the bedrock of his pugnacious broadcasting style.
This is not to dismiss the core of the issue. The appearance of bias is real, and declaring this coaching arrangement would have been the correct and transparent course of action. He made a serious error in judgment on this point.
However, the greater loss would be to our public discourse if we were to exclude a voice like his. He is a premier league polemicist. He provokes, challenges and irritates in equal measure, but he always engages. He forces listeners to think, often by stating his case in the most uncompromising terms. In an era of increasingly sanitised media, this quality is rare and valuable.
The wrong he did by not declaring a conflict was a serious one. However, the loss of his insightful, if sometimes infuriating, commentary from the national conversation would be a far more significant deprivation.
We should encourage transparency and declaration, not the silencing of challenging voices. The former corrects the mistake; the latter punishes the audience. – Yours, etc,
FRANK CRONIN,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Wearing the poppy
Sir, – Like your correspondent Mark Paul, I never wore a poppy here in the UK, and was questioned a lot as to why (“British media sees red over Irish poppy refuseniks”, UK, November 4th).
It was on a visit home that I noticed a Princess Mary tin on the family hall table. These were given to soldiers in the first World War, and contained tobacco or chocolate.
I then realised that a member of my family took part in that war.
I checked online and discovered there is a green poppy lapel pin to commemorate Irish men who fought in that war.
At this time of year, if I’m invited to a formal event here in the UK, I might wear that pin. The tables are turned as I’m asked what it stands for, and it is then that people realise Irish men also fought in the trenches. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BERGIN,
Oxton,
Wirral,
UK.
Sir, – On the matter of the British media’s (now annual) reaction to some Irish footballer’s choice not to wear the poppy, the outrage in some media outlets is indeed tired and predictable. Your correspondent Mark Paul’s piece noted as such.
However, I would also note that Irish media’s (now annual) reaction to the reaction is equally tired and predictable. (Paul’s piece being this year’s iteration for The Irish Times.) Every year the Brits are outraged by the lack of poppies, and the Irish are outraged by the outrage. Perhaps we could all just not? – Yours, etc,
EVAN BYRNE,
London,
UK.
Rise of divisive politics
Sir, – Ireland ranks high in the global wealth of nations, according to the OECD, but like many of these wealthy nations, it also ranks high in inequality.
Recent data shows wealthy nations are responsible for more than 80 per cent of global emissions against less than 1 per cent of emissions attributed to the poorest nations. Yet it is these poorest of nations that increasingly bear the brunt of the impact of climate change.
In these regions the severe impacts of climate change, such as drought, extreme weather events, and soil erosion, have led to conflict, famine and the breakdown of social cohesion. This will continue to be a key driver of mass migration unless there is a global pivot in economic orthodoxy.
The recent comments by Simon Harris and other politicians on immigration, mirror those of centre right and right-wing politicians in many western nations, and smack of entitlement.
They do nothing to reflect the impact of their policies in driving wealth inequality in their own nations and the erosion of social infrastructure necessary to provide a robust safety net for their own citizens, and also to deal with the inward migration from poorer regions of the world.
It is understandable there is frustration and anger in neglected parts of this country while the Government pushes a policy of corporate welfare. These areas also appear to be taking a disproportionate load of caring for asylum seekers when compared with more affluent areas, and this adds to frustration.
The blaming of immigrants is an easy yet cynical tool of political deflection from the fact that successive centre-right governments have failed in to provide adequate housing, health and public transport for a huge cohort of workers and communities in this country.
That our politicians don’t have the integrity to accept that their acquiescence to market driven economics is a significant factor in driving this social inequality smacks of arrogance and ignorance.
With Cop30 kicking off in Brazil we are reminded that this economic model is failing globally to address the existential threat to humanity.
Climate change will continue to drive global migration and unless there is a pivot to an economic model that pushes sustainability with a greater social dividend, we risk the ongoing breakdown of social cohesion through the rise of divisive politics. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Blackrock,
Cork.
DJ Carey sentencing
Sir, – I was disgusted when I heard on Monday that DJ Carey had been sentenced to only 5½ years in prison for his “reprehensible fraud” in the words of Judge Martin Nolan, who sentenced him.
Fraud is fraud but to do it in the manner that DJ Carey carried it out by pretending he had cancer to dupe money out of friends and acquaintances is the lowest of the low.
I am receiving treatment for prostate cancer so this deception has an extra resonance for me. He took advantage of people’s good nature for his own selfish motives. – Yours, etc,
TOMMY RODDY,
Ballybane,
Co Galway.
Occupied Territories Bill
Sir, – Before the general election of late November 2024, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael changed tack and announced they backed the Occupied Territories Bill, which they had obstructed for years. Opinion polls have consistently shown impressive support for the Bill.
However, it is almost 12 months since that election and the Occupied Territories Bill is still not enacted. Moreover, there is no obvious sense of urgency around it.
In the context of developments regarding the West Bank – with Israeli parliamentarians advocating full annexation and illegal settlements expanding – this is a sanction that should have been implemented promptly.
Is the Government serious about this measure? If so, when will it happen? – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Long-term energy security
Sir, – Ireland’s focus on increasing housing supply risks overlooking an equally critical priority – long-term energy security.
In a volatile Europe, our dependence on imported fuels leaves the country acutely vulnerable. A disruption in supply would quickly expose how fragile that dependence is; new homes are of little use without reliable power to heat or light them.
To safeguard our future, we should accelerate investment in large-scale renewable generation and in additional pumped-storage hydroelectric plants, such as Turlough Hill, to store surplus wind energy. Ireland has both the natural resources and the engineering capability to achieve near energy self-sufficiency, yet progress remains slow and piecemeal.
Energy underpins every aspect of modern life. Without a secure and sustainable supply, economic growth and social stability alike are at risk. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN GIBBONS,
Leixlip,
Co Kildare.
Elections at the weekends
Sir, – I wonder if anyone, during all the hubbub of the presidential election over the past few weeks, spared a thought for the many children who missed a day of their education as their school was used as a polling station.
As a retired primary schoolteacher, I always felt my profession was diminished by the closing of my school for this reason. What other profession would allow their place of work to be shut down for use as a polling station?
Apart from missing a school day, many children in DEIS schools also missed out on breakfast and a hot lunch. Why can’t we have elections on Saturdays or Sundays, like the majority of EU member states? – Yours, etc,
EVA O’CARROLL,
Dublin 14.
Connolly’s authenticity
Sir, – The various political parties that supported Catherine Connolly’s campaign for the presidency can claim their share of the credit for its success. Sinn Féin, as the largest party, may even claim their support turned out to be the game-changer promised by their leader Mary Lou McDonald.
It has to be said, however, that the unique selling point in this election was Ms Connolly herself.
Many of the 15,000 volunteers who flocked to the Galway woman’s campaign, like myself, were not members of any political party.
We were ordinary members of the public attracted by the values the candidate stood for.
One unique aspect of the campaign was Ms Connolly’s insistence on giving parity to both Irish and English in all her election literature. This was never done by any political party or individual in the history of the State. Indeed the prominence given to Irish, and its resonance with young people, appears to have taken many commentators by surprise.
The various political parties can claim whatever credit they like but the key to this successful campaign was Ms Connolly herself. You might be able to buy support from professional media advisers but you can’t buy the support of volunteers, who were attracted to the authenticity they saw in Ms Connolly. She went from rank outsider in July to being the pident elected with the greatest number and percentage of votes in the history of the State. Comhghairdeas léi. – Yours, etc,
JOHN GLENNON,
Hollywood,
Co Wicklow.
A simple menu
Sir, – When I was a child my dad would drive our family of five, packed into a Ford car, to a hotel in Bettystown, Co Meath, for a week’s holiday.
Every evening the waiter would ask if we would like either chicken and ham (cold), salmon (cold) or a fry! Simple times, simple fare! – Yours, etc,
LAURA O’MARA,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
Secret language
Sir, – With regard to Irish being spoken in the Áras, I recently overheard two francophone kids on the bus in Brussels repeating Irish phrases from Duolingo. When asked why they were learning Irish, they replied: “We need a secret language so our teachers don’t understand us!”
If Irish is alive in the polyglot heart of Europe, why not in the heart of Dublin? – Yours, etc,
COLM CARROLL,
Bruxelles,
Belgium.
Waiting for garda
Sir, – It sounds like the despairing guard in Rearcross, Co Tipperary writing of his woe in Beckettian style could have done with the presence of a colleague to ease his loneliness (“‘This is a godforsaken place’: A despairing letter from a garda stationed in Tipperary in 1940”, An Irishman’s Diary, November 4th).
He was, in a sense, waiting for garda. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN AHERN,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15.
