Terry Prone: Words matter, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy knows their value

Genocide. By repeatedly stating it, Ukraine's president is setting out the terms of the indictments that will one day be heard in international courts of law

The term genocide was coined by lawyer Raphael Lemkin who battled to have the term included in the indictments at Nuremberg of Hermann Goering (left), Rudolf Hess, and other leading Nazis. Picture: Chris Ware/Keystone/Hulton/Getty

Someone is setting fire to things in the National Children’s Hospital. Or, rather, someone is setting fire to things in the part-built hospital. Arson has been committed several times on the site. The gardaí have been informed, the builders are on it, more surveillance cameras have been deployed, which is all grand. 

What isn’t grand is the word used in the minutes of a recent board meeting: “The Board expressed grave concern in relation to the incidents, deeming them as unacceptable”.