The first time Aung San Suu Kyi ever really come up on my simple uneducated mind radar was at a U2 concert in Philadelphia. Bono told us how great this lady was and that we should all support her human rights cause.
Then after been released from house arrest she travelled around the world and politicians and rock stars went out of their way to be seen and associated with her.
She then went back to Myanmar to become a token prime minister, her bosses — the military — allowed her play this part.
The price she knew she had to pay was to go along with it. The idea that the military had given up their power was a nonsense and anyone who believed they had was very naive.
I always thought that she took on the position in the hope that she would see an opportunity of taking the power away from the military.
But then came the horrible genocide of the Rohingya Muslims and when asked to denounce this atrocity she refused.
From that moment she was branded a racist and those same politicians and rock stars went out of their way to denounce her.
None of them ever gave the thought that her back was up against the wall, and if she had denounced the killings she would have been thrown back under house arrest or assassinated.
At least by staying in some kind of political position she had a better chance of creating a proper democracy.
It will be interesting to see how these politicians and rock stars react to what’s happening to Aung San Suu Kyi now.
David Hennessy
Dawson Street
Dublin 2
Send Donie to the White House
Donie O’Sullivan from Caherciveen, Co Kerry, should represent Ireland at the White House St Patrick’s Day event.
He is a great example of an Irishman abroad that made the Irish look good in the eyes of the world. And he is in Washington DC already.
If any politician goes abroad for St Patrick’s Day it would be for vanity only.
If we can’t travel because of Covid-19, why should politicians who make the rule be allowed to?
Kevin Devitte
Westport
Co Mayo
Selective concerns from McGuinness
I am in no way party political and I have nothing against John McGuinness TD; he is chair of the finance committee and as such has expressed concern about the proposed large salary increase to the secretary general in the Department of Health.
Fair enough, but why was there no word from Deputy McGuinness when the government was creating a host of junior ministers followed by a horde of special advisors all at public expense?
Brendan Casserly
Bishopstown
Cork
Cut salaries paid to RTÉ presenters
Nobody seems to be willing to cut RTÉ presenters’ high salaries down to a just and respectful level of earnings — ‘All RTÉ staff earning over €40k
a year face pay cuts of 3%-5%’ (Irish Examiner, online, February 3).
Even a decrease up to 15% would not justify those high-earning broadcasters in RTÉ. A government enquiry should be convened to rescind those earnings to a maximum €120,000 pa.
Edward Mahon
Clonskeagh
Dublin 14
Covid responses worthy of a farce
One surely has to lament and lambast the ongoing improvisatory quality of the Government’s Covid response, a tragi-comedy without the comedy. Any budding theatre critic could easily illuminate the amateurish contradictions, fallacies, oversights and overall performance ineptitude of the incumbent ‘mosaical’ coalition.
The headline act would conjure such critical sharp riposte to the downbeat and debilitating ‘theatrical’ fiasco masquerading as leadership in a crisis. What, with puerile jousts against the people who happen to know a thing or two about viral epidemiology (ie, Nphet); the reckless disregard of risk in the face of sound advice (ie, Christmas relaxation measures); the incomprehensible laissez-faire approach to quarantine management (ie, paltry border-travel controls) inter-alia ad nauseam, to say nothing of constant mischievous leaking of half-baked policy protocols and undermining commentary, the whole shebang conjures tragedy in real time.
Of course, the political classes have always loved the ‘stage’ no matter what chaos prevails — the bright lights of constant media coverage fostering electoral advantage, career enhancement and eventual pension-perks etc.
Jim Cosgrove
Lismore
Co Waterford
Impeachment of Donald Trump
The real jury for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is not the US Senate but the American people. And if the people pause for a moment, think as 12 men and women on a jury might think — about the president’s reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic, about the 400,000 Americans who had died, about his narcissism, his rage — they would surely convict, unanimously.
The American public will know how self-serving this jury of senators is if they do not look in the mirror and see that by acquitting Donald Trump their integrity will match his.
If ever 12 good men were needed it is now.
Alison Hackett
Dun Laoghaire
Co Dublin
Call for TDs to vote against CETA
We wish to raise our concern regarding the EU-Canada trade deal, CETA, and specifically the upcoming Dáil vote on the investor protection element of this deal. CETA establishes an investment protection tribunal also known as investment court system (ICS). ICS is a rebranded version of the highly contentious investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) system.
ICS provides a dispute settlement tribunal where foreign investors can take a case against a state for perceived breaches in CETA’s investment protection standards.
This mechanism would sit outside the remit of national courts and the European Court of Justice (ECJ), instead setting up new structures with the power to impose large financial penalties on governments and ultimately the taxpayers. There is nothing to stop foreign investors taking a case to the national law courts or thereafter the ECJ, as they see fit.
We believe this is anti-democratic. At this urgent juncture of multiple overlapping crises, ISDS erodes our democracies and the power held by ordinary people in favour of multinational corporations.
ISDS is a legacy of the colonial era when Western powers sought to protect their investments in the newly decolonising countries.
Many of the ISDS cases taken in recent years have been for amounts running to billions of euro. With regard to the climate crisis, it is worth noting that of the 10 largest payouts in ISDS, all but one were above €1bn. Seven of those were fossil fuel companies and two were mining companies. So, corporations operating in environmentally sensitive sectors are the ones that are using the system, and getting the largest pay-outs.
Ireland has been the recipient of foreign direct investment for many decades. However, we are not party to any international trade deals which include an ISDS element. So, the argument that we need to sign up to this mechanism is patently false. It is noteworthy too, that the Brexit trade deal did not include an ISDS element and the Canadian state remained outside the ISDS chapter in the recently concluded USA-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
It is important to state that the vote due to come before the Dáil, irrespective of how it will be phrased, is not actually dealing with trade. The trade element of CETA has been agreed by the EU and in operation since 2017. The vote is arising from the ECJ determination that the investor protection element is not within the competence of the EU, and therefore each member state is being asked to vote on this agreement with its ISDS/ICS provisions.
There was an attempt to rush this vote through the Dáil before Christmas, without debate, despite Seanad Éireann debating and voting against CETA in 2016. There is no pressure on Ireland to vote for CETA, nearly half the countries in the EU have yet to vote on CETA where its legality and overall benefit is still under consideration.
We call on our public representatives to critically examine the ISDS/ICS provisions in CETA and urge a no vote to protect the public interest.
Mark Cumming, Comhlámh; Joe Murray, AfrI; Stephen McCloskey, Centre for Global Education: Clodagh Daly, Climate Case Ireland; Dublin Friends of the Earth: Karen Ciesielski, Environmental Pillar, Extinction Rebellion Ireland; Caroline Whyte, Feasta; Max Fulham, FridaysForFuture Ireland; Oisín Coghlan, Friends of the Earth;Tony Lowes, Friends of the Irish Environment; Eoin Ó Leidhin, Gluaiseacht; Patricia King, Irish Congress of Trade Unions; Alba Martos Rosa, Latin America Solidarity Centre; Orla O’Connor, National Women’s Council; Richard Curtin, Not Here Not Anywhere; One Future Dublin South-Central; Paul McCormack Cooney, One Future Dublin South West; Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland; Frank Keoghan, People’s Movement; Brian O’Toole, Presentation Interprovincial Justice Desk; Fidelma O’Kane, Save Our Sperrins; Sadhbh O’Neill, Stop Climate Chaos coalition, Students’ Climate Action Network; Pádraic Fogarty, The Irish Wildlife Trust; Caoimhe De Barra, Trócaire; Lorna Fitzpatrick, Union of Students in Ireland; Wexford
Environmental Network
