Letters to the Editor: Dystopian future a result of greed of past generations

The empty streets of Cork city during Covid-19 level 5 lockdown are adding to the isolation many people are feeling. Picture: Larry Cummins

If you would have told my younger, wide-eyed self that I’d be jobless, friendless, and unable to leave my house at the age of 25, I would have slapped you across the face with a wet fish for talking nonsense.

I am confined to a bedroom smaller than your average bathroom, in a city where I literally know nobody. No one.

I would have told you that, in the future, I’d have graduated from college with numerous accolades and achievements, and be focused in a job
that was like no other and worthy of nobody but me. 

That I’d be out there moulding the world around me, to my truths, my ideas of right and wrong. Confident, strong and hungry to make my mark on our big blue marble. 

I’d tell you of all the places I’d visit. Of all the experiences I’d have and the people I’d meet. Of the abundance of joy and the absence of hardship. The scarcity of sadness and the bounty of happiness. That’s what I would have told you.

As life continues to mock the comical contrast between could be’s and actualites, instead, I am telling you the hard truth of reality. That, forgivably, I was wrong. That family, friendship and nature are not fixed. They are not things that are, and always were. 

They are fleeting and apt to change. To be savoured in whatever form they arrive, as they fluctuate and evolve alongside the human experience on our planet. 

There are times when I will find myself in excess of all, and at times, without a trace of any.

I may have to live in a future where caring about someone means staying away from them. In a world without bees or trees. Where the only other human connection is virtual. Grey in both colour and feeling. 

A future where my bedroom is the cinema I go to on a Sunday, my local on a Friday night and every August summer holiday. Where I celebrate birthdays and Christmases. Living, breathing, and dying in isolation.

Our future may well be dystopian. It is us who are suffering from the greed of the generations that came before us. 

Global pandemics, increased natural disasters, extreme weather variations, and their huge societal impacts, are changing how we live, love and communicate. 

What was promised to previous generations, is now uncertain for us. Rites of passage and communal milestones are no longer guaranteed. 

What I have at 25 isn’t what my parents had and won’t be what my children will have. A pitstop between privilege and guilt. Desolation in a world on fire.

Yet, despite all this change, we remain unaltered. We are, and will only ever be, human. With the same caveman brain that still demands strong social bonds, physical sensation and the natural world in order to survive. Built by the world we had, unable for the world we have.

I confess that, if the future is dystopia, then I make my peace with it here and now. But I choose to remain human. 

I will continue to cherish those close to me, through whatever medium necessary. To be a buoy for those who are drowning. To celebrate the mundane moments of happiness.

 I will traverse the four corners of the globe from the four corners of my bedroom. Exploring by imagination, loving through literature and dreaming by the virtue of hope.

To never give up on a future that we can share together once again.

Dion McDaid

Lady’s Well

Ardpatrick

Cork

Objectors to plans for M20 motorway

I refer to Sean O’Riordan’s article — Objectors to M20 motorway plan have a raft of concerns about road (Irish Examiner, March 22) — about the planned Cork to Limerick motorway. 

This project is one of the longest of many overdue projects in this country over the past few decades. As the years go by traffic volumes are increasing and as a result accidents and fatalities are also on the rise. 

Given that my employment requires me to drive a considerable amount, this is by far the worst road to travel on.

What is not helpful is the constant glorification of the few residents and groups objecting to the M20 without paying due attention to the tens of thousands of daily commuters who will benefit from this infrastructure.

The fact that these articles are so opinionated would lead you to question why this is under a “reporting” section as it should belong in a columnist section given its biased content.

Over the past 10 years alone, since this project has been shelved, the number of fatalities on this section of our national routes alone shouldn’t even bring into question this road being built. 

The current road is not suitable for the large volumes using it every day.

Landowners will be well compensated as they are in all cases where new infrastructure is built. 

How about the same level of reporting is given to the hundreds of families that have been affected by fatalities as a result of the current road not being fit for purpose and encourage development of this instead of promoting the interests of a few.

Feidhlim O’Neill

Carrigaline

Co Cork

Ryan adds to Green Party divisiveness

I am delighted to see that Hazel Chu has achieved enough nominations to run as an independent candidate in the Seanad by-election. However, I am appalled that Eamon Ryan almost immediately stated he will be voting for the Fianna Fáil candidate rather than his own party chairperson.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael agreed on an election voting pact for each party to stand just one candidate to ensure each is elected. The Green Party is not part of the pact, which Green sources say allows TDs and senators to be free to vote for their party colleague” —Eamon Ryan won’t vote for party colleague Hazel Chu in Seanad by-election (Irish Examiner, online, March 23). 

Mr Ryan, as per usual, has put his foot in it. He could have said nothing, or blustered around the issue. Instead he has publicly sided with FF and FG leadership instead of using this as an opportunity to engage party membership and potentially heal some divisions.

Lord Mayor of Dublin and Green Party chairperson Hazel Chu speaking to media in St Stephens Green after securing nominations to run as an unofficial Green Party candidate for the Seanad by-election. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Mr Ryan should be more concerned with his own party and memberships rather than having blind faith in his coalition partners and the programme for government. 

Hazel Chu is a prominent, hardworking politician and popular within the party.

She is also comparatively young, a woman and from a minority background. 

This is the kind of change we need, out with the old and in with the new.

The cognitive dissonance displayed by Mr Ryan is incredible, it’s time he stood aside and let more in-touch members lead the Green Party.

Ben Ryan

Dungarvan

Waterford

We should look to Britain for vaccines

So far, quite a number of the Taoiseach’s ‘gamechangers’ take on the appearance of non starters. Vaccine ‘rollout’ is more in the line of ‘un-rollout’.

Do we have to live like this, forever lagging behind the good management of our dearest neighbour, Britain?

Waiting on the ‘good nature’ of the EU to come to our aid is seen by Brussels as Éire again with the begging bowl. We are disrespected at every turn by that failing entity.

Let us turn to Britain, where to be Irish is seen as deserving of equal consideration as their own citizens, when needs must. Westminster is our friend.

Robert Sullivan

Bantry

Co Cork

Tackle litter with real enforcement

The latest anti-litter campaign in Cork isn’t fooling anyone. Cork city is chock full of information campaigns. What is really needed to tackle littering and dog fouling is enforcement; the recently launched campaign is a waste of money and should be scrapped.

Cork Against Litter is just another ‘tick the box’ photo opportunity. We know dog fouling is litter; we know it’s dirty; we know to pick up after our dog.

But for those who don’t, why not issue a fine — only four fines have been issued in the last four years.

We need to hit them where it hurts and issue more fines, have dog wardens working on weekends, introduce more bylaws to help enforcement and provide more bins and bag dispensers, what we don’t need is another campaign telling us what we already know.

How many times do we have to launch a poster and leaflet campaign to tell people dog fouling is wrong? Picture: Denis Minihane

How many times do we have to launch a poster and leaflet campaign to tell people dog fouling is wrong? That littering is illegal? When are we going to see real enforcement? 

If the litter louts who attack our communities with their illegal dumping know that the most that can be mustered is a photo op and PR campaign then we will never tackle illegal dumping.

Cllr John Maher

Peter Horgan, local area rep

Labour Party Cork

Tax waste at source

While the Governments proposed Climate Action Bill is aspirational by nature, it can in a way compensate for the lack of political will exercised to date by government on environmental issues.

To put this in context, government continues to fail to introduce basic environmental infrastructures such as a proactive national waste management strategy where taxation is based at the point of production or importation on waste. 

Unfortunately, the reality is that taxation is not contemplated until waste is been disposed.

While ignoring the above concept, how can any government expect the electorate to treat with any level of realism their willingness to implement what is a environmental ambitious Climate Action Bill.

Tadhg O’Donovan

Rathcarrig

Fermoy