Letters to the Editor: State-of-the-art cybersecurity culture

The HSE was using outdated and unsupported cyber security systems.

Trying to resolve the cyber dilemma with regulations and international laws is not going to waive the fact that the HSE was using outdated and unsupported systems.

It is not going to stop anyone attacking again, nor is it going to discourage them.

The very best solution is to create a state-of-the-art cybersecurity culture and knowledge in Ireland and within State bodies. This is an effective way to start and ultimately to keep pace with cyber attacks.

Ireland has the grounds and the quality to make this happen effectively by investing in its National Cyber Security Centre and ensuring Government bodies’ digital assets be kept up to date.

If our outdated systems are related to costs that the Government couldn’t afford, that’s because in the first place they are investing in the wrong products.

Government should concentrate on the adoption of free and open-source solutions. No government should be dependent on private corporations.

Stefan Uygur

Dublin

Town must not turn its back on worthwhile development

As a former mayor of Fermoy, I would like to welcome the decision after many years by Tesco to purchase a portion of the old mart site in the centre of Fermoy town.

In my capacity as mayor back in 2008, I supported what was then the proposed €100m Shipton development on the above site.

With the support of local people, we secured thousands of signatures in a petition, approving the planning application that would have led to the reinvigoration of the town centre.

Unfortunately, the local authority made the decision to knock the proposed development on the head, favouring the views of a limited number of objectors over the vast majority of people in Fermoy and the surrounding villages who supported the development as indicated in the petition.

The detrimental consequences of preventing the proposed development are, after all those years, as conspicuous today as when the local authority made its initial decision, as the site in question remains the biggest eyesore in the town.

This is apart from the inconvenience regularly experienced by service-users in Fermoy and surrounding villages who are forced to travel outside our town to secure adequate retail facilities.

I can only hope, for the sake of the community, lessons have been learned and something can be salvaged from the social and economic costs associated with the
denial of the proposed €100m Shipton development for our town.

We as a community can never again contemplate preventing any worthwhile development on what was once the mart site in Fermoy.

Tadhg O’Donovan

Fermoy

Co Cork

Landlords are not the enemy

Jim O’Sullivan (Letters, May 27) accuses the Government of treason because of its housing policies.

He also includes and accuses Irish landlords of having the Government in their pockets in order to be favourably looked upon.

Landlords are under constant scutiny, writes Rovert Sullivan.

Let me inform the public a little bit as to this issue.

Supposing an Irish businessperson, a landlord, owns possibly one, two, or more houses and they let them out. This automatically means that they exclusively pay extra taxes to the Revenue, and are effectively hamstrung in all manner of ways thereafter.

Landlords are negatively answerable to the Residential Tenancies Board, local politicians, disgruntled neighbours, and the law courts in the course of their working day.

All are free to make landlords answerable, while no other business is subjected to this constantly negative scrutiny.

Try being an Irish landlord for a year, Jim, with properties to let out, and then decide whether landlords possess this awesome power you suggest they do.

Robert Sullivan

Bantry

Co Cork

Fathers’ rights

I commend your editorial piece on May 27 highlighting what are basic human rights of fathers that receive little recognition in this world of so-called equality.

Declan Murphy

Macroom

Co Cork

Recognising the legal role of dads

The editorial piece in your edition of May 27, ‘Law needs to recognise the nurturing role of fathers’, draws attention to how men are “treated harshly by the law”, and points out the differences in guardianship entitlements enjoyed by single and married fathers.

Fathers have been denied rights, writes Rory O'Donovan.

It also highlights a guardian’s right to have a say in aspects of the child’s life such as religion, education, medical treatment, and place of domicile, along with mentioning the disadvantages to both father and child resulting from lack of paternal guardianship.

In line with the editorial, I hope some time the editor might consider mentioning the fact that, prior to birth, fathers, be they single or married, enjoy no rights over their unborn children.

In these times of gender equality, and with the three-year review of legislation resulting from repeal of the Eighth Amendment almost upon us, it might be the opportune time to highlight this imbalance, and reconsider the possibility of denied paternal rights.

Rory O’Donovan

Killeens

Cork

Food for thought in reopened bookshops

There has been an emphasis, understandably, on restaurants, cafes, pubs reopening fully again in July. In the meantime, bookshops have reopened.

It is reassuring that book reading is still a popular way of relaxing. Nielsen Bookscan Ireland reckoned 13m books were sold in Ireland in 2020, enabling Irish book publishers and bookshops to generate sales of €161.5m. 2008 was the last time similar sales happened.

Many bookshops have websites selling books online as readers like the convenience of online shopping as well as browsing in a new or second-hand bookshop.

One book I hope to get soon is That Place We Call Home: A Journey Through The Place Names Of Ireland by Cork man John Creedon, author and popular broadcaster. It is out in paperback since February this year.

He was inspired to write it after studying folklore in UCC. He came across unusual placenames such as The Cave of the Cats and Artichoke Rd etc.

One reviewer said it is written in the same genial and pleasant way as his broadcasting style and television shows, and we learn something new and interesting as he takes us on this journey of discovery around Ireland.

It is said that one of the greatest gifts to give to a child is the joy of reading. It doesn’t have to be books — it can be good quality, reliable newspapers, publications, and media which are the foundation and support scaffolding of democratic societies and continuing enlightenment on a wide range of issues and topics.

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Mary Sullivan

College Rd

Cork

Whose interests are served by Ceta?

It’s disingenuous that Leo Varadkar conflates rejection of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) with the rejection of free trade.

Mr Varadkar is well aware of the issues that many have with the investment court system (ICS) which would give even more power to international corporations such as so-called cuckoo funds, tech corporates, and the pharmaceutical industry. Who or what is our Tánaiste serving by pushing this deal?

It certainly does not seem like he has Irish citizens’ interests as his driving force, given that we can by sued for loss of profit under the ICS mechanism.

It is interesting that the North American Free Trade Agreement does not have an ICS mechanism due to the fear of governments being sued by corporates. Many of Britain’s new trade deals do not contain an ICS mechanism.

It’s simple — drop the ICS, and Ceta will not be seen as a further erosion of ordinary citizens’ rights, not to mention animal and environmental protection.

Furthermore, this is the first time that a Europe-wide trade deal has an ICS. This has never prevented free trade heretofore.

Mr Varadkar and the Irish Government are well aware of the dangers of ICS, yet are pushing this relentlessly. One must ask the question, who or what is being served?

Sinead Moore

Dublin 15