Letters to the Editor: Number of people forcibly displaced is at a record 82.4m

World Refugee Day on Sunday is a chance for us to reflect that need a lot more love, not war

UNHCR estimates that between 30m and 34m of refugees who are displaced are children and 86% are hosted in developing countries.

As we mark World Refugee Day on Sunday, it is staggering to contemplate that the number of vulnerable people forcibly displaced globally now stands at almost 82.4m, the highest figure on record.

The statistics are truly heart-rending. UNHCR estimates that between 30m and 34m of those displaced are children and 86% are hosted in developing countries. Furthermore, only 120,000 displaced people were returned to their homes or resettled in 2020.

When a person’s homeland becomes a desert or a battlefield, they have no choice but to move. Sadly, the combined impact of the ‘Three Cs’ — conflict, Covid-19, and climate change — contributed to the increased numbers of those forced to flee their homes last year.

Turkey has the largest number of refugees, currently hosting 3.7m people who fled Syria during the 10 years of brutal conflict. Most had decent lives which have been changed beyond belief. They have lost homes, jobs, and some have lost loved ones.

Former president of Ireland and Chair of The Elders, Mary Robinson, summed it up well this week at the launch of a moving new EU Humanitarian Aid-funded Goal documentary on the lives of Syrian refugees in Turkey when she said: “These are just ordinary people like us. Forced out due to circumstances beyond their control to face terrible barriers, and to have to create new lives for themselves.”

I hope that the months ahead can see the tentative Syria ceasefire currently in place expanded into a more lasting and ambitious political settlement. But it is extremely fragile and complex.

Ireland has an important role on the UN Security Council. As a co-penholder with Norway on the Syria humanitarian file, Ireland can be that much-needed voice for multilateralism and humanitarian protection and must use its influence to ensure that everything is done to achieve lasting peace, as well as the rapid and effective delivery of essential aid.

The reality is that Goal, and the wider humanitarian community and host government countries, cannot meet the needs of the scale of the global displacement of people. It behoves us all to press our leaders to strive for a better outcome for those uprooted from their homes. And now is not the time for governments to cut back on vital humanitarian aid budgets.

Sadly, Goal is seeing increasing demand for support for the displaced and refugees. In addition to Goal’s humanitarian response programmes across the globe, we expanded our work last year to respond to the growing Venezuelan refugee crisis in Colombia. In addition, with generous support from Irish Aid, we are providing shelter and relief to thousands of newly displaced families in Tigray in Northern Ethiopia.

The theme of World Refugee Day this year is ‘Together we Heal, Learn and Shine’. It is only by the international community, governments, the private sector, and humanitarian organisations working together in partnership that we will create a more inclusive future for all.

What is needed in our world is a lot more love, not war or indifference. World Refugee Day is our moment to remind the millions of displaced people that they are not alone, and that we stand with them.

Siobhán Walsh

CEO Goal

Dun Laoghaire

Co Dublin

Rural communities ruined by regulations

It makes my blood boil when I read of faceless people making laws without any consideration or consequences for their actions — Elaine Loughlin: One-off housing bans are stopping families from building communities (Irish Examiner, online, June 15).

The decline of rural Ireland cannot be allowed to continue.

Recently our son was denied planning on two sites. The first was because it was located near a ringfort, this cost him and his partner a considerable sum of money.

The second site he applied for is on a laneway which is located half a kilometre from the town of Askeaton. This time it was the NRA that said no, because there is too much traffic on the N69 — this despite the fact that a new motorway from Limerick to Foynes will take 75% of the traffic off this road.

As you can imagine, as parents we are becoming increasingly concerned that the search for a home is having a very negative impact on our son’s health.

Joe Carrig

Askeaton

Co Limerick

Poots: It was all just a matter of time

Edwin Poots lasted less than 40 days and 40 nights as DUP leader.

It’s no wonder he believes that the earth is only 6,000 years old.

Joe Dunne

Shanakiel

Cork

Garda Powers Bill will compromise privacy

I am appalled by proposed new powers for the gardaí. At the very least, these powers should not be exercisable without the defendant having access to legal support.

It is understandable that we need to get a grip on serious criminals but proposed new powers inevitably apply to members of the general public too. We are rapidly turning into a police state where dissent is not permitted and a right to privacy does not exist.

Under section 12 of mental health legislation, gardaí already have the right to forcibly detain and incarcerate people suspected of suffering from mental illness. The process includes refusing such persons access to legal representation or any opportunity to defend their right to liberty or the right to be presumed sane. It is a short step from being suspected of mental illness/ insanity to having one’s refusal to give gardaí access to passwords and pin numbers (due to inability to
remember) designated a “mental illness” — i.e., dementia.

As persons suspected of mental illness can be detained without the right to access a solicitor, we already have adequate legislation to deprive anybody who refuses to
co-operate with gardaí. Refusing to share passwords — which ordinary people are advised to keep private — leaves the rest of us totally vulnerable to having our families’ and friends’ privacy also compromised if we willingly cough up passwords to personal communication devices when demanded to do so by gardaí who need no warrant to make such demands.

Mary Power BA (Ord) Law

Kilmacthomas

Co Waterford

GAA must end Dublin dominance in football

The football structure in the GAA is unfair. The dominance of Dublin and the likely continuous and worsening imbalance into the future and the certain detriment to the GAA has to be addressed.

Dublin has one quarter to a third of the population of the Republic. It has about 10 times the population of the greater populated counties and 30 times that off the small counties. Dublin has an even greater percentage of the playing-age population. That means it has 10 to 30 times the chances of
picking a good team than its challengers, let alone their ability to raise revenue. The other counties, especially in Leinster, are only fodder/laughing matter for same. Youths will turn away in droves from the GAA.

Eamon Ó Roileachain

The Curragh

Kildare

Irish words ignored in favour of ‘béarlachas’

One of the pleasures in learning a language is the sense of elation when we discover new words and succeed in forming them into sentences.

Seeing the French or German equivalent of a simple English sentence is exciting. It is the same with Irish — or is it?

People are surprised and even disappointed at the number of ‘Englishisms’ to be found in ‘modern’ Irish. Some commentators have remarked that the language of today bears little resemblance to the language of yesterday, that what passes for Irish today would have raised eyebrows decades ago.

This is certainly true and it is due to the amount of ‘béarlachas’ to be found in Irish. ‘Béarlachas’, put simply, it is the unnecessary use of English words and expressions in Irish speech where Irish words and expressions already exist. Hitherto accepted Irish words are routinely being ignored in favour of these less convincing ‘béarlachas’.

The obvious question to ask then is, why is this happening? Or who has allowed this to happen? It is happening, we are told, to make Irish ‘easier to learn’ and to ‘modernise it’ — rubbish.

When speaking Irish, there is always the temptation to use an English word when we cannot think of the Irish one. Nothing wrong here, (after having found out what the Irish word is). But the problem is that, as always happens, the English word then gains acceptance, and is seen as a genuine Irish word, which it is not, eg, ‘fliú’ for ‘flu’ instead of ‘ulpóg’.

Another problem is that because of its syntax — the way sentences are constructed, more words are sometimes needed in Irish than in English to say something, which is not conducive ‘to making Irish easier to learn’. In addition, the practice of adding ‘…áil’ onto the end of an English verb in order to create an Irish verbal noun is widespread, eg, ‘ag seiceáil’ for ‘checking’ instead of ‘ag dearbháil’. . It is time to protect the integrity of the Irish language. Sadly, to date, there is no sign of this happening.

Ben MacLochlainn

Beaumont

Dublin 9

Illegal dumping

When will politicians realise that to tackle illegal dumping we must have a national proactive waste management strategy. Where local authorities resume the collection of waste domestically and industrially, to provide an essential service similar to the statutory function performed by these same local authorities for generations, but was discontinued due to the lack of funding for local authorities.

The solution rests with a concept I have advocated for over twenty years and a pillar on which the national proactive waste management strategy would be built. Where taxation on all waste is focused at the point of creation, in contrast to the present situation where taxation on waste is not contemplated until it is at the point of disposal In conclusion a proactive approach will give society the opportunity to have a serious environmental impact into the quality and quantity of waste we create, while making provision for a adequate source of funding to enable local authorities to return to their traditional role of waste collection in a environmental friendly fashion.

Tadhg O’Donovan

Fermoy

Co Cork