Letters to the Editor: A Camino guide and an inspirational soul

One reader pays tribute to the late John Brierley while others address issues including the provision of carers, the cost-of-living crisis, and RTÉ's exposé of abuses in the dairy industry

John Brierley 'had overcome his own struggle and understood how hard theirs was as they made their way on the road to Santiago'. iStock

A very interesting and inspiring Irishman died recently.

John Brierley, a self-effacing man who never courted publicity and rarely gave interviews, who to most of the public was unknown, but to those who love outdoor life, hiking, hillwalking, and especially walking the Camino, he was a hero, inspirational, and well-loved.

He was a former chartered surveyor who set up a successful business in Dublin. In midlife, he found that his business was dominating his life, he was irritable and working long hours with little time for family life and had reached an existential crisis.

He knew if he didn’t change course, he would have a mental breakdown. He decided to take a year’s sabbatical from his work and with a campervan, his wife, and two children headed off to travel the world and find himself as the saying goes.

When in France he came across the small town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de Port, snuggled up into the foothills of the Pyrenees, a place that would change the course of his life. He noticed people with backpacks with scallop shells hanging from them and hiking sticks at the ready, busying themselves for a day’s hike. He asked what was going on and was told this was the beginning of the Camino Francés, a gruelling 900km pilgrim walk to Santiago de Compostela in western Spain.

There was a feeling about the place that caught his imagination and knew that one day he would walk it. Two years later he did, and it transformed his life in so many ways and at the end of the journey he knew which path in life to take. On arriving home, he gave up his secure, pensionable, and well-paid job, then moved to Findhorn, a spiritual retreat in Scotland where later his family joined him. They lived there in a caravan for seven years. His wife agreed with his life-changing decision, she had her husband back and their children had a less stressed-out father, and they were never happier.

When walking the Camino, he noticed there was no comprehensive map covering the whole journey, so using his expertise as a surveyor he compiled his first of many Camino guides complete with detailed maps, accommodation listings, and the history of the villages, towns, cities, and places of interest along the way with miscellaneous hints and suggestions to help make the journey more bearable.

Since then, his guides cover all Camino routes and have been translated into most languages. He is the author of more than 60 books on or about the Camino. To keep them up to date he walked all the routes on a regular basis and did his last one earlier this year when he had taken ill and returned home where he finally succumbed to the three kinds of cancer he had been battling with for some years.

John was one of those rare individuals who could inspire people to do things they thought not capable of doing such as carrying your home on your back and walking 900km over three mountain ranges and across a hot and arid landscape or to believe in themselves when they felt the world was against them. Most hikers are not seasoned ones but those of little experience and John’s guides are a lifeline to those novice hikers. 

John was like the father of the Camino family. All who walk the Camino become part of that worldwide family.

People walk the Camino for umpteen different reasons, some are out for adventure, some to test their endurance or their capacity to stretch themselves to the limit, or to simply have fun and meet people from all over the world. However, many are carrying heavy burdens, have suffered unbearable sorrow and loss in their lives, some with broken hearts, and others with terminal illnesses. 

The reason why John was so special is that he had empathy with those suffering a personal crisis, who were struggling with life. He had overcome his own struggle and understood how hard theirs was as they made their way on the road to Santiago.

His mantra in life was simple: have an open mind, an open heart, and be kind.

May his good soul rest in peace.

Jim Yates, Old Bawn, Dublin 24

Carers in crisis

In response to the story of Lynsey O’Donovan and her son Jack [‘We need support not praise, says frustrated mother and carer’, Irish Examiner, online, July 9]: 

My son Billy was born perfect. At the age of two, just up and walking, he got transverse myelitis, which is very rare. 

It left him paralysed from the chin down. He is nine now and as his parents we are living in hell, having to fight for every single thing since. Not one person outside of our four walls knows what we suffer every day.

All we want is the best care and the support to help our kids thrive in ways they deserve. Ireland is so behind in occupational therapy, physio, equipment, etc. We have to pay privately for many services. I receive a carer’s allowance, I am lucky to have enough to be able to feed us but it’s not good enough. It’s mentally exhausting.

Eileen Goulding, Birr, Co Offaly

Competition laws must be enforced

With regard to the recent article which placed Ireland as the most expensive country in Europe to live — ‘Ireland most costly in EU for goods’ (Irish Examiner, June 22) — I am very surprised that nobody is questioning the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) about their role in the ongoing cost of living crisis, following their recent “survey” on the financial wellbeing in Ireland report — ‘One in three ‘just getting by’ financially’ (Irish Examiner, July 6). 

Quite frankly this government ‘competition’ agency is not doing its job. One only has to look at the grocery trade, the banks, transport, medicines, insurance, energy, and the total lack of real price competition between the main players there.

It is hard to believe the Government or this agency are not looking at these market failures throughout our economy, and trying to ensure more competition, getting rid of restrictive practices and ensuring better value for the Irish consumer. The competition laws are strong and they need to be enforced.

Ted O’Sullivan, Ballincollig, Cork

Dairy’s dirty secrets revealed by RTÉ

I would like to commend a beleaguered RTÉ on producing top drawer investigative journalism after its airing of the stomach-churning RTÉ Investigates: Dairy’s Dirty Secret on Monday night.

Many viewers will have been shocked by what they saw, but to some of us, it was only to be expected. Indeed, I have seen worse.

In 2019, undercover video footage showed exported Irish calves as young as two weeks old being beaten, kicked, and punched.

Last year, an expert report found that journeys being endured by exported Irish calves would cause “severe hunger, suffering and very poor welfare for most calves, and will cause disease, injury and death for some” and were in breach of Irish and European law.

It has been well documented that some of the countries to where Irish animals are exported have dismal welfare standards.

Whenever humans exploit animals for profit, there is always a risk of ill treatment, and cruelty.

Live exports must be banned.

Spokespersons for the dairy industry have dismissed the cruelty revealed by the documentary as isolated incidents. This may well be the case, but attempts to portray the industry as bucolic, natural, even idyllic, belie the facts.

Dairy production involves separating calves from their mothers, causing massive distress to both. Bull calves are then treated as waste. They are either slaughtered, subjected to torturous journeys by land and sea, or both.

On top of the barbaric practice of live exports, there are broader issues which the dairy industry cannot escape.

Agriculture is by far our largest sectoral emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs). It was directly responsible for 38% of national GHG emissions in 2021, mainly methane from livestock and nitrous oxide. Dairy farming has double the carbon footprint of suckler herds, used in beef production.

Agriculture produces 90% of nitrous oxide emissions in Ireland. This has a global warming potential 265 times greater than carbon dioxide and a lifespan of 100 years. The main sources are synthetic fertilisers, animal excreta, and manure management.

Ireland’s surplus phosphorus rates are among the EU’s highest.

Half of the State’s 4,900 waterways are affected by excessive dairy production. The problem is most acute in the south and southeast, where dairy herd numbers are highest.

How is this in any way bucolic, natural, or idyllic?

The compelling ethical and environmental arguments in favour of forgoing (or at least reducing) meat and dairy consumption are there for all to see, and cannot be disappeared by the magic wand of PR.

Rob Sadlier, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16

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