Letters to the Editor: Use more local produce to protect the environment

Fresh local produce at My Goodness in the English Market, Cork. From a climate change perspective, it makes complete sense to have as short a distance as possible between the purchaser and the consumer. Picture: Denis Minihane

One action we could take to combat climate change would be to increase local production of commonly used items?

From a climate change perspective, it makes complete sense to have as short a distance as possible between the purchaser and the consumer.

To give two brief examples: while shoes were made in ten Irish towns in 1971, now, aside from dancing shoes, shoes are now not made in Ireland. All our cattle hides are exported and shoes are now imported into Ireland from 134 countries.

The last sugar factory in Ireland closed in 2006. Ireland now imports sugar from nine countries, including France and the Netherlands but also from as far away as Japan and El Salvador.

And why is the flour used to make Irish sliced pans imported from the UK, originally coming from the US and Canada?

In the light of global unrest and economic uncertainty, it is only practical to be as self-sufficient as possible, at least for the essentials. Local food production boosts local economies and in addition increases community resilience and cohesion.

Tanaiste Micheál Martin stated in the Dáil, on May 18, that we were reliant on digital architecture and networks for our economic well-being and our prosperity.

Would we not be better off, from a climate and social perspective, if we met our essential needs at a national, if not local level?

Elizabeth Cullen, Kilcullen, Co Kilkenny

Prayers for Gaza

With a heavy heart, I pen this letter to express my deep distress over the ongoing atrocities and human rights violations in Gaza, further intensified by ceaseless Israeli bombings. His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the spiritual leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association worldwide, consistently includes prayers for Palestine in each Friday sermon since the onset of this devastating conflict.

His insightful address not only delves into the aggression but also navigates through the geopolitical concerns and severe human rights violations faced by the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, the gravity of the situation is overshadowed by political motives, sidelining genuine humanitarian concern.

In a compelling call for a unified effort to end the war, his Holiness has guided our community in a global campaign to amplify voices for peace. Here in Ireland, our community has taken an active role, launching a nationwide campaign — a collective endeavor to magnify the urgent call for peace and justice.

May God shield the innocent from cruelty, and may global unity prevail to halt these heinous atrocities and human rights.

Nudrat Jahan Nudrat, Bettystown, Meath

Joy of singing in the Green with Joe

People give out about Joe Duffy but I think if Michael O’Leary is giving out about you, well then you know you have made it.

The reason Michael is giving out about Joe is because he is the only one who pulls Michael up on his years of trickery.

Joe and I never met but one autumn Sunday evening a few years back he heard me trying to empty St Stephen’s Green by singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’.

I had listened to his programme most of that week when he managed to get volunteers to come and repair the destruction caused by vandals to the statue of the fallen soldier. Joe had contacted Sabina, the lady who had organised that the statue be placed in the park for the week; it was a few days of great unity and comradeship in our society. Then Sabina announced that on the Sunday afternoon they would have a ceremony/concert for closing of the fallen soldier and if anyone was interested in playing or singing to contact Joe Duffy’s radio programme.

I had been learning the lyrics of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and had sang it once before in Doheny & Nesbitt with Pat Good and Liam Kennedy, so I called Liveline and left my contact details, and lo and behold Sabina contacted me on the Saturday and invited me to sing. Panic stations set in as I had nobody to back me and couldn’t get anyone.

So on the Sunday I walked over from Sun Bear Gelato on Dawson St to the green with no musicians — just me, myself.

It was a large set-up: Camera crews, lots of big speakers, and people arriving from all corners of the park. I eventually met Sabina, a very pleasant person, but she had no idea who I was nor did anyone there, except for one person and as she was telling that I was to be the first performer and about the rules: ie, there was to be no advertising while on stage, one of the green keepers was walking by and turned to me and said: “You won’t be selling much ice cream today.” But I totally blanked him as if he wasn’t there. So within a few minutes I was heading on to the set. At this stage, a couple of thousand people had arrived and all that was going through my head was: “How did you manage to get yourself in to this you do situation?”

There were four mics set up and the sound engineer directed me to one of them. I started singing and just focused on remembering the lyrics, however after about four verses the mic went down so I looked back at the sound engineer and he pointed me to a different mic.

However, by the time I got over to the mic I looked up at crowd and they had continued singing — not missing a beat. I watched the expressions on their faces and it was a moment that will stay with me forever; their expressions were blending into the lyrics of the song, the power of a song.

I then took my eyes away and focused on finishing the song. I could say I eventually finished the song but that would be a lie as we — the crowd and I — eventually finished the song, I then said thank you and walked away into the sunset. Joe and Sabina created that day and the happiness and pride you gave to those people was wonderful. 

David Hennessy, Dawson St, Dublin 4

Jaded Jesus story

It is wearying every Christmas to read the same nonsense claim that Jesus was a Palestinian — ‘No room at the inn’ as history repeats itself (Irish Examiner, December 9).

When Jesus was born, Bethlehem was in Roman-occupied Judea. The Romans didn’t rename the land Syria-Palaestina until decades after Jesus’ death. There was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn because a Roman-required census meant all the rooms were already full.

Jesus was a Jew from Judea, and absolutely nobody was a Palestinian at that time.

Finally, the wars between Israel and the Palestinians have nothing to do with a ‘child saviour’ and everything to do with Palestinian rejection of the right of Jews to live in their ancestral homeland.

Teresa Trainor, Dublin 16

Hot topic

Perhaps Cop28 should have happened at the height of the summer months, preferably somewhere where wildfires took place. A glimpse of the world on fire might focus the minds to the degree that reducing the rise in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees might actually be attainable.

Doreen O’Mahony, Ballydehob, Co Cork

A lack of nobility

Once again, the British government is engaged in undermining the republican, egalitarian, and separatist ethos of the sovereign Irish State. It’s been reported that the UK did not seek permission from the Irish Government to award honours to Irish citizens on five occasions in the last 30 years. The conferring of titles of nobility is not compatible with the ideals of democracy as have been developed in Ireland since independence. This intervention into our republican system by the British monarch to elevate chosen Irish citizens and to place them symbolically above their fellow Irish is an unwelcome intrusion into our system of government.

Instead of elevating chosen Irish citizens the British government might elevate its obligation to law and order and provide the Irish Government with the files and documents they withhold and which may assist in bringing to justice those responsible for the killings of 33 Irish citizens in Dublin and Monaghan in 1974?

Could I suggest those Irish royal awards recipients like Bono and Bob Geldof consider returning their imperial awards to King Charles. For years now Bono and Bob have lectured the Irish Government and the people of Ireland on our collective responsibilities to the oppressed peoples worldwide. In 2017 Bob Geldof handed back the scroll recording his Freedom of the City of Dublin to city council officials in protest of the fact that the honour is also held by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. By returning their honorary knighthoods protesting Britain’s refusal to comply with Irish Government requests on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, both men would be making a powerful statement, the social and political significance of which could be enormous.

Tom Cooper, Templeogue, Dublin 6W

Liberating ‘woman’

Gearóid Duffy bemoans the upcoming referenda and complains that “the National Women’s Council of Ireland could not define what a ‘woman’ is” — ‘Ironic Women’s Day’ (Irish Examiner, Letters, December 11).

Mr Duffy misses the point. The referenda are about about removing sexist and outdated provisions from our Constitution. This is not about defining women. It is the exact opposite. It is about women in this 21st century refusing to be defined, or confined.

Bernie Linnane, Leitrim local area representative, Sligo-Leitrim Labour Party, Dromahair, Co Leitrim

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