Letters to the Editor: Readers have their say on proposed renaming of Páirc Uí Chaoimh
Cork GAA's discussions with sponsor SuperValu, which could result in Páirc Uí Chaoimh being renamed, has provoked much comment. Picture: Larry Cummins
Renaming Páirc Uí Chaoimh to reflect SuperValu’s investment makes commercial good sense. Retaining the Uí Chaoimh name makes respectful and cultural good sense.
Combining these elements will make for a very clumsy and awkward stadium name, if the names are simply bolted together. May I suggest the following: “Uí Chaoimh’s SuperValu Páirc/Park”.
This recognises Pádraig Ó Caoimh’s ownership-like association with the Páirc/Park while also acknowledging SuperValu’s contribution.
Páirc Uí Chaoimh was not the traditional name of the stadium at this location. That name was given to the stadium opened in 1974, now demolished. It should not be referred to as the initial name. What about “SuperValu Cork Athletic Grounds”?
With regard to renaming Páirc Uí Chaoimh as SuperValu Park, it would be an interesting precedent.
What next? Perhaps the GAA Cork County Board might consider renaming itself for corporate sponsorship. It could become, say, Dunnes Stores County Board or Fyffe’s Bananas County Board or some such. Unfortunately, the takeover of sport by corporate interests is a real and present danger. It should not be allowed.
I actually thought this was a joke when I heard about it first.
We will be the laughing stock of the country. Absolutely 100% disgrace to change the name to that. Embarrassing to be honest.
Another blow being struck against the national language? Numbers studying Irish are plummeting, and Páirc Uí Chaoimh about to lose its beloved title, for commercial reasons! Tá brón mór orm!
What is next? Hill 16 becoming “Árdán Aldi”?
The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is, by any standard, a truly remarkable flux of creativity, innovation, and dedicated diligence by all involved therein.
For me, though, it’s such a pity that it is so heavily skewed towards an entrepreneurial zone of aspiration, with so many (not all) of the wonderfully construed ideas and insights orientated towards how they might transmogrify to a business/profiteering reality.
Given the scourge of so many social ills abounding, with the risks and dilemmas facing young people — disaffection, self-harm, drug abuse, social media pitfalls — one might lament the sparse attention paid to identifying the underlying contributing factors to these ills, along with discovering practicalities to address them.
What are the threatening realities, both local and global, which confront young people in the modern era that would prompt such anxiety manifestations? They need urgent examination and response.
Wouldn’t these factors be most worthy of copious research, evolving concrete recommendations to tackle them, so as to spawn templates of salient and sane coping modi operandi — not only towards coping, but thriving without the tsunami of constant intense entrepreneurial competitive jousting?
Perhaps the event should be re-named BT Young Social Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Dividends would be supreme.
Your editorial ('We should support South Africa' — Irish Examiner, January 12) makes for very sad reading indeed on a number of fronts. For instance: “Surely only the most blinkered supporter of Israel could make a case that killing over 23,000 people (including 10,000 children) constitutes self-defence” and “a full examination of whether what is happening in Gaza is genocide is certainly needed, and the ICJ [International Court of Justice] hearing gives us that examination”.
On the same page, in the letters column, Edward Horgan writes: “Arguably, the presence in the region (Lebanon and the Middle East) of these UN missions has enabled Israel in particular to avoid peaceful resolution of its conflicts with the Palestinian people and with neighbouring Arab states.”
Taking a somewhat different perspective, I believe the immense suffering in Gaza/Palestine/Israel described in the editorial would not be happening if Russia’s offer of a Jewish autonomous homeland 90 years ago had been taken up.
For instance, in 1934 an autonomous Jewish Oblast (or homeland) was established in Russia’s far east. The Jewish Oblast was the first Jewish homeland of the 20th century and, though sparsely populated, it is larger than the state of Israel.
I understand there is still a window of opportunity for Jewish people wishing to live in a safe, beautiful, and peaceful Jewish environment to avail of Russia’s generous offer.
I am writing to address Jennifer Horgan’s recent article criticising one of Ireland’s newest Catholic schools. Horgan’s perspective appears to advocate for imposing secular non-Catholic values on an independent Catholic institution.
She seems surprised that the school prioritises Church teachings on faith and morals over promoting secular ideologies.
This situation highlights a contradiction in our cultural discourse. On one hand, there is an argument favouring minimal Church influence in shaping the ethos of secular funded schools. However, in the case of a non-state funded Catholic school, Horgan insists on adherence to secular moral values.
The question arises: Will Horgan apply the same expectation to all institutions, including Muslim schools or schools of other denominations, to conform to a secular ethos even if it directly contradicts their own? Is not a pluralist society one which provides for the freedom of speech, religion, and thought of its people? Where also is the respect for the parents’ right to choose the best place to education their own children?
The tone of Horgan’s discourse carries a concerning anti-religious bias. This prompts a broader discussion on how serious we are at being a true pluralist and diverse society, willing to provide a place for all people to seek the truth.
Wonderful and inspiring to watch in the past two nights young and not so young priests, religious and lay people of God, bearing witness before TV audiences to the radical nature of celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church and its relevance for today. (RTÉ 1, January 15/16 )
Choosing the way of the Cross is difficult to “advertise” when seeking vocations: “The Cross… is the expression of the radical nature of the love that gives itself completely, of the process in which one is what one does and does what one is; it is the expression of a life that is completely being for others.” (cf. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity, p.282)
To avoid extinction let’s have more radical lovers on the island.
