Letters to the Editor: Let the light in over our rivers

'When will the ecological penny drop?'

Inniscarra Bridge near Ballincollig, Cork.'Our once proud, big southern rivers are now on their last legs, with a large proportion of their thousands of kilometres of feeder streams eutrophied drains, pouring nitrates and phosphates out onto the coasts.' Picture: Denis Minihane

Just how long is it going to take for the ecological penny to drop? Our once proud, big southern rivers are now on their last legs, with a large proportion of their thousands of kilometres of feeder streams eutrophied drains, pouring nitrates and phosphates out onto the coasts, along with vast amounts of washing up sea lettuce.

This did not start to go wrong with farmers five or 10 years ago, but literally 70 years ago, with the myxomatosis of the rabbit and the rural electrification. Before then, we had approximately 40m rabbits loose on the land, with hardly a tree able to grow. Those on the stream banks were relentlessly harvested for firing by the rural poor, who then suddenly had the electric cooker instead and the great tree growth began.

Very soon, nearly all these small streams and rivers were shaded over and the keystone aquatic plant species, the green streaming ranunuclus “crowsfoot” weed, shaded out.

If turned upside down, it would be seen to be teeming with the likes of freshwater shrimp, insect larvae, snails etc, with at the same time its fronds incorporating any passing mud or sand into its root system, leaving adjacent runs of clean “spawing” gravel.

It also of course would be grabbing any passing molecule of phosphate or nitrate and at the same time be releasing vital oxygen for our suffering fish. Its floating upper surface would be a swarming mass of hatching insects, all being preyed upon by every sort of bird.

We have got to let the light back in and this can only be done either by a mass reintroduction of the beaver or by a mega scheme of cyclical biomass harvesting of the shallow areas of less than 1m in depth, leaving of course the shading over the deeper sections, with its vital cooling effects.

Adding this biomass to that of our needing to be restored and cyclically harvested hedgerows, forest wastes and windblow, plus of course our plastic wastes for pyrolytic burning as in Finland, would give us much needed, fully despatchable power of which we are so terribly short. 

We should get the Big Tech gang to build some of these regionally, for powering their data complexes, with all the waste heat then going to mega vertical growing, all totally pesticide free and the black soldier fly, their larvae to devour our outrageous quantities of food waste, before being fed to the farmed salmon and fowl. 

So many major environmental and climatic issues sorted in one.

Nicholas Grubb, Dromana, Cappoquin

Enact the Occupied Territories Bill

Fresh atrocities in Gaza must not distract from the relentless obliteration of Palestine’s population and culture.

We see a people, like any of us when trapped in hopeless desperation who need someone to take a risk for them, without calculation. Such sparks of humanity, will not be in the pronouncements of compromised, leaders of great powers. Human fellow feeling will be the prime source.

Ending South Africa’s apartheid and achieving a bloodless transfer of power in 1994 did not dim Nelson Mandela’s recall of others, still unfree. “But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete, without the freedom of the Palestinians”, was his adage. It endured into his country’s 2023 case before the International of Justice (ICJ), regarding Israel’s conduct in Gaza. For a young democracy, with all the attendant economic and other issues, this was the required human empathy, with fear and cost disregarded.

While South Africa has done its best, Ireland has not. Our centuries of insights relevant to Gaza, include displacement and famine. They also include the comprehensive range of Irish resistance to such systemic outrages. From all this, Irish people have an understanding and profound empathy for all the innocents of Gaza. Sadly, despite clear electoral mandates, Irish governments since 2020 have not reflected this concern in practical political benefits for Palestine. Concern about retaliatory consequences may explain their evasive caution, but Daniel O’Connell’s enduring caution was that “nothing is politically right, that is morally wrong”.

The Occupied Territories Bill 2018 is the best way Ireland can enlist world humanity for Palestine. The cruel years of the bill being delayed and diluted must end this Summer. Since it was first blocked in 2020, illegal settler invasion has massively increased and threatens the viability of any potential Palestinian homeland. However, once enacted into Irish law, the bill can be offered to the world, for the participation of empathetic people of any faith or none. What a powerful contingent for equality and peace they will be.

Philip Powell, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin

Enough is enough when it comes to Gaza

Last Sunday Israel murdered six journalists, including the courageous and beloved Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, in Gaza. Despite the danger, al-Sharif — who won a Pulitzer prize for his photojournalism on Gaza — was determined to document what is being done to his people. We owe him and the 242 journalists and media workers that have been killed by Israel since October 2023 (UN Human Rights Office), a debt of gratitude for their fearless reporting.

They are also owed the solidarity of their Western peers. Why do media outlets give such prominence to the smears that Israel makes about Palestinian journalists? Why are Benjamin Netanyahu’s pronouncements never prefaced by the fact that he is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity including that of starvation? Or that he presides over a state currently under investigation by the International Court of Justice for genocide?

When Israel killed renowned Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin, West Bank, in May 2022, that state lied about her killing before having to admit that one of its soldiers shot her. No one has ever been held accountable. The impunity that Israel was granted for her murder has enabled the killing of so many more Palestinian journalists.

Impunity has brought us to this stage where a besieged population is being deliberately and systematically starved while life-saving aid is sitting mere miles away, blocked from entry. This obscenity, this genocide, is not only Israel’s, the entire international community that has failed to hold it accountable, and has armed and funded it is also complicit and culpable.

Until we see sanctions from our government, including directing the Central Bank not to renew its regulation of the sale of Israeli genocide bonds throughout the EU on September 2, enacting the Occupied Territories Bill with services included, and ending trade with Israel, then Ireland too is part of the culture of impunity enabling these crimes against humanity. Enough.

Zoë Lawlor, Chairperson, Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Lax camogie refereeing

Maurice Brosnan’s article on Tuesday, ‘Camogie final highlights the tightrope referees are now expected to walk’, seemed somewhat sympathetic to the referee in the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Final between Cork and Galway, as regards decisions the referee did or did not make in relation to the enforcement of the playing rules, with Maurice expressing the view that; “strict enforcement can come at the cost of the spectacle, lax application can be damaging for the sport”.

An aspect of the game that Maurice focussed on was the tackle, with clustering and congestion and crowds of bodies, all stretching the rulebook to its limit.

But an area where the referee was particularly lax last Sunday was in the enforcement of the ball throwing rule. For the record it is a foul for a player to throw the ball in camogie. There were in excess of 60 instances of ball throwing by the players throughout the game with not one penalised by the referee. There is no doubt that ball throwing in camogie is damaging for the sport.

Conor O’Donovan, Nenagh, Co Tipperary (All Ireland medalist 1989 & 1991)

Teams of the year the only GAA buzz left

The competitiveness of the camogie players from Galway and Cork brought the GAA inter-county season to a fitting end last Sunday. Yet, despite the GAA women (both footballers and ‘hurlers’) having had the good sense to extend their seasons into August, the GAA inter-county season is too compact and pressured for both players and supporters alike. The only excitement now left for the rest of the year will be created by county managerial merry-go-round and the selection of teams of the year.

With regard to the latter I have no doubts as to the team of the 2025 GAA season, namely the Football Review Committee ably captained by Jim Gavin. He and his team have put in the hard graft, have stuck to their game plan, with perceptive flexibility when needed, and haven’t shirked their essential responsibilities. My only concern now is, that if Jim Gavin’s team features again next year, football will be galvanised as ‘the new hurling’ of the GAA world, an anathema to a Kilkenny man.

Michael Gannon, St Thomas Square, Kilkenny

Humanitarian solidarity

As humanity grapples with conflicts and humanitarian catastrophes, this week we again see the relentless impact of climate change accelerating. The European heatwave and extreme weather events globally are exacerbating pressure on this year’s harvests while also fuelling the ongoing destruction of natural habitats, which in normal circumstances would provide some buffer. We are quickly losing the ability to feed ourselves and impacting the Earth’s ability to support human civilisation in its current form.

We need to restore international humanitarian solidarity fast and dump this recent fad of nationalism which only contaminates political discourse and foments hate. Our future depends on collective recognition that divisions will lead to our demise.

Barry Walsh, Blackrock, Cork

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