Letters to the Editor: BusConnects won’t fix services in Glanmire
'Ghost buses, delays, and guaranteed immersion in the gridlock are the daily tooth-grinding, gut-wrenching reality for peak-time commuters.' Stock picture: Denis Minihane
It is only when the BusConnects’ tentacles draw closer to the greater Glanmire area that the reality of this cart before the horse project is forging ahead regardless of any common sense or practicality.
Some hope of an improved service at the end of it all would be a bonus, but I for one can’t see that as the end game.
Millions continue to be spent by BusConnects on infrastructure (the cart), while failed scheduled bus services (the horse) have had little or no attention.
Ask any regular commuter on the 214, 31, and soon to be extended 208 service in Glanmire /Knockraha if it was working, and chances are you’ll be guaranteed that 100% of them will agree that it most certainly is not.
Ghost buses, delays, and guaranteed immersion in the gridlock are the daily tooth-grinding, gut-wrenching reality for peak-time commuters.
No amount of fancy bus stops and unnecessary pull-in zones is going to fix the failed services that currently exist all around the county. The only way to encourage new passengers is to construct bus corridors at every opportunity, and bring into law strict bus/taxi priority over private transport.
Hats off to local TDs Thomas Gould, Ken O’Flynn, along with local councillors Oliver Moran and John Maher, who keep our broken and embarrassing public transportation on the agenda in Dáil Éireann and City Hall. Unfortunately, those in Government who can really stand up and make a difference prefer the ostrich impression approach.
If the powers that be want to get commuters out of their cars and onto public transportation, then they need to start listening to the users. They need to start thinking outside the box, and lose the attitude of “sure aren’t they lucky they have a bus service at all?” It’s time for BusConnects et al to put the horse before the cart and stop trying to hammer that round peg into the square hole.
The two government parties and Sinn Féin, as expected, voted down Ruth Coppinger’s anti-foxhunting bill.
Sadly, foxes will have to continue being cute and evasive as those who govern us clearly do not have the animals’ best interests at heart!
The term whip, as used in a political context, derives from hunting parlance. The whippers-in are the fellows who seek to control the hounds and keep them from straying.
But what a pathetic spectacle in the Dáil on Wednesday night ... to see grown men and women being whipped into line like errant hounds and voting to allow foxes to be chased across the length and breadth of our fair land.
The bill’s political opponents spoke of the need to prevent foxes from preying on hens, ducks, and sheep ... but using a pack of dogs and dozens of riders, and maybe a hundred or more hunt followers to pursue one fox is a ludicrously inept way to “keep down the fox population”.
A bit like sending 20 gardaí with riot shields and batons, several squad cars, and a garda helicopter after a man suspected of illegal parking.
Apart from that, those who need an excuse to chase the fox for fun grossly overplay its role in predation.
Farm livestock nowadays is so well-protected that it would take an exceptionally cute fox to make off with a hen, duck, or sheep.
Sinn Féin’s stance on the issue was both disappointing and incongruous. The party used to be opposed to foxhunting. As far back as 1919, it organised countrywide protests against the practice.
Now, the former rebels have substituted the once-loathed red hunting jacket for the proverbial green jersey. The party has gone from tiocfaidh ár lá to tally-ho go leór.
The rejection of the anti-foxhunting bill will have devastated people nationwide who care deeply about animal welfare and our wildlife heritage.
But I’d encourage them not to lose heart. The campaign against otter hunting kicked off in 1966. It was banned 24 years later by the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition (Charlie Haughey was taoiseach at the time). Success in any campaign doesn’t come overnight.
Ruth Coppinger’s bill was the first Dáil challenge to the legality of foxhunting. It took 11 similar bills over many decades before Britain banned the same blood sport in 2004.
When foxhunting finally passes into the history books, Ms Coppinger’s valiant attempt to afford a measure of protection to this iconic creature will be recorded as a milestone along the path to a more humane and animal-friendly nation.
On December 16, the Council of Europe announced the establishment of an International Claims Commission for reparations for Ukraine to hold Russia accountable for war damage.
All wars of aggression are outlawed by the UN Charter and by international and humanitarian laws. All efforts to hold countries and their leaders to account for wars of aggression and crimes against humanity must be welcomed, and they are long overdue.
History demonstrates that accountability and reparations are only imposed on some of the defeated countries — never on the victors. Powerful states, especially UN Security Council permanent members, can use their veto to avoid accountability for themselves and their allies, even when they are on the losing side.
Some examples include the French and US Indochina wars, Soviet Afghan wars in the 1980s, US Afghan war 2001 to 2021. Israel has been granted immunity and impunity for the genocide in Palestine.
The Irish Government has already signed up to this reparations commission despite being complicit in US-led, unjustified wars by allowing the US military to use Shannon Airport. This complicity makes Ireland liable for a proportion of reparations payable due to these wars. Our Government has also supported the proposal to use Russian national financial reserves held in Belgian banks as reparations for Ukraine, regardless of the damage that this will do to the existing global financial system and to Ireland’s reputation.
The peoples of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and others especially Palestine, deserve reparations, accountability, and justice. In this age of nuclear weapons and environmental destruction such wars are suicidal madness. Venezuela may be next.
Children are dying daily in Gaza from hypothermia, starvation, diseases, and continuing Israeli bombing.
“Don’t they know it’s Christmas, over there?”
At a time when public safety — especially the safety of children — is rightly receiving attention and careful planning, we should not overlook other continuous threats still unresolved — particularly at this time of year.
It has been reported that alcohol contributes to the deaths of four people every day, and there is little reason to doubt such a stark figure. It is also linked to roughly 80% of public order offences, and plays a role in around 70% of domestic violence incidents. Yet, despite these well-known harms, we still allow alcohol to be glamourised to an extraordinary extent in advertising, while the extensive negative consequences are barely acknowledged.
A rushed, mumbled verbal warning or a tiny, barely visible, lecturing message in small print is no longer acceptable.
We must remember the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of men, women, and children across the country who quietly dread the festive season because of a loved one’s drinking. Alcohol’s role as a gateway to widely available other illicit substances is another serious concern, and one that has reached crisis levels.
Current public awareness efforts are, at best, limited and, at worst, naïve. Activities that cause far fewer deaths and have minimal impact on crime statistics are subject to far stronger public messaging. Why, then, do we remain so silent about alcohol’s devastating effects?
It surely falls to both the minister for health and the minister for justice to act urgently and address this glaring gap in our public health approach.
Clear, accurate communication about alcohol’s harms is routinely neglected, even though effective education and intervention could fundamentally reshape the situation.
A meaningful first step would be to give honest, graphic health messages equal prominence in all forms of advertising, rather than solely permitting continual glorification with upbeat insinuations. Our collective denial and failure to include details of alcohol’s trail of destruction in all ads is far too serious to ignore any longer. Half measures in dealing with such a powerfully potent, addictive product and hoping for the best are dangerously idealistic.
On December 6, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly designated December 21 as World Meditation Day — a landmark recognition of meditation’s profound impact on global wellbeing.
This Sunday, December 21, you are invited to join two meditation sessions at 8am and at 5pm local time. As the Earth turns, our shared practice will sweep across the globe. The final meditation will conclude in the farthest Western time zones at 5pm, creating approximately 33 hours of continuous global meditation as each time zone joins the wave of peace.
It is suggested that people meditate for at least 20 minutes in whichever form you practise — mindfulness, prayer, contemplation, transcendental meditation, or any silent inward practice. You can do so alone, gather with a local group, or join online.
This is a chance to connect with a worldwide community committed to peace and wellbeing, proving that individual practice can create collective transformation.
