Letters to the Editor: Faith can drive our quest for peace in 2026
Ronan Scully reminds us that legendary US broadcaster Fred Rogers urged people to 'look for the helpers'. Fred Rogers was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 2019 film, 'A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood'. File picture
As we enter 2026, it is difficult to ignore how heavy the world feels. War, displacement, division, homelessness, and loneliness fill our headlines and shape daily life. Fear and fatigue have become familiar, and the temptation to disengage is real. But a new year asks something of us, not just as individuals, but as citizens and as people of faith.
Ireland’s wellbeing has never rested solely on policy documents or political institutions, important as they are. It has rested on civic responsibility and community action: People who volunteer, who vote, who speak up locally, who refuse to accept homelessness, exclusion, or racism as inevitable.
Democracy and peace do not sustain themselves; they depend on participation. When times feel frightening, it is easy to harden our hearts or look away. Yet fear has never repaired a society. People have. In the Christian tradition there is a challenging line: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
It is not a sentimental idea.
It demands action, practical, sustained, and sometimes uncomfortable. Fear has never repaired a society. People have.
Fred Rogers famously urged us to “look for the helpers”. The more challenging truth is that we are called to be among them, in our neighbourhoods, schools, parishes, workplaces, and local councils.
This means more than goodwill. It means engaging with housing and social policy, supporting community organisations, welcoming refugees and migrants, and holding decision-makers accountable with both persistence and decency. It means resisting outrage while refusing indifference. Civic life is built not by grand gestures, but by sustained — often unrecognised — commitment.
For many, faith remains a source of strength for this work — not as an escape from the world’s wounds, but as a reminder of human dignity and shared responsibility. Prayer and reflection, at their best, send us back into the public square with greater compassion, patience, and resolve.
We enter 2026 carrying grief and uncertainty, but also choice and hope. Perhaps this year does not call for dramatic resolutions, but for quiet courage, to keep caring when it is inconvenient, to keep participating when we are tired, to keep building peace locally while the world feels unstable. We may not change the whole world. But we can change the places we live in. And that is where real repair begins.
With God’s help, le cúnamh Dé, may this be a year of renewed civic engagement over apathy, community action and compassion over fear, and the ease of withdrawal.
With the recent release of the State papers, there are two pages from 1994 that might still be of some significance to historians. In the Dáil debate of November 15 that year, then taoiseach Albert Reynolds was making a statement to the Dáil on the appointment of the president of the High Court.
At the time, there was some controversy around the Fr Brendan Smyth paedophile case and vague rumblings about there possibly being another case. This was the Fr John Duggan case.
The then new attorney general, Eoghan Fitzsimons said some time later that he was under the impression up to midday on November 15 that the Dáil would be informed of the Duggan case and he felt that the Dáil was misled by its non-disclosure.
During the discussion on November 15, the taoiseach was to make a statement to the Dáil on the then recent appointment of the president of the High Court, Harry Whelehan, who as attorney general claimed that the delay in extraditing Smyth was due to it being the first case of its kind, although he was previously personally involved in processing the Duggan case. Significantly, the opposition on the day in the Dáil made no reference to there being a second case.
Interestingly enough, the whole proceedings were covered live on television that day and, during the taoiseach’s statement to the Dáil, a very unusual thing happened: He was audibly asked NOT to read out the last two pages of his speech. Simultaneously, the government chief whip, Noel Dempsey, sitting behind the taoiseach, was furiously writing the amended end portion of the speech on a yellow sheet of paper. He handed it to Bertie Ahern, who handed it to the taoiseach.
The yellow sheet handover was spotted by Dessie O’Malley on the opposition benches, who then quipped: “We have the yellow pages now, we have given up the main directory.”
The question historians might now ask is: If it was not a reference to the Duggan case that was so important to excise from the taoiseach’s statement in those two pages, then what was it? There might still be a paper or electronic trail to follow up on these two pages sometime in the future.
At the beginning of 2025, I underwent (successful) surgery at a clinic in Munster. At discharge, I was given a prescription for 15 opioid tablets with no instructions whatsoever on how the medication should be used or in what circumstances. I decided that it was safer not to take them.
Over the ensuing days, when a post-surgical complication arose, I was advised at one point over the phone by a mid-ranking member of the administrative staff to take an opioid tablet before driving 20km to the hospital.
I am not identifying this institution, because most of the medical and managerial staff I dealt with there were excellent. But these are notoriously addictive medicines where dependence can develop extraordinarily quickly.
The opioid dependence crisis is a gigantic and destructive phenomenon across the US and in other countries. It is often forgotten that much of it originated in hospitals, clinics, and doctor’s surgeries with loose, directionless, and inadequately supervised prescriptions.
The Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau’s data from an ongoing research project reveals that women aged between 40 and 60 are the main victims of drug-related intimidation.
It’s good to learn that An Garda Síochána has said that tackling such intimidation is now a priority for the force.
I found the scale of drug gangs operating in this jurisdiction discombobulating; gardaí have identified that there are in the region of 169 identified organised crime groups, as per the definitions of organised crime in our national legislation, operating across this jurisdiction.
About 65% of those groups are involved in drug trafficking, with this activity being their main source of income, which is quite consistent with the findings across the EU.
It is incumbent on the Government to provide gardaí with the necessary resources to put a stop to this nefarious and egregious pursuit.
Recent reporting on China’s military drills requires further clarification. In the 1982 China-US joint communiqué, the US pledged to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan.
Yet, four decades later, this commitment has been flagrantly set aside. This month’s announcement of an $11bn arms package, the largest on record, represents a definitive retreat from those promises.
Predictably, some frame China’s response to these arms sales as “evidence” of “threats”, ignoring the fact that, since its founding, China has never initiated a war. However, a preference for peace should not be mistaken for a lack of resolve. China will not sit idle while its core interests are undermined.
The Taiwan question concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. There is no room for compromise on this issue.
The one-China principle is unambiguous: There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is a part of China, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.
Rather than a simple historical claim or a diplomatic declaration, the recognition of Taiwan as an inalienable part of China represents a cornerstone of international consensus. This reality is anchored in UNGA Resolution 2758 and is a principle respected by the vast majority of nations — including Ireland. However, by prioritising domestic legislation over international obligations, Washington is hollowing out the one-China principle and the very “rules-based order” it claims to defend. The “China threat” narrative has become a pretext used to justify lucrative arms deals. It is unconvincing and a double standard to label China’s drills “threats” when other countries hold hundreds of exercises on our doorstep every year. Training near one’s own territory is a natural act of self-defence. China is simply exercising its sovereign right to protect its borders and maintain stability.
As the world’s largest trading nation, it is absurd to suggest that China seeks conflict at its own doorstep. Peaceful reunification remains our priority. Having endured the devastation of war throughout the last century, the Chinese people understand that peace is a hard-won outcome that must never be taken for granted.
While we cherish peace and value the international community’s support in safeguarding our territorial integrity, we cannot ignore the persistent external coercion and support for separatist activities. In this context, China must demonstrate its capability to defend its sovereignty.
Our military drills are not acts of provocation, they are a necessary countermeasure to the erosion of trust and a vital safeguard for the stability we have worked so hard to establish.
