Letters to the Editor: MEP says Ireland must stop outsourcing sovereign decisions
A man checks the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on April 9. Picture: Kawnat Haju/AFP/Getty
More than 400 academics argued last week against reform of the Irish triple lock policy, but it seems their only argument against it was that we may end up in conflict with a nuclear armed state.
They forget that the Unifil mission in South Lebanon is very much in conflict with a nuclear armed state. Indeed, Israel has threatened the Irish battalion on numerous occasions.
The article poses a general defence of neutrality, whereas the taking back control of overseas deployment is, in my view, an assertion of our neutrality and our sovereignty. Reform of the triple lock means not being exposed to the whims of Russia, China, or the US.
It is claimed that neutrality protects us from possible attack, ignoring the fact that Ukraine was neutral when attacked in 2014 and again in 2022. Neutrality, as we know, did not help the Netherlands or Belgium during the First or Second World Wars.
Finally, the academics suggest that neutrality allows us to be an honest diplomatic broker internationally. However, the countries playing an active peace talks role in recent years are Turkey, Oman, Qatar, and Pakistan. If any European country has played a such role in recent decades, it is the Nato member, Norway.
I support neutrality, but let us stop outsourcing our sovereign decisions to an increasingly authoritarian dominated UN Security Council.
I donât dispute that the fuel protesters have legitimate grievances at play here, but you cannot hold a country to ransom.
We hear about petrol running out around the country. Businesses in Dublin city centre are being decimated. Many people are unable to get to work or make hospital appointments.
This has to end. We canât have the country paralysed by these blockades. The vast preponderance of citizens agree on public protests, but you cannot paralyse the country.
If I parked my car in the middle of OâConnell St, I would not get away with it.
So itâs now a question of why are we allowing this to happen?
Itâs hard to avoid coverage on the fuel protests, not just by media but everywhere in daily life including neighbourhood WhatsApp groups, colleagues, and random people on your commute.
What seems different now, compared to previous times, is the divisiveness and how any nuance on the protests, the way in which they are carried out, or the impact theyâve had on peopleâs lives is treated in black and white terms and not tolerated. Either side will condemn the other as wilfully ignorant for daring to express a diverging opinion.
One of the things I loved about Ireland moving here was the âlive and let liveâ attitude of people. I hope that is not disappearing with the clear rise of polarisation in social discourse. While it is encouraging to see people come together in support during difficult times and stand up for policy change, I hope it does not come at the cost of shutting down respectful disagreement.
The far rightâs inability to organise grassroots campaigns has led them to unilaterally join revolutionary arms with Irelandâs farming community, hauliers, and truckers, albeit in a hijacked distortion.
The fuel protesters who commuted to the city from far and wide brought the people power, vehicles, and large-scale inconvenience to Dublinâs streets, isolating the cityâs public infrastructure enough to shut down a city, have been going the inadvertent extra mile in fostering dinner-table discussions around the country as to whether they are right or wrong.
This action has shown the potential of a momentous movement, akin to the mouvement des gilets jaunes seen in France. Thereâs no denying the cultural phenomena surrounding this protestâs success.
However, we canât always have nice things. And in this case, we cannot have a simple, linear-purposed protest without conflation.
A result of the direct actionâs success, particularly in the epicentre of previous far-right protests, has shown that no matter the cohorts of the protest, the rationale of the action, if there is an opportunity to interject or rather, hijack a protest for their own ideological gain, the far right will fulfil it.
The irony of the scenes across Dublin, the once-again weaponised use of the Tricolour, conflating the legitimate protest of fuel prices with wider-governmental issues that are largely misinformed, is that the core rooted issue of the protest is that of fuel prices â prices that have been risen due to the tyrannical actions of the far rightâs saving grace, Donald Trump.
The usual far-right suspects who were seen with the genuine protesters have also been staunch supporters of Trumpâs domestic and foreign policies, which have now seen hundreds of forecourts across the island out of fuel.
The far rightâs hijack of the fuel protests symbolises yet another sequence of ironic events to their senseless political direction.
Claiming to join arms with the fuel protesters due to the Governmentâs response to the global fuel crisis, but coincidentally avoiding the fact that itâs their higher commander, Donald Trump, calling the shots.
Families in specific older Cork City Council flats on Clashduv Rd, Togher Rd, Cherry Tree Rd, Hazel Rd, Sycamore Place, and Maple Place in Togher, are living in inhumane conditions in 2026.
Rats infest kitchens and bedrooms, black mould spreads across walls, and dampness and crumbling structures make homes unbearable. While the general Togher area includes many modern and well-maintained homes, these particular 1970s complexes â built with an expected 50-year lifespan â are often no longer fit for human habitation. Residents describe waking to rat droppings, hearing constant scratching at night, and watching their children suffer from mould-related illnesses and anxiety.
On April 7, one resident was admitted to CUH with suspected Weilâs disease linked to rat urine. Despite multiple doctorsâ letters directly blaming the living conditions for serious health issues, the council has not acted with sufficient urgency. A recent Echo article described the flats as âmould and vermin-proneâ. This phrasing downplays the crisis. The accurate term is vermin-infested â rats are actively invading homes every day.
Council meetings acknowledge the problem and mention long-term regeneration, but any real solution will take months or years, with no clear timelines or funding yet committed. Meanwhile, families continue to suffer daily.
This is unacceptable. Affected tenants must be offered immediate transfers to safe, decent accommodation in the area. As their landlord, Cork City Council has a clear legal obligation under tenancy law to provide habitable homes. Failure to do so justifies tenants seeking remedies.
These residents pay their rent and contribute to the community. They deserve better. I urge Cork City Council to treat this as the public health emergency it is and rehouse the families in the worst-affected flats immediately.
I hope that reason and compassion will prevail and that Sinn Féin will give resounding thumbs-down to a practice that, apart from being intrinsically cruel, was introduced to Ireland by the very people that the party and the broader Republican movement have always excoriated as oppressors ⊠our former colonial masters.
When Ireland was in the throes of famine and mass emigration aboard the infamous coffin ships, foxhunters were out in the countywide as if nothing was amiss.
Iâm not suggesting that we should reject every pursuit that originated outside Ireland. Thereâs a place for all forms of culture and recreation ⊠but the âtraditionâ of hounding a wild dog, one that has a central nervous system like any other canine, until its lungs give out and exhaustion delivers it to the pack, is NOT harmless fun.
When voting on the two motions, I hope that the party members will remember PĂĄdraig Pearseâs evocation of our verdant Irish countrywide and its wildlife. He penned a poem that captured the horror of stag hunting and alluded in another composition to âlittle rabbits, playing in field at evening, lit by a slanting sunâ. Latter-day republicans could do worse than emulate the respect for nature and wildlife evinced one of our greatest patriots, a man that all Sinn FĂ©in supporters claim to honour in their political journey.
When they gather for the big event in Belfast later month, let them say to the long-suffering foxes of Ireland: âYour day has come!â
