Letters to the Editor: Our young people deserve a State dig-out

Students attending further and higher education have been put through the wringer during the past few years. File picture

The Government has made two economic interventions of €250m and €505m to help combat the cost-of-living crisis. The packages were generous, but the recent protests confirmed that the public wants more financial aid if the Iran war persists.

There is a strong case for a third intervention to make life a little easier for our nation’s greatest asset, our young people, who in the immortal words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy “are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”.

The youth of Ireland, still reeling from the negative impacts of the coronavirus, are now facing another body blow.

No fair-minded person would begrudge a dig-out to ease the financial pressure on young people during exam season. The untimely decision to reintroduce Leaving Cert and junior cycle exam fees in the middle of a war should be immediately reversed. Candidates who have already paid the fee should be refunded.

Students attending further and higher education have been put through the wringer during the past few years. College grants have been outpaced by the cost of living. The cost of rental accommodation has gone through the roof. Thousands of students are forced to make long daily commutes to and from college. With fuel prices rising higher than Artemis Two, the sky’s the limit for additional costs.

A once-off non-means tested payment should immediately be made to all further and higher education students, €500 if living less than 30km from college and €1,500 if living 30km or more from college.

It’s a relatively inexpensive intervention and will prove that the Government has the back of its young people.

Billy Ryle, Tralee, Co Kerry

Scrutiny must be grounded in fact

We share the widely held view that the protection of civilian life across the Middle East region is of paramount importance. Allianz advocates for peaceful co-operation and stable societies, and we recognise that people in Ireland feel strongly about the situation in Gaza, in particular.

In that context, it is entirely understandable that one would seek clarity on how organisations operate, including which companies are, and are not, doing business in the region.

However, a recent Letter to the Editor published in these pages contained a number of claims that were presented as fact, but which are incorrect and materially misleading. We reject these claims fully, including any suggestion of complicity in violence.

Some of these claims rely on a mischaracterisation of a report by a United Nations special rapporteur.

That report references 1,000 companies with direct and indirect commercial links to Israel, including many which are simply selling products or services there, or are investing in companies that do.

This context is important when considering claims made about Allianz’s position. Assertions that Allianz is a “major” or “leading” investor in Israeli government bonds are incorrect. References in public debate relate to alleged investments made by a global asset manager on behalf of its clients within the Allianz Group, alongside hundreds of other international investors, in a sovereign bond market valued in the hundreds of billions.

These alleged client holdings do not represent a significant or systemic position in any sense by Allianz or its subsidiaries, and it is misleading to suggest otherwise.

Similarly, references to approximately $7.3bn in alleged holdings relate to investments in a wide range of global, household-name companies that operate internationally, including in Israel. This reflects standard diversified investment activity and does not represent direct investment in Israel or participation in military activity.

It is also important to distinguish between Allianz Group activity and Allianz’s operations in Ireland.

While part of the Allianz Group, Allianz plc (Ireland) is a regulated Irish insurer employing hundreds of people and serving communities across the country, it does not hold Israeli government bonds, was not named in any UN report, and does not underwrite business in the Middle East. It stands over its own actions and its own governance.

In a global economy, large organisations inevitably have indirect connections and exposure across a wide range of countries, sectors, and markets. Citizens, policymakers, and the media rightly expect transparency regarding such activity, and no organisation is beyond scrutiny or criticism.

But that scrutiny must be grounded in clear, accurate and proportionate information, and in verifiable fact.

John Dolan, Company secretary and in-house legal counsel, Allianz plc

President’s stance on war is correct

Speaking at the Defence of Democracy conference in Barcelona alonside Spain’s Pedro Sánchez and Brazil’s Lula da Silva and others, President Catherine Connolly quoted ex-UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld, saying: “The United Nations was not created in order to bring us to heaven, but in order to save us from hell.”

President Connolly added: “Ireland is uniquely placed to offer a valuable perspective as a neutral, post-famine, post-colonial republic.” She pleaded with leaders to take a stand against a growing wave of “might is right”.

Her plea stands as a unique light in the darkness surrounding the continuing starvation, bombing, and genocide in Palestine and now in Lebanon and elsewhere, as the wars in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Iran continue unabated.

President Connolly’s stance contrasts with the Taoiseach’s disgraceful failure to make any similar statement or act to stop military flights through Shannon, his equal failure to press for the cancellation of the (EU-Israel) special trade agreement, and failure to take the minimal step of passing the Occupied Territories Bill for over eight years. If Spain can take these steps, why not Ireland?

Kevin T Finn, Mitchelstown, Cork

Cork Luas cannot be bulldozed in

To put the proposed Cork Luas bulldozed through the heart of the local community beggars belief.

This plan is similar to the South Ring Rd plan which, in the 1980s, the “geniuses” decided to put the road straight through the heart of Togher, a monumental act of social and environmental vandalism.

The good sense of the people who proposed that the new road should follow the line of the old Bandon/West Cork railway line avoiding the butchering of Togher was totally ignored. And today what have we? The no 1 item on all media traffic reports is the constant report of traffic jams. A disastrous planning decision. This proposed route for the Luas is even worse.

It’s a totally unjust and unfair route showing zero respect for the people, housing, environment, sport /recreation, and way of life.

The disruption and the cost —if compared to the imagined benefit — will make this a bigger folly than we can imagine. Another route must be found. Perhaps this time the route could use the old route of the old Macroom/Bandon railway line for a part of it. We now we need a second tunnel or bridge in Cork, so a Luas route could be built in tandem, for access to Little Island. As we see in Dublin now, a 20-30 minute walk to a Luas stop is quite common. A healthy option too.

John O’Riordan, Glasheen Rd, Cork

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