Letters to the Editor: The State must take on the tech companies
Fowers at the Cleveland Police HQ in Middlesbrough, following the deaths of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough.
Another empty seat at the family table.
That’s what awaits the families of PCs Thomas Clough and Matthew Blade, who were killed when a cloned registered car containing several teenagers and young adults crashed into their unmarked police vehicle, killing all on board, while driving the wrong way on the A66 near Middlesborough in England.
They were fathers, brothers, sons, and uncles.
Their deaths will resonate right across the policing communities and even here in Ireland.
After the tragedy on the M9, and near-tragedy on the M50, the fact that these acts of so-called bravado are filmed for social media, even as I write, reveals the attitudes of the perpetrators, and the social media platforms themselves.
Self-regulation by social media platforms has not worked, with Coimisiún na Meán limited in what it can enforce under present regulations.
While bringing down these types of images will not bring back the two PCs, every government worth its salt must now hold social media platforms to account for their content.
If this is by stricter regulations and enforcement, then so be it.
If Meta and other social media platforms have been fined in America for what their content induces, especially in our young people, why then can’t we as a nation, or combined nations, without seeking approval from the EU, hold the owners of these platforms to account in our courts, for their diabolical content?
Asking these tech billionaires, or their representatives, to appear before government committees won’t cut the mustard.
It’s time we held them to account before our justice system with fines and/or imprisonment imposed.
For too long these tech giants and their owners see themselves as some form of independent entities, above the laws of man.
The loss of a colleague, in the exercise of his/her duty, hits home no matter where it happens.
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We have an obligation to protect our police forces and our public.
These tragedies where people have died, or have been seriously injured, must not be swept under the carpet and become another footnote or statistic.
Many families are grieving these past few weeks and days, and we must support them in every possible way.
These nefarious gangs of hoodlums are roaming freely with no accountability and no restrictions.
Even those charged with offences, who are supposed to obey restrictions placed on them by the courts, do not abide, in many cases, by them.
We need to impress on governments that strong and robust legislation that protects gardaí from being prosecuted, for pursuing known and wanted criminals, without endangering the public, should be expedited through Dáil chambers.
Any legislation, going forward, holding tech giants to account in our criminal courts, also needs a worldwide response.
It also needs our minister, and our Government, to include in any legislation that platforms that promote content that offends public morality, and which promotes dangerous content, will be prosecutable.
We have a moral responsibility and a duty to those innocent drivers and passengers in cars, and to our gardaí, that no stone will be left unturned until we enact safety measures that protect them, both from gangs, and the platforms that promote their nefarious activities.
As a wildlife protection campaigner, I welcome the High Court’s ruling that a Government minister acted lawfully in removing red-listed pintail, pochard, scaup, and goldeneye ducks from the list of birds that may be shot.
I also found it interesting that in his ruling, Judge Anthony Barr said it was clear that the relevant minister has the power to take necessary steps to maintain populations of wild birds at satisfactory levels, and is entitled to apply “the precautionary principle”.
Based on my understanding of that ruling, I would strongly urge the removal of all other red-listed birds from the Open Season Order:
The snipe is a red-listed species of highest conservation concern.
Though breeding populations are now “in severe decline”, shooters are currently permitted to kill them for 153 specified days of the year.
Shooters may also kill the red grouse, another threatened species, for the whole month of September.
The red-listed shoveler duck and golden plover have similar conservation status, and yet can be shot from September 1 to January 31, and you can shoot the red-listed woodcock for 92 days of the year.
None of these threatened species should be exposed to gunfire.
Nor, indeed, should amber-listed birds under long-term threat — the mallard, teal, gadwall, wigeon, tufted duck, and greylag goose — be included in the Open Season Order.
Given the High Court ruling’s reference to the application of “the precautionary principle” to protect a species, one could also make a case for not issuing the hare capture license for coursing.
The Irish hare population has been in decline for the past half-century, and hares have disappeared from many parts of the countryside.
The protection offered to four duck species should be extended to cover all wild birds and animals that face a serious decline in numbers due to habitat loss, climate change, or hunting.
The High Court ruling has energised us campaigners.
Rest assured that we’ll be stepping up our efforts to halt attacks on our wonderful wildlife heritage… And getting all our ducks in a row!
Dear Friends in Ireland. My name is Ami Shaham, and I’m writing from North Texas, USA, about my 83-year-old Irish Catholic mother, Patricia ‘Patty Ann’ Kiley Shaham, who lives in Connecticut.
My mother has always been deeply proud of her Irish Kiley heritage.
Our family history leads us to believe that her Kiley ancestors originated in Co Cork, and I am continuing to research that connection.
Long before my mother experienced significant cognitive decline, she documented her desire to eventually be laid to rest with her Irish Catholic family at St Michael’s Cemetery in Stratford, Connecticut, where her parents and other members of the Kiley family are buried.
Today, I am advocating for my mother from more than 1,500 miles away in Texas as questions surrounding her documented wishes, elder protection, family history, and final resting place have become part of a difficult probate matter in Connecticut.
This experience led me to create Patty Ann for Connecticut, an elder-protection guide inspired by my mother and intended to help other families understand how important it is to preserve an elderly loved one’s wishes, documents, history, and voice before a crisis occurs.
I am reaching out to Ireland because Patty Ann’s Irish heritage was never simply a line on a family tree. It was part of who she was. Her Kiley family, her Catholic upbringing, her parents, and her family’s history remained deeply important to her throughout her life.
I would be grateful if your organisation, publication, or community would consider hearing Patty Ann’s story, sharing it with others, or helping us learn more about our Kiley connection to Co Cork.
Perhaps someone reading this may even recognise the Kiley family connection.
Most of all, I want my mother’s voice and the wishes she expressed while she was able to express them clearly to matter.
Go raibh maith agaibh — thank you — from Texas, USA, for taking a moment to hear the story of an Irish-American daughter of the Kiley family.
It is a matter of great concern that the Irish Government is denying visas to Palestinian students due to the application of punitive regulations necessitating applicants to account for gaps in their education and the requirement for the provision of original documents in circumstances of genocide, where it is impossible for prospective Palestinian students to comply with visa requirements as schools, universities, banks, and family homes are under rubble.
I think the Irish Government ought to consider the efforts made by people such as the Choctaw Nation and the Sultan of Turkey who collected money and sent food to Ireland at a time of need during the Great Hunger.
In terms of education, during the Penal Laws in Ireland, countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Belgium established Irish colleges.
As one of the most prosperous countries in the world currently, I think that we ought to be accommodating Palestinian students in the same way as our ancestors were accommodated in their time of need.
I attended the Second International Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress held in Dublin this year, and I was glad to attend and stand in solidarity with members of the Jewish community who are opposed to the actions of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank.
Since a drought was declared in Ireland and water restrictions were imposed earlier this summer, working people and their families and communities have been lectured to on a daily basis by Government ministers and Uisce Éireann to cut back on water usage, while the likes of golf courses, racecourses, and massive data centres are given a free pass and allowed to use as much water as they want.
Working people are being made to subsidise the enormous strain that data centres place on our energy and water resources, while CEOs and executives such as Mark Zuckerberg get let off scot-free.
Earlier this month, Zuckerberg purchased Strancally Castle in Co Waterford in a private sale believed to be in the region of €23m-€35m, small change for a multi-billionaire and one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.
Ireland has become a welfare state for the rich under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We need a movement to push them back and challenge billionaire power.
