Letters to the Editor: Irish celebrities’ open letter to Taoiseach on Gaza

The Government has the power to act to stand true to Irish principles and promises when it comes to supporting hard-working students in Palestine

Fifty-five fully funded students from Gaza are being prevented from taking up hard-earned places in Irish universities this year. 

Dear Taoiseach,

Last month, you told the UN that “we, the collective international community, have failed Palestine”, and you called the world to action.

From the streets of Dublin to the highest international levels, Ireland has stood on principle and carried hope to millions of Palestinians.

Ireland has condemned the obliteration of Gaza’s education system and vowed to help.

Just last year, we proudly welcomed 122 Palestinian students to our universities, enabling a new generation to learn and develop at the best colleges, building hope for a better future in Palestine.

But right now, this proud record — and our word — is on the line.

Fifty-five fully funded scholarship students from Gaza are being cruelly prevented from taking up their hard-earned places in Irish universities this year.

They are not taking anyone else’s place. They passed rigorous academic checks, secured fully funded scholarships, and passed university vetting. They provided every document available to them in a warzone, and yet the justice minister is refusing to grant them study visas. 

They are caught in a breakdown of coordination between government departments that they did nothing to cause. They must not be the ones who pay the price.

This is your Government, and therefore your responsibility to avert this failure.

This month, three students’ cases were settled with the Department of Justice. That shows a solution exists. The other 55 deserve the same.

The next evacuation is expected in the coming days. Meanwhile, these hard-working students are waiting in precarious, life-threatening conditions in Gaza — in tents, often with bombs falling around them — while their university enrolment deadlines slip away.

You have the power to act, to stay true to our principles and promises, and grant these young Palestinians the opportunity of an education far from the rubble of Gaza. An Irish education that we are so proud to stand behind.

A chance to build a better future, for themselves, their people, and the world.

Resolve their cases as the three were resolved and make sure all 55 are cleared for the next evacuation.

You told the UN that “the situation in Gaza remains an affront to all that is decent”.

Taoiseach, will your Government do the decent thing, and let these students study?

Nicola Coughlan, Liam Cunningham, Hozier, Aisling Bea, Maeve Higgins, Denise Gough, Frances Black, Christy Moore, Siobhan McSweeney, Naoise Dolan, Joe Rooney

Put ourselves first in energy matters

If we lose the only external gas supply pipeline we have from England to Ireland, then we will have only one to two weeks’ supply of full electricity supply in summer and only one week in winter.

After that we will have massive power cuts with implications for large customers, eg the Luas, the Dart, data centres, etc.

We are an island off an island off Europe and the island we are off is not in the EU. Our gas import comes from Norway through England and via undersea pipeline to Ireland. It will only take a ship pulling or dropping anchor to damage the pipeline and cause its closure. 

If there is a shortage of gas in England can we trust England to continue sending gas to Ireland? We are extremely vulnerable due to the closure of the coal burner in Moneypoint and the closure of all the peat stations.

The solution is to repeal Eamon Ryan’s laws prohibiting exploration and drilling for gas in Irish waters. The dogs in the street know that there in an abundance of gas off the Mayo coast. We just need to go out and find it and bring it ashore. It is well known that several exploration companies wanted to drill off Mayo but Eamon Ryan refused a licence.

It’s time to secure our energy supply of gas and guarantee our electricity supply by repealing the laws brought in by Eamon Ryan preventing Ireland from becoming self-sufficient in gas and electricity supply.

We need the politicians in Dáil Éireann to stand up and put Ireland first in this important decision.

Eugene Rochford, Crossmolina, Co Mayo

Alcohol harm must not be relegated to the small print

Regarding the National Drugs and Alcohol Harm Strategy 2026–2030, as a recovery advocate with almost 49 years of lived experience of recovery, and someone who continues to thrive in my own recovery from alcohol use disorder, I welcome the publication of this strategy.

At a time when four members of an innocent family have lost their lives and two others remain critically ill in hospital following what has been described as a drug-related debt incident, the need for a comprehensive national strategy addressing drug and alcohol harm has never been more urgent.

Policymakers and communities must now stand courageously together to confront these challenges and protect present and future generations.

However, rereading the front cover of this report compels me to ask a fundamental question: Why is alcohol harm not given equal prominence in the title, appearing instead only in the small print?

Could this reflect the influence of the powerful alcohol lobby? I suspect it may.

It is time to end the ambivalence surrounding alcohol and acknowledge, openly and honestly, the multi-faceted harm it causes in the daily lives of individuals, families and communities.

Alcohol harm must not be relegated to the small print. It deserves the same recognition, urgency and commitment as every other form of substance-related harm.

Our policies must reflect the reality of people’s lives, not the influence of powerful commercial interests.

Paddy Creedon, recovery advocate, Voices of Recovery Alcohol Action Ireland board member

Losing mature trees an own goal

Passing by Phibsboro Public Library recently, I was perplexed to learn that the carnage visited upon the library’s garden was in order to roll out the next phase of Bus Connects.

The mature evergreen trees that provided an elegant canopy in what is a densely built-up area were levelled. This is a further reduction of greenery in the same spot after the recent cutting down of trees next to a residential complex for senior citizens just across the road.

It is hard to connect the advancement of environmental policies such as public transport, with destruction of what little pockets of greenery we have.

The sort of doublethink described in George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 seems to be rampant in an age when we destroy nature in order to preserve the planet.

Mature trees are to be eliminated so that Ireland meets climate change goals.

An own goal, if ever there was one.

Maria Ní Mhurchú, Broadstone, Dublin 7