Sir, – Stephen Collins (“Ireland’s neutrality regarded as absurd and complacent”, Opinion & Analysis, February 21st) believes that Ireland should abandon our neutrality (a neutrality supported by over 70 per cent of the population), come to the military defence of any EU countries threatened with invasion (countries already in the Nato military alliance), and boost our arms spending (thus taking Irish taxpayers’ money away from health and housing to add to the profits of the arms industry).
The best assistance Ireland can offer to our EU partners is that of a mediator, helping to decrease world tensions that lead to war, and promoting disarmament (such as the Irish-initiated non-proliferation treaty, nuclear-free zones), and the principles of the UN. Our triple lock for the deployment of Irish troops abroad (Government and Dáil approval and a UN mandate) has served this country and the world well, with Ireland being the only country to have continuously UN peacekeepers deployed since 1958 in the world’s trouble spots. Our military needs better pay, and military upgrades. But this doesn’t require giving up our neutrality.
If Stephen Collins says “Ireland’s neutrality is regarded as absurd and complacent”, I suggest he’s talking to the wrong people. – Yours, etc,
CAROL FOX,
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‘I was a Billie Barry kid. I’d like to be able to do the splits again’
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Stephen Collins is absolutely right. And more power to him for his excellent analysis.
But the debate has barely begun. Recent comments by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste at the Munich Security Conference to the effect that Ireland recognises the importance of increased defence spending but has no plans to abandon neutrality or participate in any integrated EU military force reminds me of the stance of Britain’s Keir Starmer when he says repeatedly that Britain must rebuild its relationship with Europe but has no intention of joining the single market or customs union. – Yours, etc,
WALTER ELLIS,
Plusquellec,
France.
Sir, – Please do not expect a united Ireland to come along any time soon while Ireland does not have an airforce or navy capable of defending its territory.
For unity to happen, the middle ground up here needs to vote for it.
Sinn Féin cannot do it on their own. They need to persuade the centre ground that unity would be a good idea.
There is no sign of any movement by the moderate voters who hold the casting vote. – Yours, etc,
DAVID McCARTER,
Hillsborough,
Co Down.
Solar energy and a fairer system
Sir, – I recently changed my gas and electricity supplier and have had a frustrating experience trying to reclaim my account credit. Because I generate more power from my solar panels than I use, I have built up a substantial credit.
When I asked about having the credit paid during the contract period, I was told that that was impossible; the only way to get my money was to close the account. So when I changed supplier, thereby closing the account, I naturally expected that my gas account would be debited – guess what, it was; and that the electricity credit would be repaid automatically.
After a couple of weeks and no sign of my money, I made contact with my now ex-supplier to enquire about the problem. The excuse was that they were going to write to me at some undetermined date to enquire if I wished to be repaid.
There is a huge amount of goodwill from most people towards micro-generation. If the Government is serious about encouraging the use of solar panels, they need to stop suppliers from dragging their feet when it comes to repayments and insist that their systems are transparent, fair and easy to use. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN McBRIDE,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Getting to Dublin Airport
Sir, – To take account of the decision by Aircoach (“Aircoach scraps some services from South Dublin and Wicklow due to ‘declining passenger numbers’”, News, February 18th) to axe stops to a number of suburbs in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown along the N11 (including for areas in my electoral ward such as Foxrock, Cabinteely and Cornelscourt), the National Transport Authority should promptly oversee the extension of the newly launched existing E1 and E2 bus services to have a terminus at Dublin Airport.
Such routes are 24-hour services and would also meet demand for visitors to Ireland arriving at the airport late at night who would want additional options to use public transport, in the absence of a train service unlike the norm in most capital cities, to Dublin city centre and beyond into the southside of Dublin and into Wicklow.
The extension of the E1 and E2 routes to the airport from a practical operations standpoint would be exceedingly straightforward to implement, given that such services already begin and terminate in the vicinity of Santry, Ballymun and Harristown.
The area of public transport to the airport would be acknowledged as needing much scope for improvement and, commenting as the newly appointed chairperson of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown strategic policy committee for environment and transportation (which concerns a committee with policy oversight of a population catchment area of approximately 250,000 residents), an axeing of existing stops being serviced is a retrograde step that the public sector side of public transport delivery must respond to. – Yours, etc,
Cllr JOHN KENNEDY,
(Fine Gael)
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Offices,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Housing and homelessness
Sir, – Any one of us could experience homelessness in our lifetime. Many people are living pay cheque to pay cheque each month, trying to make ends meet. Why should an experience define how society views and values a person?
The monthly homeless figures are released on the last Friday of every month, and they get some media headlines. But have people become immune to the unacceptable reality that we have over 14,000 people being held in emergency accommodation? Would a change in language also evoke a change in sentiment among the public and policymakers? Could we start referring to people experiencing homelessness or children experiencing homelessness and see if the narrative shifts? We could go further and talk about forced homelessness, but for the moment, maybe an opportunity exists to reset our discussions around housing and homelessness. We could start by humanising the tens of thousands of our peers and acknowledging that, like the Lotto says, it could be you. – Yours, etc,
BER GROGAN,
Simon Communities of Ireland,
Dublin 7.
Urban areas and dereliction
Sir, – I applaud David McWilliams’s thought-provoking article on using tax incentives to eliminate the dilapidated state of our towns and cities which are a national disgrace (“We should declare war on dereliction and a tax amnesty is our best weapon”, Opinion, February 15th). He correctly references the restoration of Temple Bar to show that tax incentives work in encouraging good and punishing bad behaviour. These proposals seem to be a much better use of our tax system to increase the housing stock and put footfall back in our towns than the reintroduction of tax incentives to vulture funds to build more one- and two-bedroom apartments which do not solve the shortage of family homes. The service structure is in place to facilitate restoration projects. Lack of these services is a factor in slowing down brownfield development. There should also be a fast-track planning process for restoration projects as there are likely to be fewer causes for objections. Let us hope that the mandarins in power read The Irish Times and take on board some of the innovative ideas put forward by columnists. – Yours, etc,
NIALL L PELLY Snr,
Dublin 18.
State agencies and websites
Sir, – While some State entities are accused of squandering money on websites and the like, one website that could really do with a bit of investment has languished unloved and neglected for 15 years without as much as an update or a change of font.
In 2010, the Residential Property Price Register and the Commercial Lease Register websites were established to bring transparency to the previously opaque world of property sale prices and commercial rents.
Even by 2010 standards, the websites are basic and not particularly functional. They had, and still have, the look and feel of a transition year project from the early 2000s, and one that didn’t win any prizes.
Is it beyond the with and wisdom of the various departments that record information about property to collaborate? Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has an extremely useful, functional and searchable planning map and it contains all of the same buildings that regularly show up as house sales or commercial leases on the property register. So why not use that portal, with its quick and user-friendly map search function, to add the property prices and commercial leases, and repeat it across all the council districts? While they’re at it, why not throw in the Land Registry and put whatever needs to be private behind a paywall?
I’d expect that rationalising all of this data into one website might make the whole area pf property – commercial, housing and planning – more transparent. There might even be savings to be made when information is no longer duplicated by different departments. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET MOORE,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Down with backpacks
Sir, – I wholeheartedly agree with Emer McLysaght (“I’ve had enough of men smashing into me with their backpacks”, Life, February 21st). I wonder at the point of it all. I’m assuming the majority of these people are just going out for the day and not attending a music festival or going for a hike. What emergencies do they worry about that necessitates a full backpack? Maybe it’s an indication of fretfulness in this generation. The trend of carrying giant liquid containers also has me bewildered. When I was younger and going out,the least encumbered the better-– unless of course I was going for a hike! – Yours, etc,
ALAN DONNELLY,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
