Leaving Cert grades
Sir, – When the Covid-19 virus invaded the country in 2020, adjustments were made in Leaving Certificate exam-marking to compensate for disruption to the academic year. The intervention has caused unsustainable grades inflation and mental anguish for students during the past five years.
At long last, there is very good news. Post-marking adjustment of 2025 exam scripts is to be reduced from 7.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent, meaning Leaving Cert results this year will be 5.5 per cent above the 2019 results and 2 per cent below last year’s results.
Consequently, CAO college points are set to drop as exam results will be lower this year than for the past five years when tens of thousands of students received bumper grades.
Leaving Cert candidates from 2020 to 2024, with the bumper grades, will obviously have a distinct points advantage over the 2025 cohort when competing for college places. However, the vast majority of them should have completed or are progressing through their college courses.
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Restoring Leaving Certificate grades to the 2019 level is long overdue. It will eliminate the regrettable occurrences of applicants with maximum points failing to secure their course preferences because of that awful lottery system known as “random selection”. It will also help to reduce the dropout rate of first-year students whose inflated grades overestimated their ability to survive in their courses of choice.
The aim now is to return to the 2019 marking system based on the candidate’s own performance in the exam. It might be done in a single step in 2026, but it’s more than likely to be a more cautious two-step approach. – Yours, etc,
BILLY RYLE,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.
Neutrality in a changing world
Sir – Rob Fairmichael’s argument (Letters, March 17th) for a non-belligerent approach to international peace is well made. However it is unfortunate that power can and does grow out of the barrel of a gun. When some country chooses to impose its will on another from the barrels of many guns and are impervious to any moral arguments to desist, all that can be done is to accept the status quo that has been imposed, or fight back.
Should we advise Ukrainians to lay down their arms and accept Russia as their new master? Should other countries refuse to supply arms and leave them to their own devices?
If we accept that others can and should supply arms to Ukraine to help them, why not us too?
I walk down the street and see two people arguing. I am neutral so I walk on and leave them argue away.
I walk down the street and see someone beating the proverbial out of an obviously much weaker person. Should I also remain neutral? Maybe not, so I go over and try to use my persuasive powers to get the aggressor to desist. When he then attacks me too and draws a knife, do I accept my fate? Or do I hope earnestly that someone with the muscle to do so, will use force to stop the aggressor? – Yours, etc,
VINCENT MURPHY,
Douglas Road,
Cork.
Asylum appeals
Sir, – I note that your correspondent Martin Wall reports that asylum appeals could top 15,000 this year based on recent briefing material supplied to the Minister for Justice (“Asylum appeals this year could top 15,000″, Home News, March 15th). In fact, based on the trends in February’s International Protection Office (IPO) monthly report, it is quite possible that appeals will be close to 20,000 as February alone saw an increase from 10,125 to over 11,000.
It would appear the much-vaunted accelerated procedure for applicants from safe countries (which is now taking 20 weeks on average) is contributing to a surge in appeals which has added to the large backlog at the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT). It is noteworthy that IPO staff numbers are now at 599 but there seems to have been next to no recruitment to IPAT despite it being obvious from the end of 2023 (backlog of 4,000) that serious pressure was building in the appeals process.
At a time when the Government is floundering to accommodate the roughly 1,000 per month current international protection applicants, it seems unable to grasp that a future migration pact will have no impact on the 21,000 plus cases awaiting an interview (which will probably generate roughly 10,000 future appeals based on current trends). – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL FLYNN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
Hotel breakfasts
Sir, – I fully agree with Emer McLysaght and Enda Cullen: a hotel breakfast buffet is indeed a delicate ecosystem, where timing, strategy and self-restraint are key (“Dancing the dance of the hotel breakfast buffet,” Life, March 14th). But beyond the perilous toaster queue and the overambitious portioning lurks a bigger issue: food waste.
In Ireland, we generate approximately 146kg per person; quite a bit above the European Union average of 132kg. A 2019 Environmental Protection Agency-funded research report highlighted that hotels were responsible for 24 per cent of the 750,000,000kg of food we throw out each year.
It is also important to note that many hotels in Ireland are implementing innovative strategies to try and change this. For instance, reducing plate sizes has led to a 20 per cent decrease in food waste, and placing prompts at dining tables has resulted in a 14 per cent reduction in plate waste.
Many hotels are rethinking their approach to food service by replacing large, wasteful buffets with made-to-order meals, which help reduce overproduction. Additionally, many are taking steps to minimise waste by donating surplus food to charities and composting their own leftovers.
But as guests we also have choices to make. Do we take only what we need, or do we overfill our plates, lulled into a false sense of entitlement by the illusion of abundance? Do we support hotels that are making sustainability a priority?
A well-executed hotel breakfast is a thing of beauty, but perhaps the real art lies not in perfect timing, but in mindful choices; ensuring that the only thing left behind at the table is a satisfied appetite, not a plate of wasted food. – Yours, etc,
HANS ZOMER,
CEO, Global Action Plan,
Ballymun,
Dublin 9,
A metro for Dublin
Sir – Hugh McGahon’s recollection of the Belfast to Cork Enterprise Express in 1950 demonstrates very clearly that 75 years ago transport managers on both sides of the Border had more vision and courage than their political masters (Letters, March 15th).
A link line from Malahide or Clongriffin, via Dublin Airport, to Broombridge and the Phoenix Park tunnel could be built at less capital cost and in a shorter timeframe than the proposed Metrolink. It would integrate Dublin Airport with the national rail network, enabling through running of Belfast/Cork trains on a high frequency timetable, alternating with existing services terminating in Dublin.
The airport station could be built underground, preferably in conjunction with an integrated bus station to replace the present shambolic arrangements for bus and coach services.
It is difficult to understand why such a straightforward solution to a serious deficiency in our transport infrastructure is not being prioritised.
Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. – Yours, etc,
CYRIL McINTYRE,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
St Patrick’s Day
Sir, – That the first question in your St Patrick’s culture quiz (Magazine, March 15th) to mark the national holiday would be to ask people to name an Irish pub at Walt Disneyland in the United States says so much about what you think the state of our culture is today. – Yours, etc,
SÉAMUS WHITE,
Stoneybatter,
Dublin 7.
Trump’s America
Sir, – The possibility of a worldwide recession, especially one triggered by economic instability in the United States caused by Donald Trump’s policies, is often discussed in dire terms. However, while such an event would bring hardship to many humans, it could be a boon for much of the planet’s non-human life.
Economic downturns typically lead to reduced industrial activity, less resource extraction, and a slowdown in global trade. This means fewer factories polluting the air and water, less deforestation for agriculture and development, and a drop in fossil fuel consumption. During the 2008 financial crisis, for example, carbon emissions temporarily declined as economic activity slowed. A more severe and prolonged recession could amplify this effect, giving ecosystems a much-needed reprieve.
Furthermore, declining consumer demand often leads to reduced production of disposable goods, meaning less plastic waste filling our oceans and fewer hazardous byproducts harming wildlife. Slower growth in industries like mining, construction, and agriculture would also reduce habitat destruction, making it easier for endangered species to recover. Even commercial fishing fleets might scale back operations, allowing fish populations to regenerate.
Of course, the human cost of a major recession is significant and should not be trivialised. But from the perspective of non-human life, which has suffered immensely under relentless economic expansion, a slowdown might be seen as an unexpected relief. If humanity cannot restrain itself voluntarily, nature may benefit when economic forces impose that restraint.
Maybe it is time for a pro non-human life campaign? – Yours, etc,
JOHN SUTTLE,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – I’m not sure to which generation Eugene Tannam (Letters, March 15th) belongs but I went to college in the early 1980s. At that time 50,000 sat the Leaving Cert every year and 50,000 emigrated every year. Unemployment was 20 per cent and inflation was running at 20 per cent plus. The top rate of tax was 68 per cent (if you were lucky enough to have a job) and home loan rates were 18 per cent.
Eighty per cent of all income tax went to pay the interest on our national debt, my university fees alone took a quarter of my mother’s net salary, today’s equivalent of €15,000. I could go on.
Ireland is not perfect but it’s better than many countries and significantly better than it was in the 1980s when houses of course were cheap as no one wanted them because everyone had left to find a job abroad. – Yours, etc,
CHARLES MCLAUGHLIN,
Portobello,
Dublin 8.
Telecom price increases
Sir, – I am a long-standing customer of a well-known Irish telecommunications company. Recently I received an email stating that my standard monthly charge will be increasing by €9.50 (+15.6 per cent) – mid contract! – due to ongoing investment in the business and rising costs. This company’s revenues and profits are already substantial as per newspaper reports and its market is growing as the population grows. The new additional charge is effective from April 1st next which says it all. – Yours, etc.
PÁDRAIG KIERNAN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Irish fiction
Sir, – Saturday’s compilation of the 100 best works of Irish fiction from the current century is compelling evidence that one aspect of our cultural heritage continues to thrive. Such lists are often useful to settle what were once pub arguments but might nowadays be best recategorised as book club discussions. The countdown may not help fans of Sally Rooney reach consensus, however. I was surprised to read that Intermezzo, her fourth novel and rated at 45 on the ranking, “is her finest”, not least because two of the other three made positions 39 and 19. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.
O Canada
Sir, – US president Donald Trump should be careful what he wishes for in musing that Canada might become his country’s 51st state.
With a population of 41 million, similar to that of California, a state of Canada would have around 54 electoral college votes, give or take, in presidential and congressional elections.
Polling data from Canada over recent decades suggests that two-thirds of the Canadian electorate would vote Democrat and one-third would vote Republican, making it likely that a state of Canada’s electoral college votes would go to the Democratic candidate every time. It would be difficult for Republicans to win a House of Representatives majority, and Canada’s likely two Democratic senators might make all the difference in, for example, US supreme court nominations. – Yours, etc,
JANE MAHONY,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
Mr Martin goes to Washington
Sir, – The people of the Republic of Ireland can be very proud of their Government and to have such an able and articulate Taoiseach representing them at the White House. Boycotting the invitation would have achieved nothing and would have been a dereliction of responsibility. Many years ago it was said, “jaw, jaw is better than war, war!”
In both jurisdictions on this island home of ours North and South, we are blessed to have valued statesmen and women. Of course we will always have the political Pharisees. The Pharisees criticised Jesus for talking to and meeting publicans and sinners, those who differed from their way of thinking. It is always better to try to negotiate even if you fail rather than not try at all. Those who refused the invitation to Washington are the real failures. – Yours, etc.
Very Rev JOHN JFA BOND,
Broughshane,
Co Antrim.
