Collins' new party 'is the last thing we need today'

EDITOR – I have great respect for the reporting of the Southern Star, which is a valuable resource for those of us who live in West Cork.

I was disappointed, therefore, to see such prominent but uncritical reporting on last week’s front page, announcing the intention of a local populist politician to form a new political party – ‘Collins sets up new political party’.

It is clear that the last thing Ireland needs today is a party that appeals to the basest and most ill-informed instincts.

For example, no one believes that farmers are ‘environmental terrorists’, but to deny the significant impact dairy and other farming has upon climate change and environmental pollution is to place short-term economic interest of farmers – often not the interests of our friends and neighbours who are farmers, but industrial enterprises formed from the amalgamation of smaller farms under the government’s intensification plan, over the future of our children and of our planet.

Similarly, to present the false alternative of more and better housing for the existing population in Ireland versus the compassion and hospitality that Ireland is proud to offer refugees and immigrants seeking a better life and fleeing oppression is tub-thumping worthy of Donald Trump at his worst.

The truth is that we can do both at the same time, and the history of Ireland and its people demands nothing less than offering reasonable accommodation and standards of living – both to those already here, and those who will come here and add to the economic and cultural richness of this wonderful country.

That the leader of this proposed party also seeks to deny women control of their own bodies, in spite of the clear pro-choice decision made by the people of Ireland in the 2018 referendum is another clear warning signal.

Events in America where the threat of a fascist government is both real and frankly terrifying show that our media should not present both sides of every coin as a reasonable balance.

The truth is populist demagogues need calling out before they damage our society, and institutions like The Southern Star have an important part to play in highlighting the dangers of such populism.

Peter Martin,
Castletownshend.

Echoes of Cromwell from Israeli heritage minister

EDITOR – The Israeli government’s heritage minister Amichal Eliyahu is reported to have said in recent weeks that the people of Gaza ‘can go to the desert or Ireland’.

It brings back echoes of Oliver Cromwell, who said the Irish could go ‘to hell or Connacht’. What more evidence is needed of Zionist policies of ethnic cleansing?

Michael A Moriarty,
Rochestown, Cork.

Adapt school bus services to meet our needs

EDITOR – With all the well documented problems in this year’s school bus allocations, now is the time to plan for 2024- 2025 and ensure our children have access to a clean, reliable, eco-friendly school transport next September.

Our school population distribution is wide, often rural, and in general outside a 1km walking range for school children. An efficient, well thought-out bus system can be a game-changer for children and parents, solving school transportation issues, reducing safety risks at school gates and eliminating air pollution plume from idling traffic.

The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m, with the most recently available spending review report on the schemefrom 2019 stating that ‘in 2017/2018, while there were nearly 117,500 pupils availing of school transport places, there were over 56,000 unused places or spare capacity across school transport routes’.

We should be using a route planner tool that can determine how a fleet of vehicles can visit a set of stops in the least amount of time, thus saving fuel and emissions. How might our communities transform if bus routes met our needs, rather than us trying to fit with theirs?

Ellen Murphy,
Grenagh.

Commemoration is just platform for bragging

EDITOR – It’s very regrettable that government TD Eamon Ó Cuiv, who claims to be pro-life, is set to follow in the footsteps of Sinn Féin by giving the oration at the annual gathering at the site of the Kilmichael ambush of November 1920.

This annual event is held for no other reason than to boast and brag about the killing of a large number of British troops by the IRA.

When Mr Ó Cuiv is giving his oration he will be standing in front of a giant monument that depicts the cross of Jesus Christ surrounded by weapons of war, which is a gross distortion of what that cross stands for, and is not something that anybody who respects all human life should be associated with.

We are not all fooled by Tom Barry’s account of a ‘false surrender’ during the course of the ambush. Let all those who are inclined to believe the false surrender story ask themselves: ‘Would I throw down my weapon pretending to surrender and then grab the weapon again while still exposed on an open road and still vastly out-numbered by heavily armed men well hidden behind rocks and ditches?’ For anybody who wants to live, there can only be one answer to that.

Frank O’Connor
Inniscarra, Blarney.

Shocked, not surprised at Sinn Féin lawsuits

EDITOR – I was shocked but probably not that surprised to hear that Sinn Féin are suing, not just media outlets, but journalists too, for alleged defamation. I am shocked because this is a direct attack on democracy. It is also a form of intimidation of journalists simply doing their jobs. I am not really surprised, though, given the origins of this party.

Sue Crowe,
Ballincollig.

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