Disappointed with TD’s Climate Bill comments

EDITOR – As someone living in West Cork, and who is involved with Transition Town Kinsale, I was saddened to read in your paper recently that Michael Collins TD has described the Climate Bill as ‘the single most destructive piece of legislation to come before the Dáil since the banks were bailed out in 2008.’

This Bill, which has just passed (129 tá, 10 níl), has stemmed from the strong call-out for action via the Citizens’ Assembly (2018) where ‘97% of the members recommended that to ensure climate change is at the centre of policy-making in Ireland, as a matter of urgency a new or existing independent body should be resourced appropriately, operate in an open and transparent manner, and be given a broad range of new functions and powers in legislation to urgently address climate change’.

Then, in May 2019, the Dáil voted upon and declared both a national climate and biodiversity emergency, qualifying the urgent need to act.

Now, more than ever, we need leadership enabling hope, not fear.

It is our ability to imagine a different future, and the opportunities therein, that will bring us around the table to work together to create a just transition where we live, while acknowledging  that the consequences of our actions, or inaction, are global.

The Climate Bill is a massive step in the right direction.

Elizabeth Creed,

Kinsale.

Home truths for Brits

EDITOR – Politics of late on this island is changing as quickly as someone who has forgotten their towel at the Forty Foot.

It’s difficult to write about the goings-on without it being overtaken by another news worthy storyline. First we had ‘c’mon Arlene’ then we had ‘Dootsie Toots’ and now we have a ‘Jeffery’ one of a threesome, having shafted the other without blinking an eyelid. This is  the fifth and quite possibly the last leader of the DUP’ which is threatening to follow the tyrannosaurus rex into extinction. To add further woe to the new DUP leader is the fact that the leader of Fine Gael Leo Varadkar is on a mission to out-republican the republicans, which is fair enough except that he has spent a considerable amount of his energy and time trying to outdo our lame duck Taoiseach Micheál Martin whose vitriolic chastising of republican aims would make him a better candidate to lead the DUP than Jeffery. Poor Jeffery has a vision he says of leading Unionism into its 2nd century. I mean this is the 21st century and the DUP mindset hasn’t moved on from 1690, there’s only one gear in the DUP’s steam engine and unfortunately for those who follow that train of thought, it’s stuck in reverse.

In the changing times that are in it, we have another surreal culmination of events taking place across the water in ‘Boris land’ where schools have been instructed to get pupils to chant ‘One Britain, One Nation Day’ while holding aloft their little union jacks. A lot of people are guessing that Boris is not the full tomato so to speak and I’d say when you read this load of bullsh*t there’ll be little room for disagreement.

One Britain One Nation [OBON] brings us (?) together, not to focus on our differences but to celebrate the values we share: tolerance, kindness, pride, respect, and a tremendous desire to help others.

Today Britain boasts a wonderful array of cultures. It is its multicultural identity that makes Britain so unique.

Our diverse cultures are inextricably linked by the sole fact that we (?) are British. It is this fact that has prompted OBON to reinforce and revive what collectively unites us.

OBON aims to give a new impetus for the creation of a harmonised society, to make Britain an international model of moral rectitude. Be honest, Tommy Tiernan would have an audience in stitches never mind wetting their dungarees with this tirade of comedian’s medicine. Someone needs to tell the Brits a few home truths because the Scots want to depart the sinking ship as soon as possible. The six northern counties of Ireland want to unite with the other 26, which is 32. The Spanish want Gibraltar back as does Argentina want the Malvinas back, and an Bhreatain Bheag are ruffling their nationalistic feathers as well, so all does not bode well for a Brexit Britain that thought they were irreplaceable on the world stage.

James Woods,

Gort an Choirce, Dún na nGall.

Time for ‘real justice’

EDITOR – The Mother & Baby Homes scandal must be one of the greatest scandals ever in this State of Ireland – we are no longer the ‘island of saints and scholars’.

The crimes committed against innocent women and babies are unforgivable, to say the least.

An estimated 9,000 of our citizens died in these homes throughout the country.

The clergy of this country had a lot to do with all of this and had too much power over communities.

And FF and FG  were in power throughout this period and had a duty of care, which they utterly failed to honour.

We have heard far too many belated apologies like the one given to Joanne Hayes.

It took her over 30 years to get an apology and compensation for her and her family over false statements pressured from her – and nobody ever convicted for what she and her family went through.

The focus should be on achieving real justice in a timely and appropriate way for all of these and other scandals, and not sweep them under the carpets, hoping things will go away.

Noel Harrington,

Kinsale.