EDITOR – This past weekend, people from all over West Cork took part in events to oppose the genocide in Palestine and to call for a peaceful and just resolution for Palestinians in Bantry, Baltimore, Bandon, Skibbereen, Schull, Castletownbere, Clonakilty and Inchydoney.
Hundreds of the constituents of Cork south-west took part in nine different peaceful events, protests, marches and vigils between Friday and Sunday.
To be clear, this weekend was not anything out of the ordinary, as there have been at least six solidarity events each and every week across West Cork for the past 19 months.
Our question to our elected representatives is this: ‘Where were you when your people, your constituents were out on the streets every single week for nineteen months to peacefully protest the most horrifying, livestreamed genocide of our times, and where were you when literally thousands of members of the communities you serve were doing their best for humanity and standing in solidarity with the victims of a brutal, colonial power?’
Many of us have regularly written to our TDs for eighteen months, respectfully asking for a meeting, particularly asking them to meet with members of the Palestinian diaspora living and working here in West Cork.
It is extremely disappointing and shocking that in many cases we have received no reply at all, and that in 598 days of horror and carnage not a single hour could be found for a meeting with us.
We have to question whether this would have been the case with any other group, as we constantly see our TDs out-and-about attending all manner of local events, protests, meetings and gatherings.
It is not too late for our TDs to stand on the right side of history with their constituents, as the situation becomes ever more catastrophic in Gaza, and we now publicly call for them to arrange a meeting with West Cork for Palestine and the groups in Baltimore, Bantry, Beara, Bandon, Clonakilty, Kinsale and Skibbereen at the earliest opportunity.
Signed by 180 named members of the following groups: West Cork for Palestine, Bandon for Gaza, Beara for Gaza, Clonakilty for Gaza, and Bantry for Gaza.
Palestinians look for survivors after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, in October 2023. (Photo: Shutterstock)
No end to disregard for tax payers’ money
EDITOR – We are now informed that special equipment is too big to fit in a lab of the new children’s hospital.
It seems there is no end to incompetency/inefficiency when it comes to taxpayers’ money. In addition, there’s no question of responsibility.
How long will the hard working people of Ireland accept such behaviour?
Michael Moriarty,
Rochestown.
Clarification on fishing net mesh sizes
EDITOR - Thank you for your coverage of the very successful ‘Save Our Sprat’ public meeting in the Westlodge Hotel in Bantry on Sunday, May 18th (‘Sprat meeting sparks lively exchanges’). Following this meeting, there has been some interest in the mesh sizes of fishing nets used in the pair trawling of sprat in Ireland’s coastal waters.
We would like to clarify that, in Ireland, the minimum legal mesh size for sprat, and other small pelagic species, is 16 millimetres. However, this size is measured in a very specific way. As per EU Commission Regulation (EC) 129 / 2003, article 3.(2-3) (later refined by Commission Regulation (EC) 517 / 2008, which requires more technically-advanced gauges), when determining mesh size, ‘[a] gauge … shall be inserted by its narrowest extremity into the mesh opening in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the net. The gauge shall be inserted into the mesh opening using either manual force or using a weight or dynamometer, until it is stopped at the tapering edges by the resistance of the mesh.’
In simple terms, the mesh size is measured while the net itself is being stretched. This is why nets with a mere 8-millimetre mesh when slack may still meet the legal requirement of a ‘16-millimetre mesh size.’
Dolf D’hondt, Tomás O’Sullivan,
Save Our Sprat, Bantry Bay.
Legislators must put an end to fox hunting
EDITOR – White smoke from a chimney on the Sistine chapel announced the selection of a new Pope.
Can we expect a similar sign from a Leinster House chimney when a ban on fox hunting is announced? Ruth Coppinger TD is bringing a bill to the Dáil that aims to ban hunting with canines in Ireland. The Animal Health and Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill 2025 will amend the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, which contains an exemption for hunting. Deputy Coppinger’s bill, if enacted, would add a paragraph to Section 12 to ‘specify that fox hunting and related practices are banned and therefore cannot be considered as lawful hunting.’ The bill focuses on banning not only fox hunting but also trail hunting and the snaring and trapping of foxes.
Irish politicians have an opportunity to leave an Oireachtas legacy by supporting the passage of the Bill and voting to remove hunting with canines from the rural cruelty ecosystem.
The choice before our elected representatives is stark: to uphold a cruel and unnecessary activity or to champion a more compassionate future.
It will make for an interesting debate: the political progress of this Bill in the Dáil.
Passing the Animal Health and Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill 2025 would be a tangible demonstration of Ireland’s commitment to animal welfare.
For too long, the suffering of foxes has been dismissed as a mere pastime, a tradition upheld by a minority at the expense of animal welfare.
Now, legislators have the power to consign this outdated practice to history, fostering a more humane and ethical Ireland for all its inhabitants, both human and animal.
White smoke swirling from a Dáil chimney announcing a ban on foxhunting will be a much better sight than watching cardinal red fox blood seeping into grass on the hunting field.
John Tierney
Campaigns director, Association of Hunt Saboteurs
Dublin 1.
