EDITOR – I wish to express my concern regarding a growing trend I’ve noticed at GAA matches – the apparent disregard for our national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann.
The national anthem is a powerful symbol of our identity, history, and unity. It deserves the utmost respect, especially in the context of GAA games, which are rooted in Irish culture and pride.
However, in recent times, I’ve observed players leaving their positions or beginning warm-ups well before the final lines of the anthem are sung. While their eagerness to begin the match may be understandable, this behaviour comes across as dismissive and disrespectful.
As the GAA is not just a sporting body but also a custodian of Irish heritage, it should take the lead in promoting proper respect for the anthem. One practical suggestion could be to introduce a mandatory two-minute pause between the end of Amhrán na bhFiann and the start of play.
This would give players and supporters a moment to compose themselves and by doing so honour the anthem appropriately.
Respecting our anthem should not be seen as a formality, but as a small yet significant gesture of national pride. I’d like to see the GAA to take this issue seriously and to lead by example.
Kevin O’Regan,
Fuschia Footwear,
Clonakilty & Skibbereen.
Declining democracy poses threat to mankind
EDITOR - Ever since the Civil War, democracy in Ireland has been in a healthy state and remains in a healthy state to this day. However, there is considerable evidence that worldwide, democracy is in serious decline. This not only includes some Asian countries, but also includes Israel and some eastern European countries like Hungary, and to a lesser extent Italy, Germany, and Britain, and more worryingly, in recent times, the United States.
There is adequate evidence to show that declining democracy, leading to false information and blatant mistruths, were the main reasons why the Brexit referendum was voted through in the UK in 2016. In recent years Hungary, under Prime Minister Victor Orban, persists in blocking EU aid for Ukraine at the behest of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The war in Gaza began on October 7th 2023 and has become a vicious ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. Despite being a democracy, Israel has on numerous occasions blatantly refused to end the war in Gaza. Instead, it continues to drop enormous 2000lb bombs, some of them unguided, even on schools and hospitals and other civilian targets. According to Aljazeera news agency, to date ‘more than 50,000’ Palestinian civilians have been killed in the war in Gaza, with ‘at least 16,456 of them children and over 11,000 women.’
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement: ‘This unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of Israel’s failure to comply with democratic principles of international humanitarian law.’
For many years Israel has presided, ‘supposedly’ as a democratic country, in order to get warfare aid from western countries. While there is mounting evidence that a majority of the Israeli population are opposed to the killing of Palestinian civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing administration are prepared to defy democracy and continue with genocide and the slaughter of innocent civilians. In the United States, the emergence of Donald Trump and the decline of democracy coincided. The extent of Trump’s opposition to democracy clearly emerged on January 6th 2021, when a violent pro-Trump mob invaded the US parliament in Washington in a desperate last-ditch effort to prevent Joe Biden’s election being sanctioned by the US parliament.
In addition, within days of his election, President Trump instructed the US military to release the ban on 2000lb bombs going to Israel, that had been imposed by President Biden towards the end of his term. Clearly, President Trump wants to rule as a self-proclaimed dictator/autocrat at the expense of democracy, and the welfare of millions of the less well-off American people.
Let’s hope that common sense prevails with the US electorate in future elections.
Diarmuid Cohalan,
Ballinhassig.
‘Housewife of the Year’ is an unjust portrayal
EDITOR - As somebody who was married to the late Eileen O’Sullivan, a former regional winner of The Housewife of the Year award back in 1978, I would question the motive behind the way that Monday night’s programme was presented.
Monday night’s programme was not about The Housewife of the Year that Calor Kosangas sponsored some decades ago, which was ‘light entertainment’, and not a current affairs programme of Church and religion-bashing, or about the backward ways of Ireland then.
The manner in which that programme on Monday night was presented should not have been called The Housewife of the Year, as it was a current affairs effort, and not a light entertainment programme as it should have been, and shown some respect to the contestants of the time; and to Calor Kosangas, to RTÉ, and its production teams who put an exceptional amount of work and effort to make it the show it was.
I remember the night in the Neptune Stadium that my wife won the regional contest - there wasn’t standing room there, and the crowd lifted the roof off; the Opera House would only be trotting after it. It was a very enjoyable show then, and the majority of the country looked forward to it, not as a story of sorrow and woes but sheer enjoyment.
I think that it is extremely sad when you see a programme like The Housewife of the Year being depicted in such a manner, to help sell it aboard for financial reward. Wishing all contestants down the years the very best.
Michael O’Sullivan.
Allihies,
Beara
When will obesity be recognised as a disease?
EDITOR - I listened with interest to a man on the radio at the weekend, talking about how for a long time epilepsy was not seen as a disease and the same thing is happening with obesity.
The sooner people stop being judgemental and see obesity as an illness, the better for everyone.
Gerry Murphy,
Macroom.
