Sir, – The Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar has denounced Taoiseach Simon Harris personally as an anti-Semite and has condemned Ireland’s supposed “anti-Israel” policies (“Taoiseach rejects anti-Semitism charge by Israel”, News, December 17th). It is an outrageous allegation against Mr Harris, but one carefully crafted to damage Ireland internationally. Simon Harris is not an anti-Semite. This hardly needs to be amplified in Ireland, but probably must be for those abroad who are less familiar with Irish politics and who – for whatever reason – still take Binyamin Netanyahu’s government seriously on these matters. The accusation is a ludicrous falsehood, a type of primitive mud-slinging in the hope that some will stick, perhaps in the minds of pro-Israel US politicians.
One could observe that the current right-wing government in Israel is weaponising “anti-Semitism” in an effort to distract attention from the massacre in Gaza and, perhaps, to disrupt Ireland’s push with Spain for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and plans to implement the Occupied Territories Bill. It would be a sensible observation and possibly true, but another reality is that Israel has for many years pushed hard to redefine anti-Semitism to include criticism of the Israeli state’s treatment of Palestinians and of the political ideology of Zionism. It is a profoundly regrettable abuse of language in a world where the vile belief system of anti-Semitism is alive and well, and needs to be combatted. Criticism of war crimes in Gaza and support for international humanitarian law are not acts of anti-Semitism. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
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Co Dublin.
Sir, – In May, Taoiseach Simon Harris announced the Government of Ireland’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine without preconditions, such as insisting that Hamas release the hostages they had been holding in captivity since October 7th, 2023.
Last week, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin secured the Government’s approval for Ireland to intervene in South Africa’s legal action against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in an attempt to help change the definition of genocide.
In 1942, when Jewish Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term “Genocide”, it was to describe Nazi Germany’s attempt to wipe out entire racial groups including European Jews. Subsequently, their actions – such as the forced transportation of populations to extermination camps, etc – became known as the Holocaust in which six million Jews and many other groups like Roma and people with disabilities, etc, were brutally murdered by the Nazis. After the war, Lemkin’s work formed the basis of the Genocide Convention approved by the United Nations in 1948.
On Sunday, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste expressed their regret and surprise at Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar’s decision to close its Embassy in Dublin. This move begs the question: why? Yet part of the answer should be clear to everyone – for Jews, changing the legal definition of the term genocide to help denigrate and delegitimise the State of Israel crosses a red line. – Yours, etc,
DAVID M ABRAHAMSON,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar rejects Taoiseach Simon Harris’s claim that Israel is starving children. Mr Saar contends that Hamas is looting humanitarian aid.
However, this spring the US Agency for International Development and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration provided an assessment to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which concluded that Israel was deliberately blocking deliveries of food and medical aid into Gaza.
And in June, the global poverty organisation Oxfam issued a press release titled, “Famine risk increases as Israel makes Gaza aid response virtually impossible.”
More recently, in October, a group of 99 US medical professionals who volunteered in Gaza sent an urgent letter to US president Joe Biden. The letter asserts that conditions are so dire that malnutrition in pregnant women is resulting in miscarriages, and that babies are starving to death because mothers are too malnourished to breast-feed, coupled with a lack of formula and clean water.
Similarly, the International Criminal Court asserts that there is reasonable evidence to conclude that Israeli leaders “intentionally and knowingly” deprived civilians in Gaza of food, water and medical supplies.
Simon Harris and Ireland are standing firm in defence of international humanitarian law. – Yours, etc,
TERRY HANSEN,
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, US.
Sir, – The closure of the Israeli embassy is the culmination of years of unfortunate and unnecessary virtue-signalling by successive Irish governments which has accelerated markedly after October 7th, 2023.
I do hope once the dust settles on the current regional conflict that a reset of relations can be achieved in the near-future and our nations can attempt to normalise our relationship in a meaningful way. For this to happen both the Irish Government and our wider establishment need to stop looking at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the prism of the struggle for Irish independence against Britain and understand it is a very different beast. It is not reasonable for Ireland to lecture Israel to act like a lamb when they are encircled by wolves (the recently exposed horrors of Assad regime are a case in point). – Is mise,
EM KELLY,
Dublin 20.
Data protection and justice
Sir, – In light of the findings of the report commissioned by the Government into dismissal procedures in the Defence Forces, after the controversy surrounding the Cathal Crotty case, which found that the Defence Forces were hindered by concerns in the Courts Service regarding data protection (“Soldier jailed for sexual assault was able to remain in Army due to ‘data protection’ concerns”, News, December 17th), will the Taoiseach now apologise for his ill-tempered and ill-judged comments when he made reference to “no hiding place” in the Defence Forces for personnel with criminal convictions?
It is clear that despite wanting to act in such cases, the Defence Forces were hampered by another organ of State.
In light of the serious hurt caused to members of the Defence Forces and their families by his comments at the time, Simon Harris should, without further delay, apologise for his words. – Yours, etc,
CONOR HOGARTY,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – You report that a soldier who was in jail having been convicted of sexual assault was able to remain in the Defence Forces.
This was the case because the civil court authorities refused to pass details of his offences to the military due to “data protection concerns”.
You have previously reported that the same sensitivities presented difficulties for local authorities in using photographs of litter louts caught in the act.
And when the Garda Síochána published photographs in an attempt to identify those “in attendance” at the Dublin riots, we had complaints from the usual sources. When, I wonder, will the rights of the rest of us trump the right to privacy of those littering our streets, those destroying buses and trams and looting shops and those jailed for sexual assault?
We hear a lot about rights. What about obligations? – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Dublin 6.
Commuters and Irish Rail
Sir, – In your editorial “The Irish Times view on rail commuter woes: a network unfit for purpose” (December 15th), you refer to the marked deterioration in punctuality of Dart services and note that “the worst pressures are on the line running north from Connolly station”.
While the age of the infrastructure and rolling stock as well as the signalling system are factors, the real deficit is the lack of investment in new track, and this is evidenced by the fact that an increased frequency of the Belfast service triggered this latest crisis.
Since the original Dart concept in 1975, it has been recognised that the commuter lines need to be separated from the mainline services and that the bottleneck between Connolly and Pearse stations needed to be addressed.
The solutions identified decades ago are, respectively, the duplication of the track running northwards from Connolly and westwards from Heuston and the construction of the Dart underground.
These allow the four commuter lines to flow freely through the city centre while also allowing the mainline rail services to Belfast, Cork and Galway run on separate tracks.
It’s high time for the new Government to get on with it. – Yours, etc,
ADRIAN CONWAY,
Kilcloon,
Co Meath.
Sir, – I served in CIÉ as managing director of Dublin Bus in the early 1980s. So I have some experience of the management and culture within Irish Rail.
The recent collapse in train punctuality coincides with the introduction of additional train services on the Dublin Belfast line. Railway management are in complete control of the train operating environment. If train operations are unsatisfactory following the introduction of additional services inside the Dublin network, there is either a planning failure or an execution failure, or both. And railway management are entirely responsible.
On a recent Friday morning at Greystones railway station, the 6.54am Dart departure was delayed by eight minutes due to the late arrival of the 5.50 Gorey to Dublin train, which was due at 6.48am but arrived six minutes late. This train had a clear and unimpeded run from Gorey but was still late. The knock-on effect of this delay impacted all subsequent services on the Dublin network. This is a clear failure of operational discipline.
The time-honoured (and tired) management excuse that the railways are underfunded is no longer true. The network has never had so much resources at its disposal. Indeed the more funds are granted to Irish Rail the worse it seems the operating performance becomes.
Passengers will have noticed that Irish Rail management are conspicuous by their absence from the media. This is the culture I referred to earlier. Management are invisible when the going gets difficult. This tactic has served them well in the past. The board of Irish Rail now need to step up to the plate. – Yours, etc,
JOHN HYNES,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Policing and local democracy
Sir, – In an opinion piece on the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, Donncha O’Connell did not to mention one of the most anti-democratic elements of the new structure, the abolition of the existing joint policing committees (“Is Ireland’s Policing Authority about to wither on the vine of legislative inertia?”, Opinion & Analysis, December 16th).
Up to this, the joint policing committees comprised elected representatives (local councillors and Oireachtas members), along with community and business representatives. The chairperson was an elected member who was accountable in that role to the public and the relevant local council.
These are now to be replaced by so-called community safety forums with a reduced number of elected representatives, an increase in representation from the now even less accountable statutory bodies and a chairperson appointed by a trio from the Department of Justice, the Garda Síochána and a local authority official. Such an imposed chairperson and composition would not be acceptable to any Oireachtas committee and should not be imposed on local government or local communities.
Respect for the law and the enhancement of the safety and security of citizens was always at the forefront of the previous Joint Policing Committees. This is a serious dismantling of this democratic aspect of Ireland’s policing structure at a local level. – Yours, etc,
Cllr DERMOT LACEY,
(Labour),
Dublin 4.
An international tax haven
Sir, – Coming up to Christmas, people think of the poor of the world and contribute very generously to aid organisations. Sadly, all of this, including our State contribution to the developing world, is undermined by our role as an international tax haven, facilitating massive global greed.
We deprive poor countries of a tax base for schools, healthcare and housing. Perhaps the newly forming government will start to extricate the country from these extremely damaging activities. It would be a great new year’s resolution. – Yours, etc,
PAUL CONNOLLY,
Cavan.
Learning other languages
A chara, – It is not surprising that young Irish adults are the least likely in the European Union to know a foreign language (News, December 16th). Every country in Western Europe with the exception of Ireland and the United Kingdom has access to the main television stations of Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the UK, so the main languages of Europe are available to their populations at large. This is a major facility which provides ready access to these languages, including local colloquialisms, as well as more formal usage, on a daily basis. This is obviously a major advantage to anyone wishing to learn a foreign language, and could be easily incorporated into an educational programme.
The same television stations, plus Portuguese, are also widely available across the countries of South America and have been for over 20 years. It defies belief that as a member of the European Union they are not available in Ireland. I raised this matter with the then-minister for communications some years ago but received a dismissive reply from a minion.
Even if Irish television stations could be persuaded to show some foreign films with subtitles, it would be a step in the right direction. – Yours, etc,
OLIVER BALDING,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Fractional distillation
Sir, – “Ireland’s ideal future is to be half-American, half-European” (David McWilliams, Last Word, December 14th).
How about half-American, half-European, half-Irish, considering how we, reportedly, struggle with maths and fractions? – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KEEGAN,
Booterstown,
Co Dublin.