Sir, – I, as a widow with no children, find it unfair and appalling that I am only allowed to leave at a maximum €40,000 to particular persons. I paid for my house, I paid taxes on my house and I pay taxes on all services that running a household entails.
I am not looking to make anyone rich, but I do have a fondness for certain reliable persons in my family whom I would like, on my demise, to leave my chattels to as I so wish.
There are many childless couples and childless single people who took out a mortgage and after many years of paying same, now find they are not in charge of who will most benefit in their will, other than the State’s revenue department.
It is not just and needs to be amended as soon as possible, so that all are equal on death in regard to the distribution of their possessions. – Yours, etc,
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CLAIRE KENNEDY,
Galway.
Vaccine hesitancy
Sir, – William Reville warns that we have become so accustomed to vaccine protection that we risk growing blasé (“The urgent need to combat vaccine hesitancy in Ireland and abroad,” September 18th).
Many younger people are unaware of the devastating impact of infectious diseases before the advent of vaccinations.
My mother, aged four in the 1930s, was hospitalised with diphtheria and almost died. I lay dangerously ill with measles in the 1970s.
A teacher of mine was left severely disabled after contracting polio as a child. These were not rare misfortunes but everyday realities.
By contrast, my fully vaccinated teenage son has been spared such ordeals. That is the gift of immunisation.
We cannot afford complacency. The lessons of the past must drive us to resist vaccine hesitancy – for the sake of generations to come. – Yours, etc.
MAEVE O’HARE,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Electricity and pricing
Sir, – I agree with Eamon Ryan’s comment that electricity generation using natural gas is stopping electricity prices coming down (“This is how electricity prices can come down,” September 16th).
But the main reason for that is the current electricity market rules used in the EU and also in the UK, rather than just delays in developing more renewable generation projects.
These market rules allow gas generation to set the price we pay for electricity in a “marginal pricing” system. Under this “marginal pricing” system, the price of electricity is set by the most expensive source of electricity needed to meet demand at any given time.
In practice, this means that even a small reliance on gas-powered plants, when other sources have reached capacity, results in the entire market paying the high cost associated with gas-fired electricity generation. This is regardless of how much lower priced renewable electricity was used to meet that demand.
Ireland is more exposed to this market pricing requirement than any other country in Europe because of our higher reliance on gas generation to nearly always meet demand and in order to provide security of electricity supply.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and many other commentators have called for this approach to be reviewed especially as this one-size-fits-all approach places Ireland at a severe disadvantage compared to other EU countries.
An indication of the impact of sticking with this approach was revealed last week in a report produced for Greenpeace in the UK. This report found that removing gas generators from this marginal pricing system would lower electricity prices across the UK by £5.2 billion per year by 2028.
Not making a similar or equivalent change to the market rules here will prevent our ability to reduce electricity prices even with an increased use of renewable generation.
So the most immediate thing that should be done to reduce electricity prices is to remove the cost of gas generation from setting the price we all have to pay for all other sources of electricity generation. – Yours, etc,
JIM DULLAGHAN,
Ictu Energy & Natural Resources Committee chair,
Dublin.
Sir, – It is ironic that your columnist Eamon Ryan is putting forward renewables and particularly windpower as the answer to our high electricity costs while on the next page of The Irish Times there is a report of a renewable energy company sustaining big losses in the first half of its financial year, due it says to the wind not blowing often or hard enough.
Without doubt, renewables have a major part to play in our future energy supply, but for the dark, calm days when there is no wind and low light levels we will still need to have (standby) gas generation.
No matter how many interconnectors we have between ourselves and the UK and France, we cannot always be sure they will be available, particularly if the Soviet Union plays nasty. Putting all your eggs (energy supply) in one basket continues to be a bad idea. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN CROTTY,
Blackrock,
Co Louth.
Free speech and the US
Sir, – About six months ago, your Washington correspondent Keith Duggan said that while living in America, it was still “easy to sit and laugh and tell yourself that everything is normal”. Why? Mainly because of daily life going on and also because “on the late night talkshows . . . aren’t the satirists free to say whatever they like?”
With the ending of Stephen Colbert’s contract and now Jimmy Kimmel having been driven off the air, this is no longer the case. It’s really hard to be optimistic about the direction of travel as regards censorship and, indeed, democracy in the United States.
We have to face facts – the Land of the Free is fast becoming a right-wing dictatorship. – Yours, etc,
JOHN COTTER,
Ferrybank,
Waterford.
Once bitten
Sir, – According to the excellent article on fungi and mushrooms in Thursday’s newspaper, only a small percentage of Irish mushrooms are edible (“There’s no shortcut: Identifying safe mushrooms on a forage in Wicklow,” September 18th). I am reminded of a quote that I heard when attending a foraging walk in Wicklow a while ago: “In fact you can eat all mushrooms and fungi; but some, only once.” – Yours, etc,
JOHN DUNNE,
Enniscorthy,
Co Wexford.
Airlines and emissions
Sir, – I thoroughly enjoyed reading a letter today (September 17th) which laid out a history of Dublin Airport’s passenger numbers, and questioned how an expansion of the passenger cap on our nation’s largest airport is compatible with Ireland’s binding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 51 per cent (based on 1990 levels) by 2030.
Well, I have terrible news for everything on this planet (except perhaps the pockets of airlines and airport authority shareholders). An expansion of Dublin Airport’s passenger numbers will have little effect on Ireland’s GHG emissions because we, like most other countries in the world, do not count emissions generated by international flights towards our tally.
This is because, as everyone knows, the emissions generated by a flight from say Dublin to Paris, cannot possibly be attributable to either Ireland or France while there is any opportunity for policymakers to shrug off responsibility. – Yours, etc,
JACK WOGAN,
Newcastle,
Co Galway.
The DAA and Kenny Jacobs
Sir, – The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) board appoints Kenny Jacobs as chief executive at the start of 2023. This, one assumes, followed a thorough evaluation process to assess his suitability for the job. Within less than 18 months, there are persistent “tensions between Mr Jacobs and the board”.
So the board proposes to pay him ¤1 million to go away. The same board will then continue to run the show, with no troublesome accountability to upset a gentle landing for all involved. Good governance and high-performing leadership or what? – Yours, etc,
HUGH McBRIDE,
Castlebar,
Co Mayo.
Defending the Ryder Cup
Sir, – I read with amazement the recent negative commentary in your Opinion pages regarding the cost to the taxpayer of Adare Manor’s hosting of the Ryder Cup in 2027 (September 11th and 16th).
A recent report conducted by Sheffield University on behalf of Golf Ireland concluded that golf-related spending contributes over ¤700 million to the Irish economy annually. The industry directly supports more than 15,000 jobs.
Exchequer receipts on golf-related activities in 2023 were ¤277 million, and the total value of government grants allocated to golf in that year was ¤16 million.
So, in terms of return on investment, golf paid for itself 17 times over in 2023. Contrary to Fintan O’Toole and John McManus’s opinions, I can’t think of another sport that represents such good value for the Irish taxpayer.
But sport isn’t about tax take and value for money. Sport brings joy to participants and spectators alike.
Who watching will ever forget Shane Lowry lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush in front of tens of thousands of his fellow countrymen and women?
Or the joy on the faces of the hundreds of kids around the final green as Rory McIlroy triumphed in spectacular style at the Irish Open just last week?
The Ryder Cup is one of the biggest events in sport. It will be watched by 500 million people in 180 countries. Why would we ever want to give up the opportunity to host sporting events like this on our island that inspire future generations to take up sport and share in the joy and health benefits that sport provides? – Yours, etc,
JAMES FOX,
Dublin 13.
War on words
Sir, – Surely headlines in the media concerning the “war” in Gaza give a false picture of what is going on.
Could someone come up with a more appropriate name? Words mean something, and can feed into a false narrative. –Yours, etc,
DESMOND CURLEY,
Boyle,
Co Roscommon.
Presidency and lazy journalism
Sir, – Can we please have an end to the lazy journalism which has characterised the early weeks of the presidential election campaign?
The media can and should hold candidates to account, but without having to regurgitate largely nonsensical stories – some decades old – which neither inform the electorate nor question the merits or policies of candidates.
I wish all those who are running for the highest office in the land well, and sincerely hope that Sinn Féin might find the courage to get off the fence and put a candidate in the race before the closing date for nominations. – Yours, etc,
GERRY STAUNTON,
Dundrum,
Dublin 16.
Smartphone smarts
Sir, – I refer to the octogenarian John Burnett’s letter in Thursday’s Irish Times where he comments that he’s too busy looking out at the world to allow his smartphone to dominate his life. I don’t allow that either but, as a mainly housebound nonagenarian, mine does play a hugely important part in my life. My family literally keep me in the picture.
In the last fortnight I’ve attended a wedding in Scotland, another in Italy and yesterday, oh joy, I met my newborn great-granddaughter in England for the first time.
No wonder my smartphone provides such a bonus window on my world; I’d be lost without it. – Yours, etc,
JANE MEREDITH,
Cabinteely,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – Frank J Byrne (September 16th) concludes that 13 of his 14 fellow travellers on public transport were scrolling on their smartphones.
Has he considered some may have been reading The Irish Times online? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN CROWE,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.
Annoyed from the get-go
Sir, – Am I the only one who is so irritated by the continual use of get-go. While enjoying great racing from Leopardstown and the Curragh at the weekend, when commenting on the start of each race, each commentator referred to the get-go.
In other cases get-go is used instead of the words beginning, outset, and commencement.
Is this a phase, or will I just have to bear with it? – Yours, etc,
MARY O’DWYER ,
Terenure ,
Dublin 6W.
On the wrong side of history
Sir – Edward Burke is totally correct in stating that criticism of Heather Humphreys based on her Unionist ancestry is entirely unfair. (“Humphreys family has nothing to apologise for,” September 16th).
Humphreys had no choice in who her grandparents were and probably had little choice about attending Orange Order parades as a child.
As a government minister she did, however, have a choice in whether or not to support the ill-fated RIC Commemoration in January 2020. She chose to do so and misled the public by claiming the event “certainly was never about anything to do with the ‘Black and Tans’. ’’ I think it is fair to ask whether any politician who does not know their history and who believed honouring the RIC for their role during the War of Independence was a good idea is fit to be the next Irish president? – Yours, etc,
PÁDRAIG ÓG Ó RUAIRC,
Kanturk,
Co Cork.
Stop the lights
Sir, – On a recent visit to Dublin I saw a cyclist stopped at a red light.
Is this a record? – Yours, etc,
DÓNALL Ó MURCHÚ,
Co Wexford.
