Sir, – I write in response to your article on the proposed pilot programme to equip frontline gardaí with Taser stun guns (“Tasers could be on Irish city streets by Christmas,” December 2nd).
The reality is that the nature of threats faced by our frontline Garda members has changed markedly in recent years. Violent incidents, often involving knives or other weapons, can escalate in seconds.
At present, unarmed uniformed gardaí are expected to manage these situations with little more than their communication skills and hope that additional support can arrive in time. That is an unreasonable burden to place on the people we ask to run towards danger on our behalf.
Tasers, when properly governed and used, offer a proportionate, less-lethal option between verbal de-escalation and the deployment of firearms. International experience shows that in many cases the mere production of a Taser can calm a situation and prevent injuries to both the public and the officer involved.
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It is also reassuring that this proposal is being trialled in tandem with body-worn cameras. The combination of clear policy, robust training, independent oversight and video evidence can help ensure that the devices are used only when necessary and in a consistent manner. Transparent reporting and community engagement will be essential, but these are all areas where An Garda Síochána appear to be making positive strides.
Ultimately, if we expect gardaí to protect the public in an increasingly volatile environment, we must also be prepared to protect them.
Providing carefully controlled access to Tasers for frontline gardaí is a pragmatic, balanced step towards doing just that.
As a member of the public who values their service, I wish them every success with these trials and a safe festive period. – Yours, etc,
DAMIEN HANLON,
Clontarf,
Dublin.
Renaming Herzog Park
Sir, – The proposal that Dublin City Council rename Herzog Park – honouring my grandfather, Chaim Herzog, sixth president of Israel and a proud Irish man – and to consider renaming it “Free Palestine Park” is not a gesture of solidarity. It is an act of erasure.
That the council announced on Monday it has withdrawn this misguided measure was welcome news. However, it would be naive to assume this issue is going away, given the anti-Zionist fervour that has reached a fever pitch in Ireland.
The push to rename the park reflects a disturbing willingness to target Jewish history as a stand-in for Middle East politics. The park is located in the heart of Ireland’s historic Jewish neighbourhood, beside the country’s only Jewish school.
Should the name be changed, children who pass it each day would be told that their history – and the contributions of Irish Jews – can be erased to make a political statement.
Ireland is part of my family’s identity. My grandfather, of blessed memory, was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin. He fought against the Nazis during the second World War as an officer in the British Army – one of the many Irish-born Jews who put their lives on the line to defeat fascism.
His father, Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, served as Belfast’s rabbi and later as Ireland’s chief rabbi, standing firmly with the Irish people in their struggle for independence and earning the respect of revolutionary leaders who saw him as a moral voice during a turbulent era.
Ireland’s Jewish community has always been small but enormously impactful. My family’s story is woven into Ireland’s fight for freedom – and Ireland, in turn, shaped my grandfather’s world view, his commitment to justice, and his devotion to public service.
Naming a park after him was never about politics. It was a recognition that an Irish-born figure carried Ireland with him as he became a respected global statesman. Stripping his name would send a message: that Jewish contributions to Ireland are conditional, that our history can be rewritten or discarded when politically inconvenient.
To be clear: sympathising with the plight of Palestinians and recognising Irish Jewish heritage are not mutually exclusive. The council could have created a memorial, established a separate dedication, or added markers elsewhere. Instead, it chose to overwrite an Irish Jewish legacy.
This decision does not exist in a vacuum. Since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023, Jewish symbols and institutions worldwide have been increasingly targeted, as if local Jews were responsible for conflict thousands of miles away.
Dublin’s proposal fits this pattern far too well. When a Jewish legacy – especially one so rooted in Irish history – is seen as the most expendable or most appropriate for a political gesture in support of Palestine – it can only be interpreted as anti-Semitism.
Ireland prides itself on moral clarity, on standing with those who suffer, and on embracing a complex and pluralistic national story. That story includes its Jews. It includes my family. It includes generations of Irish Jews who contributed to Ireland’s civic, political and cultural life.
As a professional working with Jewish communities globally, I have seen that erasing Jewish memory never fosters peace; it only deepens division.
Herzog Park does not need a new name. Ireland needs the confidence – and the moral clarity – to honour all of its history, including its Jewish history, without apology. – Yours, etc,
DR ALEXANDRA HERZOG,
Director, William Petschek Global
Jewish Communities Department,
American Jewish Committee,
Boston.
Sir, – I am grateful to The Irish Times for drawing public attention to Dublin City Council’s intention to consider de-naming Herzog Park in Rathgar. I was pleased also to read the statement issued by An Taoiseach yesterday (November 30th).
My family lived in Rathgar for many years and I am fully aware that the park is adjacent to Stratford College, the only Jewish school in Ireland. What message would the proposed de-naming give to Jewish students, staff and the wider Jewish community in the area?
We are becoming increasingly aware that living as part of a minority community in Ireland is not always comfortable.
In 1945, Dr Robert Collis travelled from Ireland to Bergen Belsen concentration camp and returned, via Sweden, with nine or 10 Jewish children. Three of them attended our Quaker schools and one became our foster brother for two years. I remember a number of other Jewish pupils in our schools also. The Jewish community is well integrated and contributing to Irish life.
The Quaker Peace Testimony was established in 1660, based on a belief that there is something of God, something of value, in each human being to be nurtured and developed. The Bible states clearly that “Thou shalt not kill.” Violence will not solve the problems in the Middle East.
Palestinians are entitled to a home and livelihood also. The Occupied Territories Bill should not be deferred any longer.
The extremists in the current Israeli government must not be allowed to continue the Israeli destruction of Gaza and its people. – Yours, etc,
RACHEL BEWLEY-BATEMAN,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – The council motion is a step too far. While the intention of the proposal may not be anti-Semitic, the weight of its perception abroad and the understandable discomfort felt by Ireland’s Jewish community would be otherwise.
Opposition to the grotesque treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government and the Israel Defence Forces is not reinforced by the cancellation of a historical salute to an accomplished and proud Irishman, who unfortunately went on to embrace colonial ideals in Israel in later life. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL CULLEN,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Numerous prominent Jewish figures in Irish history, such as various members of the Solomans family, Gerald Goldberg and Tomi Reichental, deserve public recognition and commemoration.
Many other Irish Jews, as well as known members of the resistance to the Nazis who were Irish or settled in Ireland after the second World War, have contributed to Irish social and economic history in various ways.
Likewise, where evident, contemporary anti-Semitism must be acknowledged and resisted in Ireland and all other societies. The Holocaust that annihilated Jews and others remains a shameful stain on 20th century European history. We must consistently ask as a society how it could possibly have been allowed to happen and resist the scourge of Holocaust denial, including online and revisionist histories.
The key issue currently being systematically questioned in contemporary Irish human rights discourse, however, is the “right” of any nation regardless of religion or ethnicity or history to initiate or perpetuate a contemporary genocide.
This cannot be easily elided or obfuscated in current Irish memory politics. The debate about who or what to remember at Herzog Park is unavoidably intertwined with the contemporary annihilation of Gaza and the slaughter of Palestinians.
The common goal of resistance to any unlawful genocide should unite rather than divide all Irish faiths and political parties.
Raising the alarm on the conditions for a genocide and on genocide denial is an ethical imperative in tackling what Hannah Arendt termed “the banality of evil” that violently destroys lives and traumatises a generation. – Yours, etc,
PROF LINDA CONNOLLY,
Director,
Social Sciences Institute,
Maynooth University,
Ireland.
Occupied Territories Bill
Sir , – Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee apparently continues to vacillate in regard to the Occupied Territories Bill.
I am of the view that the Irish Government’s reluctance to enact the Bill is not founded upon concern for the legality of the “services” component of the legislation but rather represents a lack of commitment to the underlying principles upon which the Bill is based and a timid appraisal of possible economic consequences.
I contend that both international law and moral necessity require that the Bill becomes law notwithstanding any perceived geopolitical threat to Ireland’s interests.
It is not possible to overstate the egregious impact of the Israeli military occupation and the expanding settlements on the lives of the Palestinian people. The Bill is a small but significant instrument in the struggle for Palestinian self-determination. The legislation should be enacted as a matter of urgency. – Yours, etc,
CON LYNCH,
Schull,
West Cork.
Not a patch on the cabbage
Sir, – The Irishwoman’s Diary (December 2nd) took us back to less reverential times when a high fibre, vitamin rich member of the Brassica family got kicked around and often used as a weapon.
For what? For just being green and leafy? The tables have turned.
We can now watch, on TV, members of the Apiaceae family, Kevin and Katie Carrot, prepare for their wedding day, after a 10-year courtship. This endearing veg-elevating romcom is courtesy of a discount grocery store. But I still hold a special place in my heart for cabbages.
Family lore is that I turned up under a head of cabbage on the day I was born. – Yours, etc,
NUALA GALLAGHER,
Dublin 15.
A good health experience
Sir, – I am a 70-year-old man and have just returned to the UK after a brief trip to Dingle. Unfortunately, while there I had a fall and sustained a cut and significant bruising to my head. My wife insisted that I seek medical treatment and I was seen by the out-of-hours Southdoc service.
The wound was cleaned and sutured, however the doctor strongly advised me to attend hospital for an X-ray in order to exclude the possibility of a fracture.
I was given a letter of referral and travelled, with some trepidation, to the University Hospital in Tralee. I saw a triage nurse within 20 minutes of arrival and then had to wait as the department was busy, there were much more pressing cases to be dealt with than mine.
I was eventually examined by a doctor who decided that a CT scan was required. I had the scan and after a further brief delay received an assuring response.
As a tourist to Ireland, I felt that I should write to say how impressed and grateful I was for the treatment which I received from an efficient and friendly clinical team, all of whom were clearly working under a degree of pressure.
People are often quick to complain when things go wrong but slow to give credit when it is due.
Well done to the out-of-hours doctor who first saw me and to the staff at the Emergency Department at the University Hospital, Kerry. Thank you from a grateful tourist. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN WALSH,
Manchester,
England.
Remembering Hugh Wallace
Sir, – We were so upset on hearing the very sad news of the sudden death of architect and broadcaster Hugh Wallace.
We loved tuning into Home of the Year and thoroughly enjoyed the fun and entertainment that he and his fellow co-presenters brought to the show each season.
We never ever met Hugh but we always felt that we actually knew him. He will be truly missed. May he rest in peace. – Yours, etc,
DEE DELANY,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.
Sir, – Now that we have lost the gentle voice of Hugh Wallace, who is going to continue his work at allowing us see the potential of our neglected vernacular buildings?
He was a lone, kind and welcome advocate, educating us as to the value of what we had in front of our eyes but often failed to see. Hopefully his legacy will live on. – Yours, etc,
MARION WALSH,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
Rural pubs
Sir, – Dr Kathy McLoughlin’s remarks on the “social hub” value of rural pubs are spot on (Letters, December 2nd). Perhaps Revenue would demand that licences are awarded only to pubs that serve draft zero alcohol beers as an option, not just bottled, enabling driving, better social connections and improved physical and mental health benefits. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O’LEARY,
Dublin 4.
Mourning Ireland
Sir, – Hugh Linehan asks “Does RTÉ’s Morning Ireland need a refresh?” (December 2nd). He rightly points out the tired format and the all too familiar guests with presenters being “too deferential”.
The amount of spokespersons from advocacy groups allowed to state their positions without being rigorously challenged by presenters is also far too frequent. – Yours, etc,
MIKE MORAN,
Dublin 3
.
