Sir, – As someone who has spent the last decade convening chefs, farmers, and thinkers at the Food on the Edge symposium to ask how Ireland might nurture a meaningful food culture, I read Corinna Hardgrave’s article on the State’s response to the Michelin ceremony with a painful sense of déjà vu (“Lacklustre response to Michelin awards coming to Dublin reflects wider State indifference to restaurant sector,” Home News, December 7th).
Ireland loves to market food, but it has never learned how to support the people who actually make that culture possible. What should be a once-in-a-generation opportunity, the veritable Olympics of food, to show the world who we are on the plate, has been treated instead as a conference-centre booking.
We have extraordinary talent in Ireland: five two-star restaurants, 18 one-stars, 25 Bib Gourmands, and dozens more that have built reputations without ever chasing stars.
Their achievements rest on small producers, fishermen, regenerative farmers, bakers, cheesemakers and butchers, the very people who sustain Ireland’s culinary identity. Yet none of this ecosystem sits anywhere in State policy or strategy.
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Food on the Edge was founded in 2015 because of precisely this vacuum. Year after year, chefs from Ireland and abroad tell me that our ingredients are world class and our food stories are compelling but poorly told and structurally unsupported.
Tourism bodies know food is what visitors remember, yet restaurants do not appear in strategy, budget lines, or meaningful collaboration.
Michelin coming to Dublin should have been more than a spectacle. Scotland understood that: it used the guide to articulate identity, champion provenance and build confidence.
We could have done the same, a North-South showcase of Irish food, press tours to producers, panels on sustainability, young chef platforms, a celebration of our farmers and fishers. Instead, we have missed the moment again.
If we truly believe Irish food matters, then the restaurant sector cannot continue falling between remits. A joined-up national culinary policy, not rhetoric, but resources, is overdue.
Awards do not build culture; support and a national strategy does. I look forward some day to seeing a national food strategy that takes food on this island as a whole experience, not just a product or a commodity. –Yours, etc,
JP McMAHON,
Founder, Food on the Edge,
Chef & culinary director,
EatGalway Restaurant Group,
Galway.
Sir, – With the Michelin Guide ceremony taking place in Dublin in February, we cannot afford to miss this opportunity to showcase the very best of Irish food. Scotland and others have used similar occasions to elevate their culinary identity. Ireland must do the same.
Before 2020, Fáilte Ireland had an excellent food tourism unit, guided by industry through active stakeholder engagement.
Ireland had a national food tourism strategy and dedicated funding to deliver it. Five years on, we have neither a unit nor a national plan.
Thankfully, Minister for Tourism Peter Burke’s intervention and the launch of the new national tourism policy on December 1st have put food back centre stage, with welcome commitments and a promised new culinary tourism strategy.
However, it is paramount that the dedicated food tourism unit within Fáilte Ireland is restored.
Michelin’s arrival is not simply another event. It is a global platform with the ability to transform how Ireland is seen as a food destination. We should be working hand in hand with Michelin to showcase the best of Irish restaurants and ingredients and to springboard Ireland to a position as a country known for high-quality food and hospitality.
If we fail to act now, we will let slip an opportunity that other nations compete fiercely to secure. Culinary tourism is one of Ireland’s strongest assets and a key driver of visitor satisfaction.
It is time to match the ambition of our chefs and producers and show the world the true excellence of Irish food. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN COLLENDER,
President,
Restaurants Association of Ireland.
Sir, – I read with an increasingly sinking heart Corinna Hardgrave’s excellent reporting on the lacklustre response from Irish State bodies to the frankly enormous news that Michelin are holding their 2026 awards ceremony in Dublin early next year.
This is the rarest of opportunities landing in our lap to showcase Ireland’s increasingly fizzing food scene to every chef and journalist of note across the UK, Europe and the world.
As I sat in Glasgow at last year’s awards, watching one showcase after another on everything Scotland has to offer in terms of produce, dining out and food tourism, I felt compelled to explore the country more from a food perspective, and embarrassed that I didn’t know more about its incredible larder of ingredients, and ever more exciting restaurant scene.
To think we will have the very best chefs and food press from across the British Isles sitting in the Convention Centre next February and we won’t have bothered getting our act together to do the same is shameful, and just another massive opportunity that this country is about to squander. – Yours, etc,
LISA COPE,
Editor,
allthefood.ie,
Dublin.
Weather warnings
Sir, – One wonders why, so close to Christmas, institutions are so hesitant to make straightforward, life-protecting decisions. Sending people home early, cancelling non-essential activities, or enabling remote work would be simple, obvious measures. Yet fear of disrupting operations still appears to outweigh concern for safety.
Even with a status orange alert, the language used by institutions is carefully hedged: operations continue, exams or events proceed as scheduled, and the only guidance is to “take extra care” and travel at your own risk. Workers, students, and the wider public are left to interpret their own danger.
This cascade of ambiguity flows from Met Éireann to government departments, to universities, to employers, and finally down to individuals.
Everyone wants to acknowledge the storm without actually taking decisive action. The result is a curious spectacle: warnings that are technically serious, but so hedged that personal responsibility becomes the default safety measure.
Does anyone else yearn for a stronger sense of collective responsibility? Or for institutions acting together to protect people, rather than being paralysed by fear of an angry response from so-called business leaders. Surely common sense and safety could be valued as highly as operational continuity. – Yours, etc,
GLENN FITZPATRICK,
Drimnagh,
Dublin 12.
The disappeared
Once upon a time December 8th marked one of the biggest shopping days of the year in Dublin for those outside of Dublin, or as us Dubs called it “culchie day”.
As an expat Dub, now living in Waterford, driving down to Waterford yesterday evening the roads were quiet and the journey calm.
So my question is, where have all the culchies gone ? – Yours, etc,
GARY HONER,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
Times past
Sir, – Long gone are the days when most mornings on RTÉ radio I used to hear that “traffic was very slow on the Stillorgan dual carriageway”. – Yours, etc,
KEITH NOLAN,
Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co Leitrim.
Taxi dispute
Sir, – The taxi drivers’ dispute highlights the rights of the citizenry vis a vis the rights of workers to discommode the public who have no say in the matter and whose livelihoods could be threatened by such disruption.
I don’t believe taxi drivers or anybody else have the right to use public spaces to disrupt anybody else’s right to avail of public areas.
The only right any worker should have is to highlight their dispute by picketing or using placards.
In the case of taxi drivers where this is not possible due to the nature of their work, they need to face the loss of earnings in pursuit of their claim by going on strike instead of forcing the public to make their problems become everybody else’s. – Yours, etc,
ANN McKIERNAN,
Trim,
Co Meath.
Vanishing venues
Sir, – I am writing to commend Una Mullally’s article “The Complex is ‘the only place that does it all’: Dublin can’t let another arts venue vanish,” (December 8th).
As a studio member of The Complex since 2020, I can attest to the “malleability” of this particular arts venue. Over the years I have opened our studio door to be presented with a welcome variety of unexpected and diverse scenes, including stage actors rehearsing heated lines, nervous dancers discussing their imminent stage debut as they stretch together, Muay Thai boxers conducting pre-fight interviews, oiled-up wrestlers psyching each other up, and jazz musicians warming up as their music seeps out into the shared studio space.
It would be a massive blow to the cultural life of Dublin to lose a venue such as The Complex. In addition to the eclectic events schedule and highly ambitious visual arts programme, it brings artists into contact and dialogue with each other like no other creative space I have shared.
In my five years on Arran Street, I have collaborated with musicians, visual artists, curators, designers, and artist collectives, all facilitated by the cultural energies of this accessible and affordable inner city studio space.
I hope a solution can be found to save The Complex so that we don’t join the many vanquished artist spaces which are buried (but not forgotten), like the ancient bones beneath our feet in Mary’s Abbey. – Yours, etc.
BARRY GIBBONS ,
Artist and lecturer,
Marino,
Dublin 3.
Rising energy prices
Sir, – Did our Government bribe us with taxpayers’ money to accept the increased cost of energy?
Am I the only one who thought it odd that our Government gave us all hundreds of euro of credits on our energy bills that we hadn’t sought?
For the last two winters, the costs of electricity in Ireland soared and before people could protest, we were gifted generous credits to offset these costs. But now that these prices have been normalised (and the cost of energy continues to go up) the credits have disappeared.
We were told costs skyrocketed because of the war in Ukraine. But energy companies in Ireland are posting profits in the hundreds of millions on the back of these wildly inflated prices. Doesn’t this look like a cash grab?
Would the Government be acting in the interests of the people if it regulated private energy companies so that they can’t hike prices while making massive profits?
Do we need to nationalise energy, if energy suppliers are unable or unwilling to supply essentials, ie heat in winter, light and hot water, at reasonable rates? – Yours, etc,
MARY KATE O’ FLANAGAN,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
Power blocs
Sir, – I most assuredly agree with Colin Wolfe (Letters, December 8th) on Ireland’s need to defend itself and by extension our fellow citizens and way of life in the European Union.
In a world where it is now official US policy to laud dictatorial regimes and to call Europe a threat, we must show our solidarity with the rest of the EU and not become a weak link in the chain.
When large power blocs are seeking to divide us, now is the time to really show we are committed to Europe and democracy. – Yours, etc,
ENDA SCANLON,
Ennis,
Co Clare.
Deer Park not so dear
Sir, –Taoiseach Micheál Martin has told the Dáil that the €753,528 spent on the improved access of 14 steps and ramp at Deer Park, Mount Merrion, is “excessive by any yardstick,” (“NTA says council sought more money for Deer Park steps due to ‘challenges on site’,”December 8th).
I know the area, with family there. The improved access to Deer Park needs to be seen in a wider context. Deer Park is a 13-hectare multiuse park providing nature, walking, sports and children’s play area.
The districts served by Deer Park are the local electoral areas of Dundrum and Stillorgan with 65,000 population. The population is relatively aged and public open space is in short supply.
The improved access is a once-off investment in strategic infrastructure for the benefit of further generations. This aspect should be considered in any review of the project. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN CALLANAN,
Ennis Road,
Limerick.
A premium product
Sir – My premium for renewal of health cover for myself and my wife was increased by 31 per cent when it came up recently.
When I called the insurer to complain I was assured that the increase was necessary to cover their ever increasing costs.
They cited a 40 per cent increase in MRI scans as an example.
I reluctantly agreed to renew but was flabbergasted a few days later to read that my insurer had a bundle of money to spend in return for having their name added to the RDS stadium.
The feeling of being duped still lingers: I wonder if it is covered by my policy? – Yours, etc,
JIM CONWAY,
Dublin 14.
Influenza and vaccination
Sir, – As I lie In my sick bed, recovering from influenza type A, I hear in the news that the flu vaccine given to me and to other over 65 year olds was not the best vaccine available. The better vaccine was held back for reasons of economy.
Whereas I understand fully that the HSE does not have an unlimited budget, I wonder why nobody told me when I was invited to receive a vaccine that there was a better vaccine available, which would apparently protect me more effectively from influenza although at a greater cost.
Why was I not informed of this at the time, and maybe even offered the choice of selecting the better vaccine for a small fee?
In medical practice the concept of informed consent should always hold sway. In giving any patient a treatment, a doctor, nurse or the HSE is supposed to inform the patient fully of the risks and benefits of the treatment, as well as the presence or absence of alternative treatments.
The decision by the HSE not to use the better vaccine should have been told in advance to all patients receiving the vaccine.
The HSE is in breach out of its ethical obligations by not doing so. – Yours, etc,
PAVEL MARIANSKI,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
