Sir, – I write as a Jewish Australian who has lived in Ireland for the past 30 years. In recent days I have been deeply touched by the kindness of Irish people of all backgrounds – Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, atheist – who have contacted me to offer condolences and support in the wake of the Bondi massacre.
These messages have come from people I see every day, and from others I have not seen for years. They matter more than I can say.
They matter because the global Jewish community is feeling unusually lonely and vulnerable right now. Simply reaching out – sending a message, making a call, saying “I’m thinking of you” – helps us feel less alone.
It affirms a shared belief that violence against anyone, on the basis of religion, race or skin colour, is wrong.
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Ireland rightly prides itself on warmth and welcome. Yet it would be dishonest not to acknowledge a very real increase in racism here in recent years. We have seen attacks on members of the Indian community.
Muslim friends have told me of being harassed on the street and during quiet family meals out. In my own small town in Co Clare, where there is a tiny but active Jewish community in the Shannon area, swastikas have appeared in our local supermarket and in the university where I work.
When I mention this to non-Jewish friends, some respond that it is “just idiots” and that it means nothing. But for Jews, it does mean something. A swastika is not a prank or a doodle; it is a symbol historically and explicitly associated with the elimination of Jews. When we say we feel unsafe, we need to be believed.
I understand that many people in Ireland are distressed by the situation in Gaza, and I strongly defend everyone’s right to express political views and to stand in solidarity with civilians who are suffering.
At the same time, words matter. When chants of “from the river to the sea” are heard in small Irish villages, many Jews experience this not as a call for peace, but as a phrase that originates as a Hamas call for the destruction of Israel and the Jews who live there. Whatever the intent of those chanting, the effect on Jewish neighbours is fear.
It is possible – indeed necessary – to support the rights and dignity of Palestinians without using language that others hear as calling for their destruction. If you want to help your Jewish friends and neighbours, please choose your words carefully, listen when we explain why certain symbols or slogans alarm us, and reassure us that we belong here too.
I continue to believe in the fundamental decency of people. The compassion shown to me after the Bondi Beach attacks reminds me of that. Reaching out, speaking thoughtfully, and standing clearly against all forms of racism is how we look after one another. – Yours, etc,
DR KARNIE RODEN,
Co Clare.
Sir, – Fifty years ago I started my medical education in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.
What a place for a young student from very rural Ireland. I failed Irish in my Leaving Certificate so I couldn’t go to any Irish university.
I entered this amazing place full of people from all over the world and every religion you could think of, Christian, Muslim, Jew etc etc.
In the six-plus years I spent there I never heard one word of any racist comment, whatsoever.
In fact, in the latter part of my stay there was a Christian chapel in the basement and they turned it into a mosque because there were more Muslims than Christians in the college. Nobody said a word that I heard.
I don’t know what kind of medical education I got but I learned a huge lesson: we are all the same. – Yours, etc,
DR DAMIAN DOYLE,
Carnew,
Co Wicklow.
Ghosted by buses
Sir, – I wish to report a series of disturbing hauntings in Dublin.
I was recently visited by three consecutive ghost buses in the streets of our fair city. They were all phantom 15Bs.
The first was the ghost bus of journeys past. It tormented me with stories of successful journeys that have been happening for decades in other first world countries (that don’t have fourth world public transport systems).
The second was the ghost bus of journeys present. It fooled me into believing that it had “real time” information which guaranteed that my present journey would begin imminently.
The third was the ghost bus of journeys future. It conjured up nightmarish vistas of streets clogged with even more motorists if the city does not change its ways.
And the fourth ghost bus? It was the ghost bus of Christmas truth.
It whispered to me that Dublin Bus’s “real time” misinformation system is itself haunted and is actually based on nothing more than a series of AI-generated hallucinations.
I replied, “Well, the 15B should be renamed the 15G!” – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Treating older people
Sir, – I was deeply shocked to read your recent report on the appalling treatment of residents at Bloomfield Hospital. Sadly, however, I cannot say that I was surprised (“Huntington’s charity ‘worried and saddened’ by mistreatment findings at Bloomfield,” December 19th).
During a recent visit to an emergency department, my elderly mother was left sitting in soiled clothing for an extended period.
Despite repeatedly asking to be cleaned and made comfortable, her requests were refused on the grounds that there were not enough staff available. This was both humiliating for her and distressing for our family to witness.
No older person should be left in such undignified conditions, regardless of staffing pressures.
While frontline staff are undoubtedly working under immense strain, these situations point to a systemic failure that must be urgently addressed. Compassionate care should never be considered optional.
If this is what families are witnessing in busy emergency departments, it raises serious questions about the standard of care being provided to our most vulnerable citizens across the health system. – Yours, etc,
ELEANOR O’FARRELL,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Rugby tackle school
Sir,– Further to Johnny Watterson’s article on rugby tackle school (December 17th), it is interesting to note that to step on to a building site in Ireland one is required to have a Safe Pass and to obtain such a card one must have taken part and passed a detailed, legally required course.
All safety requirements are covered and every successful participant is readily available to work and behave safely.
Most importantly, if an accident occurs, there can be no excuse of not knowing the proper behaviour on the site.
The worker is responsible for himself and those around him.
And it works. Last year set new records for safety in the workplace.
Now compare that to rugby. You are only expected to go to “tackle school” after you have broken the rules and been caught.
And then you get your punishment reduced for finally learning what you should have known in the first place.
Rugby seems to think that you only need to learn how to drive after you have crashed your car and injured someone.
Just so long as you are wise after the event, who cares the damage and injuries that are done on the way to your enlightenment?
Seems like it is time for the rugby players to learn a bit of responsibility from the builders. – Yours, etc,
ENDA LYNCH,
Dublin 8.
A grand stretch
Sir, – Today, Friday, the back page of The Irish Times recorded that sunset was one minute later than sunset on Thursday. Sure there’s a great stretch in the evenings. – Yours, etc,
PAT HOGAN,
Salthill,
Galway.
Shannon to Dublin pipeline
Sir, – JV Carroll correctly suggests that one of the solutions to the Shannon-Dublin pipeline project is “minimising leakage which is a criminal wastage of a precious resource,” (Letters, December 17th).
Uisce Éireann have no realistic mains replacement plan for the pipes in Dublin. A few weeks ago they were fined ¤20 million by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) for falling short on leakage reduction targets.
The reason the people of Dublin are having unexpected water outages is that the water supply system is broken. Even if there were 10 Shannon pipelines it would not fix the issue that the pipes in the Dublin network are no longer fit for purpose, and whenever there is a cold snap they explode at the joints.
So if the pipeline project proceeds, up to 50 per cent of the expensively treated Shannon water will never reach the taps in Dublin. This precious resource will leak into the ground.
Replacing the pipes will become unavoidable.
If planning permission is granted for the pipeline the target completion date is 2032/2033.
If money was spent on a mains replacement pipe programme for Dublin now on a zoned basis a lot could be achieved in those years. – Yours, etc,
KAY MULLANE,
River Shannon
Protection Alliance,
Co Tipperary.
Sir, – Regarding recent correspondence to you on water charges, I as a private well owner and with my own sewage treatment plant, would welcome the introduction of water charges on all who benefit from the public services, so that I am not subsidising them through my income tax. – Yours, etc,
DAVE WRIGHT,
Co Wexford.
Price point
Sir – Can you confirm that the €2.70 I paid today in a shop for my Irish Times was the correct price as I cannot find any notification in the newspaper or indeed in previous issues of an intended increase from €2,60?
I note that the €2.70 is advised as “the recommended price in the Republic of Ireland” which might imply that retailers have an option on what to charge .
However, I note there is the option to travel to Northern Ireland to make a purchase where the new updated price is a bargain £2.00.
In any event I expect that the new increase will be subject to examination and debate in a future Pricewatch column as Conor Pope specifically asks that anyone with “a problem or gripe” be referred to him. – Yours, etc,
CLIFF FORSYTH,
Foxrock,
Dublin.
Dunnes Stores strikers
Sir, – I refer to an article in The Irish Times which outlined details of the Dunnes Stores strike where workers refused to handle goods from South Africa as a protest against apartheid (“Inside the Dunnes Stores apartheid strike: Bad blood, life-defining moments and doldrums,” December 13th).
The strike started in 1984 when a shop worker, Mary Manning, was suspended for refusing to handle South African grapefruit, in line with union policy.
The author of the article, Connal Parr, quotes the late journalist Nell McCafferty, writing initially in the Sunday Press, saying she clearly framed the industrial background as one that was being exploited by me, John Mitchell, then chief of the Irish Distributive and Administration Trade Union, with the strikers unfortunate bystanders in an overarching spat beyond their control.
She wrote that I was getting Dunnes women strikers to do something I would not ask of my male members, and it seemed to her to be a power struggle between “a young man who just started running a union and an old man who has always run the store by ignoring the union”.
I don’t know Connal Parr and despite he not knowing me either he claims to know my attitudes.
Many articles have been written on the Dunnes Stores strike but the article written by Nell McCaffrey and quoted in Saturday’s piece , was in my view, a unique “man bad woman good” one which was clearly contradictory as two of the 12 strikers, Tommy Davis in Henry Street and Brendan Barron in Crumlin were male.
The motion to ban the handling of South African goods, which was suggested by me, and which became union policy, had no gender attached.
To refer to the strikers as “bystanders” is deeply insulting to that gallant group.
Of course, I was guilty over 15 years of backing members in disputes in shops, banks, hotels, and State institutions as this was and is the obligation of a union official.
After Mary was suspended the members met me and my friend and colleague the late Brendan Archbold. I didn’t demand a ballot or refer the matter to the executive, but immediately sanctioned the strike and Brendan organised the picketing.
Brendan and I were long-standing opponents of apartheid and in 1970 I was secretary of the campaign against the Irish tour of the white South African rugby team and I picketed their match in Lansdowne Road.
Mr Parr doesn’t mention the interaction between former minister for labour Ruairí Quinn and myself which helped bring the dispute to a successful conclusion. He couldn’t because he didn’t ask.
Now approaching my 80th birthday, I remain intensely proud of Brendan and the strikers and I remain involved in Africa with Schools and Health Foundation building schools and providing clean water in five countries. I also march against apartheid in Palestine. – Yours, etc,
JOHN MITCHELL,
Former general secretary,
IDATU,
Dublin.
