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Letters to the Editor, June 24th: On the US, Iran and Israel, alcohol labels and  Damien Duff

Letters to the Editor, June 24th: On the US, Iran and Israel, alcohol labels and Damien Duff

Irish Times6 hours ago

Sir, – Much of the narrative this past weekend has been about the threat that Iran poses to the Middle East and the wider world – and it does. However, when I look at the front page of today's paper (June 23rd) and see a picture of Donald Trump, wearing his signature MAGA baseball cap, I see an individual who, as each day passes, poses an even greater threat to the free world.
His self-belief in his dictatorial rights and his personal ego, surrounded as he is by a fawning coterie of admirers, means that none of us can sleep easy in our beds. And the response of the rest of the world? 'Yes, Mr Trump' (and it doesn't matter about the question). – Yours, etc,
T GERARD BENNETT,
Bunbrosna,
READ MORE
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – There is no evidence to prove that Iran's nuclear development programme was on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb – or that Iran intended to ever create one.
The US has entered the war on the basis of a lie – just like the lie about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As a consequence, the world is a more dangerous place, and Israel can do what it wants in Gaza because Gaza is no longer headline news. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS FITZPATRICK,
Terenure,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – The recent US and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure – including the Fordow nuclear facility – represent a clear success. While echoes of Desert Storm are hard to ignore, this is no copycat conflict. Then, a crumbling dictatorship was flattened after weeks of preparation. Now, a theocratic regime faces targeted precision strikes – and still claims to speak for the Islamic world.
Iran calls itself a republic but functions more as a clerical state. Since 1979, it has ruled through fear and martyrdom, pioneering the suicide bomber through the warped logic that 'martyrdom' is not suicide. It has bankrolled Hezbollah, funds Hamas, and propped up Assad in Syria.
The Iran nuclear deal of 2015 is dead. Trump pulled out in 2018. The current operation has roots in joint war games conducted under President Biden – another example of continuity in US-Israeli strategic planning.
Iran now faces the full squeeze of American power, staged in the sort of geopolitical theatre that feels closer to pro-wrestling than diplomacy.
What this moment reveals is the irrelevance of soft power. The EU lectures. The US strikes. And Ireland? We shout from the back of the room like a student union officer trying to go viral. Despite being the most pro-Palestinian government in our history, we're still dismissed as 'Zionist puppets.' No one's satisfied. Nothing gets done.
Maybe it's time we stopped chasing applause and started confronting hard truths. – Yours, etc.
JORDAN COLE,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – In the wake of the US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, what rational actor in the Middle East region will not conclude that the only guarantee they have against future Israeli- US aggression will be to acquire their own nuclear arsenal as soon as possible?
Rather than discouraging Iran, the air strikes will only serve to convince hardliners within the regime to develop nuclear weapons.
In the meantime, while the world's media attention shifts away from Gaza, we should remind ourselves that the genocide there continues unabated with ongoing daily atrocities. – Yours, etc,
TOMAS McBRIDE,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Nuclear disarmament
Sir, – In her letter of June 21st, Mary Fitzgerald states she is not aware of any country disarming since the Non-Proliferation Treaty came into being on the early 1970s.
Of course, there is one such country – Ukraine, which had the bravery and care for the common good to dismantle and disarm its nuclear arsenal.
It has often been stated, in fact, that if it had kept them it would not have been invaded by Russia. A terrible repayment for doing the world such a service. – Yours, etc,
ENDA SCANLON,
Ennis,
Co Clare.
Damien Duff's Shels legacy
Sir, – I was shocked to learn of Damien Duff's sudden departure from his position as manager of Shelbourne FC. His legacy as Shelbourne manager is multifaceted.
He brought success back to the club after a couple of decades in the doldrums with the 2024 Premier Division title win. He has got Shelbourne back into Europe – a mouth-watering Champions League tie against Linfield awaits his successor.
He has filled Tolka Park again – a heaving Riverside is in stark contrast to the empty one of just a few years ago. Then there's the boost to the league as a whole of having such a decorated and celebrated ex-player (two Premier League titles with Chelsea, and 100 Irish International caps). – Yours, etc,
BRIAN QUIGLEY,
Dublin 9.
Alcohol labelling
Sir, – Minister of State Alan Dillon is simply wrong when he says that delaying alcohol health-warning labels is not about undermining public health. ('TD says she hasn't drunk alcohol in over 13 years during impassioned plea to not delay health-warning labels,' June 20th).
It is undermining public health. The current ministerial dialogue regarding re-examining the democratic Oireachtas decision and legislation to introduce alcohol health-warning labels is an outrageous dereliction of their duty. It prioritises alcohol industry profits over public health. Mr Dillon articulates alcohol industry themes when he says he is reflecting sequencing policy and protecting exports and jobs.
Alcohol health-warning labels are a health issue, and are about improving health. Despite the enormous numbers of deaths, illness, crime and social harms of alcohol, most Irish citizens do not know or understand the risks of alcohol consumption. With this in mind, the Public Health (Alcohol) Act was passed unanimously by the Oireachtas in 2018.
This Act included provisions to place alcohol health-warning labels on all alcohol products sold in Ireland. The regulations have been signed into law and are due to come into effect in May 2026, a decade after they were first proposed.
Citizens, especially, are unaware of the huge cancer risks of alcohol. Alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including breast and bowel cancers, two of the most common in Ireland. Ireland has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in pregnancy in OECD, causing foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which affects up to 2 per cent of people, with lifelong harmful consequences.
In my own professional life, I have cared for thousands of patients with alcohol-related liver disease, many of whom have died.
The alcohol industry is simply driven by maximising profits. It denies the scale of alcohol harms and deaths. As stated by the World Health Organisation, the alcohol industry, with their conflict of interests, should have no role in public health and should stay in lane. There should be no deferral or stepping back from the introduction of alcohol health warning labels on May 26th 2026. It is a citizen's right to know the harms of the alcohol they consider consuming, and a key public health action. – Yours, etc,
Prof FRANK MURRAY,
Chair, Alcohol Action Ireland,
Dublin.
Sir, – So Minister of State Alan Dillon is the latest to support the call by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to re examine the health labelling of alcohol products. He joins many others, including Tánaiste Simon Harris, who was instrumental in passing the labelling issue in the alcohol Act. Mr Dillon said: 'I have a duty to defend the interests of Irish indigenous SMEs who are facing unprecedented global trade pressures'.
Not a mention of having a duty to defend the rights of Irish citizens to be informed of some of the harms that alcohol can have on their health.
I also have a duty and whereas I don't have the podium that politicians enjoy, I have a right to call you out and say: 'I know that anyone who puts profit before health needs to re-examine their conscience and not re-examine the alcohol health-labelling issue. – Yours, etc,
JOHN HIGGINS,
Ballina,
Co Mayo.
A tattoo can be for you too
Sir, – Dr Pat McGrath (Letters, June 23rd) writes that tattoos were once the preserve of 'male prisoners, sailors and psychiatric patients'.
As a member of a generation born on the 'wrong' side of the release of Tommy by The Who, I admit to still indulging in a bit of body art. It's cheaper than therapy, lasts longer than a haircut, and – unlike a mortgage –I can still get one.
A well-worn tattoo offers a much more interesting point of engagement for the younger generation than concepts they cannot relate to, such as landlines or home ownership.
Many tattoos commemorate loved ones, mark personal milestones and memories, or serve as a form of entertainment. Most have no meaning to the viewer at all.
In an age of deepfakes, disappearing data, doom scrolling, and negligible attention spans, a tattoo might be the last permanent thing left in the world to call your own.
Provided that it's not done in comic sans. – Yours, etc,
ULTAN Ó BROIN,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – As a grandmother of eight, I decided, post-pandemic, to fulfil a long held desire to get a tattoo. I now have 10 very small tattoos on the inside of my wrists.
Each one has a special meaning for me and they bring me joy.
I have no regrets at all. – Yours, etc,
LAURA O'MARA,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
RPZs and holiday lets
Sir, – The logical outcome of last week's decision to make all of Ireland a rent pressure zone is to immediately shutter short-term rental accommodation in the country, as most of these are now required to have change-of- use planning permission to operate ('
Thousands of holiday lets will need planning permission due to rent pressure zone change
s,' June 18th).
We trust the Government has made alternative accommodation arrangements for all those tourists and Irish holidaymakers who will now be hearing from their holiday-home hosts informing them that their accommodation is no longer available.
We trust, too, that the Government is making arrangements to compensate all the small business owners – restaurants, craft shops, tourist attractions – who will see their earnings evaporate from the loss of those visitors. Or, perhaps, the changes to the RPZ legislation is just further disastrous faffing to distract from the Government's failure to meet its own home building targets?
All of this as our tourist season is about to begin. – Yours, etc,
ROBBYN SWAN,
ÁINE McCARTHY-KENT,
Co Waterford.
MARY VAN SON,
Co Kildare,
AIDAN SHILLING
Co Wexford,
Kieran Flanagan,
Co Clare,
DENISE NOLAN,
Co Wicklow.
Infrastructure suggestions
Sir, – In his column last week, Michael McDowell urged the Government to replicate a piece of legislation from 1925 which the fledgling Free State government enacted to build the massive Ardnacrusha electricity station on the Shannon.
It covered the State financing of the project, the CPO-ing of land, construction of canals, and so forth.
This is the way, he suggests, to overcome the administrative sclerosis blocking the construction of the north Dublin sewage treatment plant, the piping of water from the Shannon to Dublin, talked about for nearly 30 years, the building of vitally needed onshore and offshore wind energy farms, as well as key road and rail projects.
Meanwhile, every Government member, from the Taoiseach down, and the heads of the various State infrastructural agencies (EirGrid, ESB, Uisce Éireann, transport agencies), acknowledge the dire consequences of not resolving these logjams, and the fact that the existing permitting systems are not for purpose.
Last month, the Government launched its new accelerating infrastructure taskforce to underline this fact. But this will be little more than the latest episode of 'kicking the can down the road' unless the Government undertakes the kind of bold legislative initiative urged by Senator McDowell. So, could it happen? Well, last week, the Government was able to draft, pass, and have enacted, a Bill extending rent pressure zones to the whole country. Where there's a will, there's a way! – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN O'BYRNES,
Morehampton Road,
Dublin 4.
Remembering that summer
Sir, – In tandem with your correspondent Michael Gannon (Memories of a summer solstice, Letters, June 21st) I too 'was among the many who had to traipse back to examination halls on Friday, June 27th, and Saturday, June 28th, to sit a repeat of the English and Maths exams' in 1969.
In hushed tones, I have admitted that I was happy enough to have a second stab at the Maths papers, even if they had to be taken on a Saturday!
The 'stolen papers' wasn't the only hardship visited upon us that year. Just as the cyclical post Christmas wind-up for June was beginning to gain momentum, secondary school teachers went on strike on Saturday, February 1st, 1969 for three weeks, causing considerable disruption, but especially in the mindset of us students.
I often wonder how the challenges of the 'Class of 1969' would be dealt with in modern times.
Looking back now, I am happy to say that I don't think a Covid-like compensatory inflation of my grades would have made any difference in my consequent and fulfilling working life. – Yours, etc,
MAY FAHY,
Newbridge,
Co Kildare.
Dogs on the beach
Sir, – The main problem in trying to restrict dogs from our beaches (Letters, June 21st) is that politicians seem unwilling to address the problem.
Here in Greystones, on the beautiful South Beach, dogs are supposedly banned from one small patch in the summer, but on most days, dogs and their owners can still be seen there.
Local councillors are unwilling to do anything about it as there are just too many dog-owner votes to be lost. Another beach along the front, the Cove, might sometimes be mistaken for a dog park.
Joanne Hunt makes clear in her article ( 'Dog business has no business on the beach', June 21st) that dog poo contains a lot of dangerous pathogens and unfortunately un-picked up dog mess decorates our Greystones pavements, grassy areas and all the beaches. – Yours, etc,
IGOR CUSACK,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Much of the narrative this past weekend has been about the threat that Iran poses to the Middle East and the wider world – and it does. However, when I look at the front page of today's paper (June 23rd) and see a picture of Donald Trump, wearing his signature MAGA baseball cap, I see an individual who, as each day passes, poses an even greater threat to the free world.
His self-belief in his dictatorial rights and his personal ego, surrounded as he is by a fawning coterie of admirers, means that none of us can sleep easy in our beds. And the response of the rest of the world? 'Yes, Mr Trump' (and it doesn't matter about the question). – Yours, etc,
T GERARD BENNETT,
Bunbrosna,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – There is no evidence to prove that Iran's nuclear development programme was on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb – or that Iran intended to ever create one.
The US has entered the war on the basis of a lie – just like the lie about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As a consequence, the world is a more dangerous place, and Israel can do what it wants in Gaza because Gaza is no longer headline news. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS FITZPATRICK,
Terenure,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – The recent US and Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure – including the Fordow nuclear facility – represent a clear success. While echoes of Desert Storm are hard to ignore, this is no copycat conflict. Then, a crumbling dictatorship was flattened after weeks of preparation. Now, a theocratic regime faces targeted precision strikes – and still claims to speak for the Islamic world.
Iran calls itself a republic but functions more as a clerical state. Since 1979, it has ruled through fear and martyrdom, pioneering the suicide bomber through the warped logic that 'martyrdom' is not suicide. It has bankrolled Hezbollah, funds Hamas, and propped up Assad in Syria.
The Iran nuclear deal of 2015 is dead. Trump pulled out in 2018. The current operation has roots in joint war games conducted under President Biden – another example of continuity in US-Israeli strategic planning.
Iran now faces the full squeeze of American power, staged in the sort of geopolitical theatre that feels closer to pro-wrestling than diplomacy.
What this moment reveals is the irrelevance of soft power. The EU lectures. The US strikes. And Ireland? We shout from the back of the room like a student union officer trying to go viral. Despite being the most pro-Palestinian government in our history, we're still dismissed as 'Zionist puppets.' No one's satisfied. Nothing gets done.
Maybe it's time we stopped chasing applause and started confronting hard truths. – Yours, etc.
JORDAN COLE,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – In the wake of the US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, what rational actor in the Middle East region will not conclude that the only guarantee they have against future Israeli- US aggression will be to acquire their own nuclear arsenal as soon as possible?
Rather than discouraging Iran, the air strikes will only serve to convince hardliners within the regime to develop nuclear weapons.
In the meantime, while the world's media attention shifts away from Gaza, we should remind ourselves that the genocide there continues unabated with ongoing daily atrocities. – Yours, etc,
TOMAS McBRIDE,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Nuclear disarmament
Sir, – In her letter of June 21st, Mary Fitzgerald states she is not aware of any country disarming since the Non-Proliferation Treaty came into being on the early 1970s.
Of course, there is one such country – Ukraine, which had the bravery and care for the common good to dismantle and disarm its nuclear arsenal.
It has often been stated, in fact, that if it had kept them it would not have been invaded by Russia. A terrible repayment for doing the world such a service. – Yours, etc,
ENDA SCANLON,
Ennis,
Co Clare.
Damien Duff's Shels legacy
Sir, – I was shocked to learn of Damien Duff's sudden departure from his position as manager of Shelbourne FC. His legacy as Shelbourne manager is multifaceted.
He brought success back to the club after a couple of decades in the doldrums with the 2024 Premier Division title win. He has got Shelbourne back into Europe – a mouth-watering Champions League tie against Linfield awaits his successor.
He has filled Tolka Park again – a heaving Riverside is in stark contrast to the empty one of just a few years ago. Then there's the boost to the league as a whole of having such a decorated and celebrated ex-player (two Premier League titles with Chelsea, and 100 Irish International caps). – Yours, etc,
BRIAN QUIGLEY,
Dublin 9.
Alcohol
labelling
Sir, – Minister of State Alan Dillon is simply wrong when he says that delaying alcohol health-warning labels is not about undermining public health. ('TD says she hasn't drunk alcohol in over 13 years during impassioned plea to not delay health-warning labels,' June 20th).
It is undermining public health. The current ministerial dialogue regarding re-examining the democratic Oireachtas decision and legislation to introduce alcohol health-warning labels is an outrageous dereliction of their duty. It prioritises alcohol industry profits over public health. Mr Dillon articulates alcohol industry themes when he says he is reflecting sequencing policy and protecting exports and jobs.
Alcohol health-warning labels are a health issue, and are about improving health. Despite the enormous numbers of deaths, illness, crime and social harms of alcohol, most Irish citizens do not know or understand the risks of alcohol consumption. With this in mind, the Public Health (Alcohol) Act was passed unanimously by the Oireachtas in 2018.
This Act included provisions to place alcohol health-warning labels on all alcohol products sold in Ireland. The regulations have been signed into law and are due to come into effect in May 2026, a decade after they were first proposed.
Citizens, especially, are unaware of the huge cancer risks of alcohol. Alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including breast and bowel cancers, two of the most common in Ireland. Ireland has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in pregnancy in OECD, causing foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which affects up to 2 per cent of people, with lifelong harmful consequences.
In my own professional life, I have cared for thousands of patients with alcohol-related liver disease, many of whom have died.
The alcohol industry is simply driven by maximising profits. It denies the scale of alcohol harms and deaths. As stated by the World Health Organisation, the alcohol industry, with their conflict of interests, should have no role in public health and should stay in lane. There should be no deferral or stepping back from the introduction of alcohol health warning labels on May 26th 2026. It is a citizen's right to know the harms of the alcohol they consider consuming, and a key public health action. – Yours, etc,
Prof FRANK MURRAY,
Chair, Alcohol Action Ireland,
Dublin.
Sir, – So Minister of State Alan Dillon is the latest to support the call by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to re examine the health labelling of alcohol products. He joins many others, including Tánaiste Simon Harris, who was instrumental in passing the labelling issue in the alcohol Act. Mr Dillon said: 'I have a duty to defend the interests of Irish indigenous SMEs who are facing unprecedented global trade pressures'.
Not a mention of having a duty to defend the rights of Irish citizens to be informed of some of the harms that alcohol can have on their health.
I also have a duty and whereas I don't have the podium that politicians enjoy, I have a right to call you out and say: 'I know that anyone who puts profit before health needs to re-examine their conscience and not re-examine the alcohol health-labelling issue. – Yours, etc,
JOHN HIGGINS,
Ballina,
Co Mayo.
A tattoo can be
for you too
Sir, – Dr Pat McGrath (Letters, June 23rd) writes that tattoos were once the preserve of 'male prisoners, sailors and psychiatric patients'.
As a member of a generation born on the 'wrong' side of the release of Tommy by The Who, I admit to still indulging in a bit of body art. It's cheaper than therapy, lasts longer than a haircut, and – unlike a mortgage –I can still get one.
A well-worn tattoo offers a much more interesting point of engagement for the younger generation than concepts they cannot relate to, such as landlines or home ownership.
Many tattoos commemorate loved ones, mark personal milestones and memories, or serve as a form of entertainment. Most have no meaning to the viewer at all.
In an age of deepfakes, disappearing data, doom scrolling, and negligible attention spans, a tattoo might be the last permanent thing left in the world to call your own.
Provided that it's not done in comic sans. – Yours, etc,
ULTAN Ó BROIN,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – As a grandmother of eight, I decided, post-pandemic, to fulfil a long held desire to get a tattoo. I now have 10 very small tattoos on the inside of my wrists.
Each one has a special meaning for me and they bring me joy.
I have no regrets at all. – Yours, etc,
LAURA O'MARA,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
RPZs and
holiday lets
Sir, – The logical outcome of last week's decision to make all of Ireland a rent pressure zone is to immediately shutter short-term rental accommodation in the country, as most of these are now required to have change-of- use planning permission to operate ('Thousands of holiday lets will need planning permission due to rent pressure zone changes,' June 18th).
We trust the Government has made alternative accommodation arrangements for all those tourists and Irish holidaymakers who will now be hearing from their holiday-home hosts informing them that their accommodation is no longer available.
We trust, too, that the Government is making arrangements to compensate all the small business owners – restaurants, craft shops, tourist attractions – who will see their earnings evaporate from the loss of those visitors. Or, perhaps, the changes to the RPZ legislation is just further disastrous faffing to distract from the Government's failure to meet its own home building targets?
All of this as our tourist season is about to begin. – Yours, etc,
ROBBYN SWAN,
ÁINE McCARTHY-KENT,
Co Waterford.
MARY VAN SON,
Co Kildare,
AIDAN SHILLING
Co Wexford,
Kieran Flanagan,
Co Clare,
DENISE NOLAN,
Co Wicklow.
Infrastructure suggestions
Sir, – In his column last week, Michael McDowell urged the Government to replicate a piece of legislation from 1925 which the fledgling Free State government enacted to build the massive Ardnacrusha electricity station on the Shannon.
It covered the State financing of the project, the CPO-ing of land, construction of canals, and so forth.
This is the way, he suggests, to overcome the administrative sclerosis blocking the construction of the north Dublin sewage treatment plant, the piping of water from the Shannon to Dublin, talked about for nearly 30 years, the building of vitally needed onshore and offshore wind energy farms, as well as key road and rail projects.
Meanwhile, every Government member, from the Taoiseach down, and the heads of the various State infrastructural agencies (EirGrid, ESB, Uisce Éireann, transport agencies), acknowledge the dire consequences of not resolving these logjams, and the fact that the existing permitting systems are not for purpose.
Last month, the Government launched its new accelerating infrastructure taskforce to underline this fact. But this will be little more than the latest episode of 'kicking the can down the road' unless the Government undertakes the kind of bold legislative initiative urged by Senator McDowell. So, could it happen? Well, last week, the Government was able to draft, pass, and have enacted, a Bill extending rent pressure zones to the whole country. Where there's a will, there's a way! – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN O'B YRNES,
Morehampton Road,
Dublin 4.
Remembering that summer
Sir, – In tandem with your correspondent Michael Gannon (Memories of a summer solstice, Letters, June 21st) I too 'was among the many who had to traipse back to examination halls on Friday, June 27th, and Saturday, June 28th, to sit a repeat of the English and Maths exams' in 1969.
In hushed tones, I have admitted that I was happy enough to have a second stab at the Maths papers, even if they had to be taken on a Saturday!
The 'stolen papers' wasn't the only hardship visited upon us that year. Just as the cyclical post Christmas wind-up for June was beginning to gain momentum, secondary school teachers went on strike on Saturday, February 1st, 1969 for three weeks, causing considerable disruption, but especially in the mindset of us students.
I often wonder how the challenges of the 'Class of 1969' would be dealt with in modern times.
Looking back now, I am happy to say that I don't think a Covid-like compensatory inflation of my grades would have made any difference in my consequent and fulfilling working life. – Yours, etc,
MAY FAHY,
Newbridge,
Co Kildare.
Delighted to
be an atheist
Sir, – Watching arguments unfold among self-declared Christians about the decision to welcome a member of the LGBTQ+ community into their midst, I am delighted to be an atheist. No biblical orthodoxy prevents or hampers my extending love to people of all genders and sexualities.
I will march in as many Pride parades as possible this year to show my support for my brothers and sisters in the trans community and all who celebrate the rich diversity of human life and love.
If that consigns me to hellfire and brimstone, I'll take my chances. Love wins. – Yours, etc,
BERNIE LINNANE,
Dromahair,
Co Leitrim.
Dogs on
the beach
Sir, – The main problem in trying to restrict dogs from our beaches (Letters, June 21st) is that politicians seem unwilling to address the problem.
Here in Greystones, on the beautiful South Beach, dogs are supposedly banned from one small patch in the summer, but on most days, dogs and their owners can still be seen there.
Local councillors are unwilling to do anything about it as there are just too many dog-owner votes to be lost. Another beach along the front, the Cove, might sometimes be mistaken for a dog park.
Joanne Hunt makes clear in her article ( 'Dog business has no business on the beach', June 21st) that dog poo contains a lot of dangerous pathogens and unfortunately un-picked up dog mess decorates our Greystones pavements, grassy areas and all the beaches. – Yours, etc,
IGOR CUSACK,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.

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Nuclear weapons have been in the Middle East for decades – not in Iran, but in Israel
Nuclear weapons have been in the Middle East for decades – not in Iran, but in Israel

Irish Times

timean hour ago

  • Irish Times

Nuclear weapons have been in the Middle East for decades – not in Iran, but in Israel

Donald Trump 's decision to go to war against Iran will not stop the spread of nuclear weapons. On the contrary, it has taught every dictator a simple lesson: get yourself a H-bomb fast or you will be bombed whenever we feel like it. Trump once threatened to unleash 'fire and fury' on North Korea . He didn't do it because North Korea has 50 nuclear warheads. But the Iranian regime is fair game, not because it was probably developing its own nuclear weapons , but because it had not actually done so. This is the grotesque irony of this war – if the mullahs had been more reckless, they would be safe. Ostensibly, the American and Israeli war on Iran has a laudable aim: to keep nuclear weapons out of the combustible Middle East. Fine – until we remember that nuclear weapons have been in the Middle East for decades – specifically in Israel. Israel's nuclear doomsday plan is called the Samson Option , after the biblical hero who pulled down the temple in Gaza, killing himself but also all the Philistines. With Trump in harness, it is pulling the temple of international order down on all our heads. READ MORE Israel's possession of about 90 nuclear warheads ('A-bombs and H-bombs, low yield and high yield, nuclear artillery shells and nuclear mines,' writes Ari Shavit in My Promised Land) is almost the definition of cognitive dissonance. For the Samson threat to be effective, everybody has to know it exists. Yet Israel does not acknowledge that existence and punishes those who do so. In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu , who worked at Israel's nuclear weapons facility at Dimona, revealed details of the programme to the Sunday Times. He was kidnapped in Italy by Mossad agents, drugged and flown back to Israel. There, he was tried in secret and sentenced to 18 years in prison, much of which he served in solitary confinement. The point of Vanunu's punishment was to sustain at all costs what has been called Israel's policy of 'implausible deniability'. This cognitive conjuring trick has worked. As Shavit puts it in his essential book about Israel in his lifetime: 'the international community accepted and adopted Israel's policy of opacity regarding [the] existence' of Dimona. It did so at least in part because the Samson Option was developed with active assistance from France while the United States (from the Eisenhower presidency onwards) turned an appropriately blind eye. Thus the presence of a major nuclear arsenal in the most inflammable part of the world has been an unknown known. The fear of nuclear weapons in the Middle East is focused on a country where they do not exist (Iran). It cannot be placed in the country where they do exist. Israel successfully created a reality distortion field in which the possible (Iran might get nuclear weapons) obscures the actual (Israel already has them). Even when, in November 2023, Amihai Eliyahu , a minister in the Israeli government, suggested in a radio interview that Israel could consider dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza , the EU and the US stuck their fingers in their ears and pretended not to hear. This great cloud of deliberate unknowing shrouds an obvious truth – the inevitability that, since Israel has been allowed to become a nuclear power, its regional rivals will eventually do the same. Many senior figures in Israel opposed the creation of the Samson Option because they feared, in Shavit's phrase, that it would 'open the gates of a future hell'. [ Nuclear threat is more real than at any time since second World War Opens in new window ] Writing in 2013, Shavit predicted: 'Sooner or later, the Israeli monopoly will be broken. First one hostile state will go nuclear, then a second hostile state, then a third. In the first half of the 21st century, the Middle East is bound to be nuclearised. The world's first multi-rival nuclear arena might emerge in the world's most unstable region.' When Shavit put this to one of the main architects of Israel's nuclear programme, the unnamed 'engineer' did not demur. 'He can definitely foresee a Middle East glowing in radioactive green ... As far as the engineer is concerned, there is only one answer: a pre-emptive strike.' Nuke them before they nuke us. This is the nihilistic logic set in train when the West gave the green light to a nuclear-armed Israel. In choosing to ignore this reality, the democratic world implicitly accepted that Israel exists in a twilight zone where the normal rules do not apply. It allowed Isreal to become a black hole of accountability. The problem with black holes is that they suck in everything that approaches them. Once you exempt Israel from the principle of nuclear non-proliferation, you also give it licence to ignore every other norm of behaviour. As we saw last week, Iran hitting a hospital in Israel with a rocket is an outrage (and yes it really is) but Israel launching 700 attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities in Gaza is a regrettable necessity. A double standard is worse than no standard at all. It makes those who practice it look like liars, not just to the outside world but to their own citizens. When a war crime is merely an act of violence against civilians committed by people we don't like, all moral pronouncements become hollow. The US called Vladimir Putin's attacks on 'heat, water, electricity' in Ukraine 'barbaric'. But that word loses all meaning when it cannot be uttered in relation to Gaza. What's pulled down in this destruction of principles is any sense that democratic politicians believe what they say. As citizens watch their leaders switch their outrage on and off and collude in the atrocities they have so recently condemned, they become ever more deeply cynical. And cynicism corrodes democracy. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 wasn't just disastrous for the people of that country. It poisoned the wells of public trust on which democracy depends. The attack on Iran combined with the continuing slaughter in Gaza will be equally toxic. More voters will exercise their own Samson Option – pull the whole damn thing down on all our heads.

Israel reports waves of Iranian missiles, soon after Trump announced ceasefire
Israel reports waves of Iranian missiles, soon after Trump announced ceasefire

RTÉ News​

timean hour ago

  • RTÉ News​

Israel reports waves of Iranian missiles, soon after Trump announced ceasefire

Israel's military said Iran launched waves of missiles, with emergency services reporting three people killed, hours after US President Donald Trump announced a complete ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end a 12-day war. Witnesses said they heard explosions near Tel Aviv and Beersheba in southern Israel. Israel's military said six waves of missiles were launched by Iran and Israel's national ambulance service said three people were killed in Beersheba, the first reported deaths in Israel since Trump announced the ceasefire late last night. A senior White House official said Mr Trump had brokered a ceasefire deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks. "On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, 'THE 12 DAY WAR'," Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. An Iranian official earlier confirmed that Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire, but the country's foreign minister said there would be no cessation of hostilities unless Israel stopped its attacks. Abbas Araqchi said overnight that if Israel stopped its "illegal aggression" against the Iranian people no later than 4am Tehran time (1.30am Irish time), Iran had no intention of continuing its response afterwards. There have been no reported Israeli attacks on Iran since that time. "The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later," Mr Araqchi added in a post on X. Mr Trump appeared to suggest that Israel and Iran would have some time to complete any missions that are underway, at which point the ceasefire would begin in a staged process. Iran's semi-official SNN news agency reported today that Tehran fired its last round of missiles before the ceasefire came into effect. Israel, joined by the United States on the weekend, has carried out attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, after alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons program but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to, world leaders "wouldn't be able to stop us". Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman AL Thani secured Tehran's agreement during a call with Iranian officials, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters today. US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff were in direct and indirect contact with the Iranians, a White House official said. Neither Iran's UN mission nor the Israeli embassy in Washington responded to separate requests for comment from Reuters. Hours earlier, three Israeli officials had signaled Israel was looking to wrap up its campaign in Iran soon and had passed the message on to the United States. Mr Netanyahu had told government ministers whose discussions ended early this morning not to speak publicly, Israel's Channel12 television reported. Markets reacted favourably to the news. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% late last night, suggesting traders expect the U.S. stock market to open with gains today. US crude futures fell in early Asian trading hours to their lowest level in more than a week after Mr Trump said a ceasefire had been agreed, relieving worries of supply disruption in the region. End of fighting? There did not appear to be calm yet in the region. The Israeli military issued two evacuation warnings in less than two hours to residents of areas in the Iranian capital Tehran, one late last night and one early this morning. Israeli Army radio reported early today that alarms were activated in the southern Golan Heights area due to fears of hostile aircraft intrusion. Earlier yesterday, Mr Trump said he would encourage Israel to proceed towards peace after dismissing Iran's attack on an American air base that caused no injuries and thanking Tehran for the early notice of the strikes. He said Iran fired 14 missiles at the US air base, calling it "a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered". Iran's handling of the attack recalled earlier clashes with the United States and Israel, with Tehran seeking a balance between saving face with a military response but without provoking a cycle of escalation it can't afford. Tehran appears to have achieved that goal. Iran's attack came after US bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Iranian underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, joining Israel's air war. Much of Tehran's population of 10 million has fled after days of bombing. The Trump administration maintains that its aim was solely to destroy Iran's nuclear program, not to open a wider war. "Iran was very close to having a nuclear weapon," Vice-President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier". "Now Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have because we destroyed it," Mr Vance said. Mr Trump has cited intelligence reports that Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon, without elaborating. However, US intelligence agencies said earlier this year they assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and a source with access to US intelligence reports told Reuters last week that that assessment had not changed. But in a social media post on Sunday, Mr Trump spoke of toppling the hardline clerical rulers who have been Washington's principal foes in the Middle East since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel, however, had made clear that its strikes on Evin prison - a notorious jail for housing political prisoners - and other targets in Tehran were intended to hit the Iranian ruling apparatus broadly, and its ability to sustain power. Iran's attack came after US bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-busters on Iranian underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, joining Israel's air war against Iran in a conflict that has entered its 12th day. "We did not assault anyone, and we will never accept being assaulted by anyone," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement. "We will not submit to anyone's aggression - this is the logic of the Iranian nation." Iran gave advance notice to the US via diplomatic channels hours ahead of the attack, as well as to Qatari authorities. Mr Trump seized on that as a positive sign. "I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured," he wrote on his Truth Social media site. "Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same." He said Iran fired 14 missiles at the air base, calling it "a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered." "I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed and hardly any damage was done," Mr Trump wrote. "Most importantly, they've gotten it all out of their 'system,' and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE," he added. Iran's handling of the attack recalled earlier clashes with the United States and Israel, with Tehran seeking a balance between saving face with a military response but without provoking a cycle of escalation it can't afford. The country's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran was ready to respond again in case of further action by the United States, according to a statement posted by the ministry's account on Telegram. The attack strained Iran's relationship with its Arab neighbors: Qatar condemned it, as did Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. "There are deep ties between the two states (Iran and Qatar) and the two nations, but the attack undoubtedly calls for a genuine meeting and a clear stance," Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said at a press conference. Meanwhile, Israel said it has carried out its most extensive wave of attacks on Tehran ever. Targets included a Tehran prison where Iran's leadership holds political opponents, in a renewed demonstration of its willingness to strike beyond its previously stated military and nuclear targets and attack key pillars of Iran's ruling system. Despite Iran's threats to challenge oil shipments from the Gulf, oil prices fell 7% in volatile trading LCOc1, suggesting traders doubted the Islamic Republic would follow through on any action that would disrupt global supplies. Qatar, situated just across the Gulf from Iran, reopened its airspace after a brief suspension, its civil aviation authority said early on Tuesday. Iran's foreign minister met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as Tehran sought backing from one of its last major power friends for its next steps. Striking regime targets Israel made clear that its strikes on Evin prison and other targets in Tehran were intended to hit the Iranian ruling apparatus broadly, and its ability to sustain power. Iran's IRIB state broadcaster released video showing rescue workers combing the flattened wreckage of a building at the prison, carrying a wounded man on a stretcher. The Mizan news outlet of Iran's judiciary said urgent action was being taken to protect the health and safety of inmates there. Evin has long been Iran's primary prison for political detainees and people accused of espionage, as well as the site of executions that remain strong memories for the opposition. Several high-profile foreign prisoners are also held there. Israel's military said it had also struck Revolutionary Guard command centres responsible for internal security in the Tehran area. The military was "currently striking, with unprecedented force, regime targets and governmental repression bodies in the heart of Tehran," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Much of Tehran's population of 10 million has fled after 10 days of bombing.

Nato leaders to show a united front as they hike defence spend to 5pc of GDP following pressure from Donald Trump
Nato leaders to show a united front as they hike defence spend to 5pc of GDP following pressure from Donald Trump

Irish Independent

timean hour ago

  • Irish Independent

Nato leaders to show a united front as they hike defence spend to 5pc of GDP following pressure from Donald Trump

Uncertainty of ongoing situation in Middle East puts summit plans at risk The Nato alliance has crafted a summit in The Hague this week to shore itself up by satisfying US president Donald Trump with a big new defence spending goal – but it now risks being dominated by the repercussions of his military strikes on Iran. The two-day gathering, today and tomorrow, is also intended to signal to Russian president Vladimir Putin that Nato is united, despite Mr Trump's previous criticism of the alliance, and is determined to expand and upgrade its defences to deter any attack from Moscow.

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