'Over the top' police precautions as protestors gather to support Kneecap's Liam Óg
Hundreds gathered to support Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara with rap trio Kneecap, as he entered Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on terrorism charges.
Prosecutors allege the 27-year-old displayed a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig in London. His case was adjourned until September 26.
The Metropolitan Police imposed restrictions on where the demonstration outside the court could take place to 'prevent serious disruption'.
Kneecap criticised the police restrictions as a 'calculated political decision' that was 'designed to try and portray support for Kneecap as somehow troublesome'.
Filmmaker Sonya O'Donoghue, originally from Clare but living in London, said restrictions on Kneecap's supporters seemed particularly restrictive.
The police had cordoned off an area for people supporting Kneecap to protest today at his court appearance. And it felt a bit over the top, as if it was going to be very aggressive.
'But from what I've seen there was a lot of singing, it was very pro-Palestinian freedom, there were a lot of Irish flags, but I haven't seen aggression."
Ms O'Donoghue commended the bravery of people such as Kneecap in speaking out against the war in Gaza.
'They're articulate young men and they have a lot to lose by speaking out. They've had gigs cancelled, they're being targeted, but they're putting their neck out.'
Ms O'Donoghue attends the monthly protests in London for Palestine.
The British government's proscribing of protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in June, with the same status as ISIS or al-Quaeda, has shocked not just regular protestors, but many across Britain, she said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made the announcement after Palestine Action activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire, spraying planes with red paint and damaging them with crowbars, allegedly causing some £7m in damage.
Hundreds of people have been arrested since for showing support for the group.
Author Sally Rooney has recently pledged to support Palestine Action. The Mayo-born author of novels including Normal People wrote in the Irish Times that she now intends to use proceeds from her work to support Palestine Action.
One of the 532 people arrested at a Palestine rally in London this month was arrested for wearing a t-shirt saying 'Plasticine Action' with a similar logo to the 'Palestine Action' group's.
Engineer Miles Pickering told The Guardian that it was designed to be an easy mistake to make, appearing to look like the logo of Palestine Action.
But text underneath the logo reads: 'We oppose AI-generated animation". Inside the letter 'o' was an image of the stop-motion character Morph giving two thumbs up. Sales of the t-shirt have rocketed since. Mr Pickering added:
It's like we are just going to mock you for your ridiculous decision to proscribe a protest group. It's just so important that our rights to protest do not get diminished.
The mass arrests at the August protest in London has prompted a sea change in public opinion across Britain, Ms O'Donoghue said.
'That was incredibly over-the-top. So many people arrested for peaceful protest. I think the mass arrests have touched everybody.
'There's a feeling that police are being extra-tough on any pro-Palestinian protests here. It feels very
autocratic."
Carla McGlynn, an Irish actor living in London, said that she would have been at today's protest in support of Mo Chara but she is currently home in Ireland.
UK authorities have been 'really restrictive' in where people can protest for Palestine, Ms McGlynn said.
'Police really monitor any groups with signs or wearing Keffiyehs [Palestinian scarves].
'I know someone whose friend was arrested. She was kept overnight but was then released without charge.
'All of this is making people more determined to have their voices heard, more determined not to be silenced.'
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The Journal
2 hours ago
- The Journal
'Never order off this site': Massive web of fake shops targeting Irish Facebook users uncovered
WHEN PATRICK AND Eileen Morgan closed their decades-old boutique at the end of May, they took to Facebook to thank their customers for their loyalty by offering discounts on the Dublin store's remaining stock. 'You were not just customers, but a part of our lives, and for that we are endlessly thankful,' the couple wrote in a paid-for post on the platform. 'Before we close our doors for good, we want to give something back: we're holding an incredible clearance sale with massive discounts! Take this final chance to own a piece of our story.' The post, which featured an image of the couple outside their now-shuttered business, linked to a website for a store called Morgan Dublin that contained items whose prices had been slashed by more than 70%. But there was a catch: Patrick and Eileen Morgan were not real people, and Morgan Dublin does not exist outside the internet. The website is one of hundreds of similar pages that are part of a global scam, in which fake online stores lure unsuspecting social media users to pay for clothes and other items that are low quality or that never arrive. A handful of these fake stores have been covered already by The Journal , and have been the subject of complaints to The Irish Times' Pricewatch column and RTÉ's Liveline. In a new investigation, The Journal Investigates has now uncovered almost 100 pages that have falsely presented themselves as legitimate Irish stores, as well as hundreds more targeting users in at least 14 other countries. These pages masquerading as Irish shops have posted more than 50,000 ads on Facebook between them, potentially targeting millions of social media users. The websites are all hosted on the e-commerce platform Shopify, and use the same methods to trick customers around the world into buying what they think are high-end goods that are actually much flimsier items that tend to come from Asia – if they arrive at all. Most of them are run by people outside the countries where they claim to be based, and this investigation found evidence that a majority of the websites masquerading as Irish are based in the Netherlands. What's more, Meta is profiting from these scams by hosting paid ads for hundreds of fraudulent stores on Facebook and Instagram, despite community standards and ad policies which prohibit scams and deceptive practices . — Investigations like this don't happen without your support… Impactful investigative reporting is powered by people like you. Support The Journal Investigates 'Irish' stores During the course of this investigation, The Journal Investigates found 95 individual websites that masqueraded as Irish fashion retail businesses. They did this by including Irish names or locations – like Dublin, Cork or Kildare – in their URLs to present themselves as a home-grown retailer. But the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission warned that these types of pages are likely breaking the law by misleading customers with fake information and by omitting details about their business. 'Businesses are also not allowed to mislead consumers into making a purchasing decision that they wouldn't otherwise make by providing false information or omitting critical details,' Gráinne Griffin, Director of Communications at the CCPC, said. She urged anyone who believes that a company is misleading consumers to make a report to the CCPC if the company is Irish, and to the European Consumer Centre if the company is based elsewhere in the EU. Facebook and Trustpilot reviews from customers who ordered from the websites we found often recounted similar negative experiences, and included a spate of complaints from people saying they had been scammed. A Facebook review for a page called Morgan Dublin, left on 12 May, complained that the product was 'nothing like what was advertised', with the reviwer leaving a picture of a leather boot on the website shown beside a lower quality plastic boot that they received. Another person left a Facebook review for a different page called Murray Dublin, posted last October, in which they complained that their order came from China and they had no chance of getting a refund. '[I] ordered a quality leather handbag got a cheap plastic crap one that you would not pay €3 [for at] a market stall,' they said. Similar reviews for different pages on Trustpilot made the same complaints. An individual who left a one-star review for a store called Aidens Kildare, posted in April of this year, described the goods they received as 'cheap Chinese rubbish' which looked 'nothing like as falsely advertised'; they added it would have been too expensive to return the item they bought. The websites we found tended to follow similar patterns, like URLs that had a similar format, combining Irish names with places in Ireland, which were often separated by a hyphen (e.g. Of the 95 websites we found, 80 URLs referenced a place in Ireland – particularly Dublin, Kildare, Cork and Galway – which added to the impression that they are based here. Occasionally, some pages included a physical Irish address on their website or Facebook page; but Google Maps searches of these addresses showed that no businesses by these names were based where they claimed. Though the focus of this investigation was primarily on stores that pretended to be Irish, we discovered hundreds of similar pages targeting users in the same way in other countries. We found shops that claimed to be based in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Many of these websites may still be falling foul of the law in Ireland, as the CCPC's Gráinne Griffin explained that strict consumer protection laws apply throughout the EU – even for businesses based outside Europe that advertise here. 'EU and Irish consumer protection law includes requirements on the information that must be provided to a consumer,' she said. Another link between the websites is that they ostensibly sell clothes and fashion accessories, and have listed themselves as fashion retailers on social media; many claimed that their prices were being cut because of a sale event. Advertisement They have all been designed using a common template and hosted on Shopify, an e-commerce platform that allows businesses to build online stores from a template, rather than having to hire an independent developer to build a website from scratch. Shopify is used by legitimate businesses, but is also popular with scammers because it is relatively easy to use and fake websites can be created quickly. Several pages have been taken offline and could only be found via internet archiving services like the Wayback Machine , which allow users to see what a website previously looked like if someone has saved a snapshot of it from a point in the past. Though many of the pages have been removed, those we could visit looked incredibly convincing and did not show obvious signs of being fraudulent. A screenshot from the website Ruby & Maeve, a boutique that claims to be based in Kerry The stores we investigated looked like regular online clothes shops, with a wide range of men's and women's items for sale, individual names and images for each product, options to choose different sizes or colours, and images of the products being worn by models. All the websites we visited included mundane details to make them seem more convincing, like pages outlining a terms of service and privacy policy, while several included back-stories about when they were founded or who they were run by. However, in many cases where websites posted images of their 'owners' with a back-story about the business, these images were generated using artificial intelligence or were stock images that had been lifted from other websites. Google Reverse Image searches also show the same images of models wearing clothing being used on multiple websites, including instances where stores claimed to be based in different countries. Crucially, all the websites we visited sought to impress a sense of urgency upon shoppers by suggesting their discounts were time-limited or only available to those who got them first; some included countdown timers claiming an ongoing 'sale' would end in hours. A Facebook ad for Aidens Kildare, which claimed to be hosting a closing-down sale Meta Ad Library Meta Ad Library Some included opening hours and contact details, including phone numbers, to make them appear like they had a bricks-and-mortar presence in Ireland. Businesses that sell online are required to provide details like their physical address, phone number and email – though many of the websites we found either didn't do this, or provided addresses and phone numbers that were not legitimate. 'If these details are not easily available on a website, then that is a serious red flag that the company is not what it seems,' the CCPC's Gráinne Griffin said. Reviews left on the Facebook and Trustpilot pages for many of the stores show a litany of complaints from people claiming that the goods are delivered from Asia rather than coming from Ireland. This is a supply chain model known as drop-shipping, whereby the seller acts as a middleman and never stocks the goods at all, but orders and gets them delivered (sometimes from a different country) on behalf of the buyer. The shop 'owner' makes money by charging a standard rate for goods that are much cheaper (and generally lower quality) when ordered from abroad, but which the buyer thinks they are getting directly from the 'shop'. The practice is not illegal in itself, but the fraud arises where a shopper thinks they're buying from stores that claim to be based in Ireland (which may rely on a fake back-story to draw people in), and when the items sold are of poorer quality than advertised. A number of the pages also feature fake reviews, either as part of the website's own layout under a banner that read things like 'What our customers say' or via screenshots of five-star Trustpilot reviews that do not correspond to actual reviews. In reality, the Facebook and Trustpilot pages of most of these websites are littered with negative reviews that highlight how the products that get delivered are different to those being sold, that there is no facility to return them, or that the goods never arrive at all. The use of fake back-stories in social media ads may also fall foul of the EU's Digital Services Act, which requires platforms to take active steps to prevent this kind of content. A sample of negative Trustpilot reviews for one of stores Trustpilot Trustpilot Social media scam Because online drop-shipping stores have no physical real-world presence, it's unlikely that most people will organically seek them out as part of their regular browsing habits. The website operators are therefore heavily reliant on social media ads to promote their online stores. Through searches on Meta's ad library, The Journal Investigates discovered 91 corresponding social media pages for the 95 stores that claimed to be Irish. In a small number of cases, multiple Facebook pages were set up that linked to the same 'Irish' website, while no social media pages could be found for a handful of others. From these fake Facebook and Instagram profiles, scammers attract the attention of social media users by paying for posts that promote eye-catching offers for discount clothes or other fashion items. These ads often contain images of fake shops or owners to make them appear more authentic, though the images are often generated by artificial intelligence. The text in the ads also seek to lure people in via back-stories that suggest the 'shop' is selling discounted goods after a crisis event or because it is clearing its stock because it is closing down. Social media users who see these ads might think they are one off, but when we compared different ads from different Facebook pages, we spotted signs that suggest they could be part of a wider network Many of the ads often used the same text, with multiple pages saying they were stores closing 'after X wonderful years' and 'with a heavy heart', and others promoting products by saying 'our best-seller is back in stock'. Several different stores also advertised items of clothing with male and female names; for example, sets of male clothing called 'Niall' and dresses called 'Alice'. Meta's ad library also shows the extent to which the company has profited from these fraudulent ads. It shows that the 91 social media pages for 'Irish' websites that we investigated have collectively posted more than 50,000 ads between them to date. Sign up The Journal Investigates is dedicated to lifting the lid on how Ireland works. Our newsletter gives you an inside look at how we do this. Sign up here... Sign up .spinner{transform-origin:center;animation:spinner .75s infinite linear}@keyframes spinner{100%{transform:rotate(360deg)}} You are now signed up It is not possible to see how much was spent on individual ads, but even if the advertisers spent a minimum of $1 on every ad, Meta will have earned more from those ads (over $50,000 or €42,600) than it did from all but two of Ireland's top 'political' advertisers in the last 90 days . Despite Meta policies that prohibit scams and deceptive practices, the majority of these ads were not removed by the company (though a number of them were). Who is behind the pages The 95 websites and their 91 accompanying social media profiles also showed how the scam may be a concerted global operation. This is not just because the scam targets people in different countries: the structure of the online stories and apparent location of those behind them suggests a significant international dimension. Facebook transparency information, which reveals where those running the pages are based, provides clues that the online shops are being run from abroad, despite pretending to be Irish businesses. Just one of the 91 social media pages we investigated had an administrator that was based in Ireland – and that page also had admins based in Bolivia and India. Although data was not available for all of the other pages, we found administrators based in 26 other countries, ranging from Afghanistan, to Serbia, to the United Kingdom, to Mexico. A total of 36 out of the 91 pages had admins based in the Netherlands, while there was also a concentration of pages being run from south-east Asia (including from Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines), where an increasing number of scam operations are being uncovered . Not only were these pages being managed from abroad, but several of them ran ads that were paid for by the same person despite the stores having a different name; for example, an actor running the store Collins Kildare also paid for ads for two more stores called Nolan Kildare and Kate and Liam Dublin. The former homepage of Collins Kildare, which encouraged shoppers to avail of discounts as part of a 'final sale' There were other signs that these fraudulent pages were set up as part of a wider international scam. Many of the pages had previously been set up under different names, according to Facebook transparency information that can be found on individual pages. In some cases, it's possible to see how these pages were re-branded versions of profiles belonging to drop-shipping websites that operated in other countries. For example, a Facebook page for shows that it was first set up in July 2024 under the name NovaLouise Danmark, which corresponds with the name of a website that has attracted similar Truspliot complaints as other drop-shipping websites. The page, which has more than 12,000 followers, later changed name to Ciara Cork on 18 October 2024, and began running ads under that name two days later. In total, 31 of the 91 'Irish' Facebook pages we looked at had been set up under a different name. Other pages have also been updated so that they redirect to completely new stores which target shoppers in countries outside Ireland. One example is Mohony Dublin, which could be found via the URL September 2024 when it claimed to be a shop based in Dublin. However, we found that inputting the same URL into a browser now leads to a new store called Butik Radecka Gydnia, which claims to be an entirely different boutique based in the Polish city of Gydnia. The Journal Investigates was also able to piece together similarities between a number of Irish-appearing and international websites through an analysis of their source code. Source code essentially contains the instructions for how a website is laid out and how it performs certain functions, though it occasionally reveals where a website is based or other identifying information like a specific Google Ad profile IDs. Our analysis of source code found further evidence indicating a Dutch element to the scam: of the 95 websites we could access via an active URL or through online archiving tools like the Wayback Machine, 63 said they were hosted in the Netherlands. Other stores were found to be based in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the UK and the United States. Just two websites claimed to be hosted in Ireland, and listed specific physical addresses on their website. However, Google Maps shows both of these addresses were separate residential properties in Dublin; one of these online stores had 'Cork' in its URL and the other provided a landline contact number whose area code corresponded with parts of Cavan. Meta investigation The Journal Investigates contacted Meta to ask what actions the company was taking against the pages advertising drop-shipping websites and those who are behind them. A company spokesperson suggested that those responsible are 'driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that use sophisticated schemes' to target social media users, and that it was continuing to invest in technology to tackle them. They also said Meta was partnering with banks, government and law enforcement to stop those responsible, and that the company is now investigating pages and ads which The Journal Investigates provided to the company as part of its queries. Some of the relevant pages have since been removed, though a number remained active at the time of publication. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission says that any consumer who thinks they have been scammed should immediately contact Gardaí to report the issue. The Journal Investigates Reporter: Stephen McDermott • Investigation Editor: Christine Bohan • The Journal Investigates Editor: Maria Delaney • Video Editor: Nicky Ryan • Social Media: Cliodhna Travers Investigations like this don't happen without your support... Impactful investigative reporting is powered by people like you. Over 5,000 readers have already supported our mission with a monthly or one-off payment. Join them here: Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: Kneecap and the debate over free speech
Yesterday, Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, better known by his stage name Mo Chara, was in court in London. He faces a terrorism charge for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London last year. Kneecap have been in the spotlight for months because of their support for the Palestinian cause, and Ó hAnnaidh's latest court appearance attracted a huge amount of publicity, with hundreds present to support him as he entered Westminster magistrates' court. He is due back in court next month. The case has sparked much debate about free speech in general and the treatment of Kneecap in particular. Many pointed comparisons have been drawn between the band's treatment, for instance, and the laissez-faire attitude of the authorities in Northern Ireland recently when it came to sectarian displays around loyalist marches and bonfires. Kneecap are not the only Irish creatives facing the wrath of the British establishment, of course. It emerged this week that novelist Sally Rooney, a native of Mayo, could face arrest if she visits Britain for supporting Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation in the UK. Rooney has said she will continue to fund the organisation by using royalties from the televised versions of her books. This points up the essential absurdity of this legislation. Observers have noted that the BBC itself could be liable for prosecution if it continues to pay Rooney royalties, given she has declared her intentions to give the money to Palestine Action — yet the broadcaster would clearly be in breach of its contractual obligations if it withheld payment. The Kneecap and Sally Rooney cases can be seen as examples of judicial overreach and legislative incompetence respectively. Responding excessively to musicians' misbehaviour has been a feature of British justice going back to the Rolling Stones, while the consequences of laws enacted in haste have a far lengthier pedigree. However, it is also difficult to avoid the sense that the British establishment is focusing on Irish artists specifically here, with all that that implies. These cases will be watched very closely. Race for the Áras heats up A couple of days ago, we made the reasonable observation that the race for the Phoenix Park had not really caught fire, but then the old saw about a week being a long time in politics clicked into action. Early frontrunner Catherine Connolly has been learning what every presidential candidate learns soon enough — that throwing one's hat in the ring invites close scrutiny of one's track record. Ms Connolly's visit to Syria in 2018 has been widely publicised, for instance, as have some contradictory comments she made about our Defence Forces last weekend. Another candidate has had to do some fire fighting of his own in recent days, again, because of the focus on his past. Gareth Sheridan's emergence caught the headlines given his youth and freshness, but as recently as last weekend, he had to backtrack on how much revenue his company generates, while this newspaper has reported on fines levied on that company by the US government. Yet the real blood sport has been in Fine Gael in recent days, with the coalition partners scrambling to find an alternative to Mairead McGuinness, their fancied candidate, who dropped out of the race last week. Former minister Heather Humphreys was the warm favourite to replace McGuinness at the time of writing, though MEP Seán Kelly, another possibility, was remaining positive about his chances. Still, he appears destined for the role played by Albert Reynolds in 1997 — the runner-up forced to put on a brave face. If Humphreys succeeds, as expected, Fine Gael will have an experienced politician in the running, though her CV will surely be inspected with the same rigour as the other participants. Of course, Fianna Fáil has not yet picked someone for the race, and given its track record of success in presidential elections there will be considerable interest in its preferred candidate. Will it be an eminence grise like Bertie Ahern, a celebrity candidate out of left field, or a serving minister? Attention is well and truly focused on the race now. Child's play The schools are reopening, with all that that entails, from new stationery to battered school bags. For many readers with children of primary school age, an entirely new accessory may feature on many back-to-school shopping lists: The Labubu doll. For any readers not familiar with them, these are small furry dolls, which have been taken up by celebrities such as David Beckham and Rihanna. They are the perfect size to be attached to a schoolbag, but the manufacturers, seeing how popular they are with children and young people, are believed to be working on an even smaller model that can be hooked up to a mobile phone. Pop Mart, the Chinese company responsible for the Labubu, is doing very well — it is on track to meet its targeted revenue goal for 2025 of €2.4bn and its CEO stated recently that reaching €3.6bn should be 'quite easy'. The company's net profit has soared by approximately 400% in the last year. The bad news is that demand for the dolls is so high that harassed parents may struggle to find the genuine article — last month some dolls were recalled from a shop in Wexford amid concerns that they were not genuine, for instance. Parents who recall the fads of yesteryear may feel a little grateful that they only had to deal with the likes of the fidget spinner.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, August 21st: On Norman names, Tony Holohan and the Shannon pipeline
Catherine Connolly's suitability Sir, – I refer to two letters in today's Irish Times ( August 20th ) discussing Catherine Connolly 's suitability for the presidency, following the interview with her in Saturday's paper in which she expressed her very outspoken views on the US, EU, Nato, neutrality etc. Surely this is completely missing the point. The presidency is not, and should not be, a political appointment. This is a post in which the incumbent is obliged to represent the views of the majority and the government of the day. The person elected must be able to represent us all at all levels, nationally and internationally, with dignity, impartiality and intelligence. President Michael D Higgins can get away with expressing his heartfelt views at times because he has been in the post for nearly 14 years. He has earned that right. Catherine Connolly would need to trim her vocals to suit the role and I somehow doubt if she is able to do that, having already 'shot her bolt' so forcefully at this stage. – Yours, etc. PHYLLIDA WHITE, READ MORE Kilmanagh, Co Kilkenny, Oasis rubbish Sir, – My jaw dropped on Monday morning driving from Dorset Street across the apparently aptly-named Binn's Bridge. Whether it was the wonderful weather or high jinks before the Oasis gig in Croke Park on Sunday, I certainly turned left in anger (on to Whitworth Road) on seeing the amount of rubbish left around the Royal Canal. If citizens fail in their duty, litter wardens could clean up on such a day. Or event organisers should be required to have rubbish collectors on the main routes and known litter black spots before and during the gig as seen recently at Zach Bryan. There is no excuse. – Yours, etc, KATE HOGAN, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. A break for the health service Sir, – I recently spent my summer holiday in Ireland, and was unlucky to have an accident which resulted in a double fracture in my right arm. Because of the injury, I was treated in five different public hospitals – Ennis, small injury clinic; Limerick, fracture clinic; Croom, surgery; Castlebar, ED; Kilkenny ED – and I would like to express my thanks for the absolutely excellent level of treatment and service that I received everywhere. An extremely high level of efficiency, and, most importantly, I was greeted and treated with kindness and empathy by everyone I met, from receptionists to porters, nurses to surgeons. As I regularly read reports of the failings of the Irish health service, I feel it is very important to share my extremely positive experience. – Yours, etc, SARAH IRONSIDE, Brussels, Belgium Discerning taste Sir, – Concerning the correspondence about people not taking the top paper of the pile but rummaging and taking the second or third paper ('Discerning taste', Letters, August 19th ). A long time ago the Death Notices were printed on the back page of The Irish Times. Many people would turn over the first paper of the pile and have a quick look at the notices without having to buy the paper. – Yours, etc, SEAMUS STEPHENSON, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Sir, – Guilty as charged, I must confess that I am one of those unscrupulous Irish Times readers berated by Tony Corcoran ('Discerning taste', Letters, August 19th ). I regularly take a sneak preview of the paper on the shelves, but I always fold it back neatly and replace it in the second or third position in the bundle. – Yours, etc, JOHN LEAHY, Wilton Road, Cork. Race for the Áras Sir, – Reading Kathy Sheridan's column (' Tony Holohan's reluctance to admit mistakes sits badly with the national mood ,' Opinion, August 19th), I worry as to the idea that one man, an accomplished doctor who helped lead the country through a difficult and unprecedented crisis, might be considered unelectable given a loud minority of conspiracy theorists and nutcases, whereas another man who recklessly and unapologetically mismanaged the State, allowing the boom to become even boomer until the economy collapsed leaving scars still palpable up and down the country, should see no impediment to election. I occasionally wonder at the leaders of certain major nations, thinking: of all the millions of people they have to choose from, is this the best they have? An exception was Ireland over the last two presidential mandates. I fear the exception may be about to end. – Yours, etc, JOHN F McELHONE, Eden Road, Rosbeg, Co Donegal. What's in a Norman name Sir, – Fintan O'Toole has, in a single article (' Sinn Féin may reject commemorating the Normans, but there are some suspiciously Saxon names in its ranks ,' Opinion, August 19th) successfully demolished this mythical concept of 'We Irish' as being descendants of the inhabitants of an ideal world in ancient times – a world of pure Gaelic Irishness. After waves of invasions (including that of the Vikings), we find the Normans arriving. While they directly came from Wales, they were in essence representing the French King Henry II, who ruled over most of France at the time. After each of these invasions, we learn that the invaders 'became more Irish than the Irish themselves'. Fast forward to the 20th century, and we see in our history books 'unusual' names of key figures who featured centrally in the struggle for Irish freedom – Hobson, Hyde, Griffith, Spring-Rice, Childers, Lemass, de Valera, Casement, Gonne, Gore-Booth etc. Now, we would not find such names among the Irish chieftains who were forced to submit to the Norman invaders. Rather, the families of these people came to Ireland in the centuries that followed, which demonstrates that as a people we have evolved over time to be the 'Irish' we are right now. The Normans form part of that evolution and. to borrow a familiar expression, they are 'part of what we are', whether some like it or not. – Yours, etc, EAMON O'FLYNN, Merrion Road, Dublin 4 Sir, – Fintan O'Toole (' Sinn Féin may reject commemorating the Normans, but there are some suspiciously Saxon names in its ranks ,' Opinion, August 19th) makes a common mistake as regards Irish surnames. In the 18th century in Ireland, many ordinary people did not have a surname, and, in order to give themselves a lift socially, they adopted the surname of the local landlord. In other words, there are many people in Ireland today, sporting particular surnames, who have no genetic connection whatsoever to those surnames. – Yours, etc, SÉAMAS de BARRA, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. Sir, – Fintan O'Toole's recent article (' Sinn Féin may reject commemorating the Normans, but there are some suspiciously Saxon names in its ranks ,' Opinion, August 19th) reminded me of another piece in your paper a decade ago by John Grenham in the Irish Roots column on how our surnames were Anglicised. As that article concluded: 'As guides to ethnic origins, surnames in Ireland can be very treacherous indeed.' I suspect few supporters of Sinn Féin would deny the Anglo (Norman) roots of Wolfe Tone, Parnell or Pearse. Reasonable people cannot deny Mr O'Toole's conclusion that the Irish, like every nation, are 'a product of multiple invasions and migrations, colonisations and resistances, settlement and unsettlement'. Nonetheless, Mr O'Toole should be far more hesitant to take English-sounding names like Clarke, Sands and Hughes at face value. – Yours, etc, EOGAN HICKEY, Brussels, Belgium. Carbon credits and promises Sir, – The recent exchange between ActionAid Ireland and Verra's CEO in your newspaper (' A wolf in sheep's clothing, the false promise of carbon credits ,' Science & Climate, August 14th; Letters, August 20th) exposes the peculiar logic of carbon offsets: the more they fail, the louder their defenders claim they're indispensable. Karol Balfe rightly argues that carbon markets 'almost always fail to provide any real climate benefit' and amount to both a 'policy failure and a moral failure'. And the evidence is damning. Independent investigations – including by the Guardian and Die Zeit – found that over 90 per cent of rainforest offsets certified by Verra were essentially worthless. The reductions existed principally on paper. Meanwhile, offset schemes have been connected to land grabs, weakened community rights, and displacement in the Global South – hardly the marks of 'climate justice'. Even the projects described as success stories do not alter the basic arithmetic. A tonne of CO₂ released today is not retroactively cancelled by a promise that another tonne might, some day, be absorbed elsewhere. It is the climate policy equivalent of running up a credit-card bill and insisting one is solvent because next month's wages might cover it. Climate action cannot be reduced to accounting tricks. Offsets provide cover for delay – allowing companies and governments to declare progress while emissions keep climbing. This is similar to another sleight of hand recently under discussion: the 'temperature neutrality target', effectively freezing Ireland's emissions at current levels rather than driving them down. As Dr Colm Duffy of the University of Galway has warned, such an approach 'seriously jeopardises the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5 °C'. It is not climate leadership; it is climate bookkeeping. Every euro and ounce of political will invested in sustaining this offsets bubble is one not directed toward genuine decarbonisation: phasing out fossil fuels, enabling renewables, or supporting communities on the front line of climate change. Until we admit that offsets – and clever new accounting targets – are part of the problem, not the solution, we will continue congratulating ourselves for what is only creative bookkeeping as the climate unravels around us. – Yours, etc, PAUL O'SHEA, Planet before Profit CLG, Ballycorus Road, Shankill, Co Dublin. Ryanair and global warming Sir, – Celestine O'Reilly writes of her disbelief that Ryanair is set to increase the number of seats out of Ireland by 15.5 per cent this winter ( Letters, August 20th ) despite evidence of the impact of global warming. Ryanair, like all businesses, responds to customer demand which clearly favours travel over climate impact, especially at such low prices (I too am guilty). Therein lies the issue. People pay lip service to the concept of dealing with climate change as long as it doesn't impact them – 'somebody else should do something about it'. I don't profess to have a solution to the problem, but blaming companies is an overly simplistic argument. Ultimately, people drive demand and therefore change – and solutions must start there. – Yours, etc, SEÁN DOWLING, Timoleague, Co Cork. Sir, – Based on our ongoing enthusiasm for air travel, even in the face of catastrophic climate change, Ryanair are very confident that most of their extra winter seats will be booked and paid for (' Ryanair adds 600,000 seats to Irish winter schedule ,' Business, August 16th). Maximising profits is their primary aim. Why should we expect them to care about climate change, unless and until it affects their bottom line? Michael O'Leary has ample evidence that Ryanair does not need to 'keep passengers happy', or to act responsibly in the face of climate change. Why bother, as long as they operate within the law and the money keeps rolling in, in ever-increasing quantities? Celestine O'Reilly ( Letters, August 20th ) refers to the 'insanity' of pumping out increasing amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. I agree with her, but we must accept that whenever we choose to fly with Ryanair, or any other airline for that matter, we are among the many millions who are putting their hands to that pump. – Yours, etc, KATHERINE QUIRKE, Dún Laoghaire Co Dublin. Shannon pipeline and MetroLink Sir, – Is there any chance that Michael O'Leary has a twin brother? A brother who has access to a white horse, who realises that Uisce Éireann's proposed Shannon pipeline project needs to be scrapped? The similarities between the MetroLink and Shannon pipeline projects are interesting to say the least. The Greater Dublin Water Supply study was started by Dublin City Council in 1996, nearly 30 years ago. A feasibility study was commissioned in 2004 and the results was the 'silver bullet' that was to be the Shannon pipeline. The initial estimate for the project was €700 million. This increased to €1.6 billion by 2016, and in June 2024, the major projects advisory group recommended that an estimated cost of €10.4 billion would be needed – €10.4 billion no less, and no one has batted an eyelid. Some €67.6 million has been spent on the project between 2014 and 2024, and not a pipe laid. Serious consideration was not given to alternative solutions. For instance, the rivers in the East – the Liffey, Slaney, Boyne and Barrow – have a combined flow three-quarters that of the Shannon and the incremental development of these, together with the proper utilisation of the Poulaphouca reservoir (Blessington Lakes), would provide the same solution at a fraction of the cost. Existing investment is being ignored and existing resources are being underutilised. The Irish taxpayer has already paid for the construction of a 22kmsq reservoir (Poulaphouca) at the Blessington Lakes for this specific purpose, to store water for summer supply when the rivers are low. So why is Poulaphouca not being used as a long-term solution? Poulaphouca holds 190 billion litres of water and is one of the biggest reservoirs in these islands. Poulaphouca was originally intended for water supply primarily. The greater amount of the reservoir is devoted to electricity generation, a minuscule amount of electricity in the context of the overall electricity generation of the country. This must change and water supply be given priority. Cost would be almost zero. Thames Water in England are proposing to build a facility smaller than Poulaphouca (150 billion litres) and say it is needed to secure the supply for 15 million Londoners. Fifteen million no less! Poulaphouca is the centre of any possible solution in any instance, so why build a pipeline? Just optimise beneficial use of the reservoir together with the rivers of the east and save the country several billion euro. – Yours, etc, KAY MULLANE, River Shannon Protection Alliance, Ballina, Co Tipperary.
