Four Irish voices share experiences of supporting Palestine amid ongoing Gaza crisis
In the last few weeks Irish musicians Kneecap and the Murder Capital have made headlines for expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine, as Israeli airstrikes continue and Palestinians starve due to aid being blocked from entering the Gaza Strip.
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Sunday World
an hour ago
- Sunday World
Irish wife of man jailed in Iraq for four years was ‘numb with shock' after release
'I got a little advance warning of his release and I was numb with shock as it was so unexpected.' The Irish wife of Robert Pether who was released from an Iraqi jail last night has revealed how she was numb with shock when told the news The couple live in Elphin county Roscommon and Robert was locked up four years ago after being caught up in a dispute between his employers and the Iraqi government but is now out on bail. His wife Desree told the Sunday World, 'I got a little advance warning of his release and I was numb with shock as it was so unexpected.' Robert Pether News in 90 Seconds - 6th June 2025 'He called me from his lawyers phone late last night and only then did I really believe it. It was a video call and he looked so ill he was barely recognizable. 'I hadn't seen him in weeks because he was too weak to take calls and we had been correspnding solely by email' As part of his bail conditions Robert has to remain in Iraq and Desree's efforts to address that have been delayed. 'The Muslim festival of Eid has just begun and nothing gets done for a week so we just have to wait, but having waited four years to get this far we'll manage that 'He needs to get home for medical help so we'll battle on'. Tanáiste Simon Harris pleaded Roberts case in a meeting with Iraqi officials last month and Desree said: 'To be fair the government here have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help'
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Robert Pether's family to hear of restrictions put on engineer next week
The family of Irish-based engineer Robert Pether has to wait until next Wednesday before being able to find out exactly what restrictions have been placed on him following his release from an Iraqi jail. The 50-year-old was released on bail on Thursday and is currently in accommodation in Iraq, organised by the Irish, Australian, and Egyptian embassies for himself and his Egyptian work colleague, Khalid Radwan. The men have been in prison in Iraq since April 7, 2021, after being arrested on fraud charges following a contractual dispute involving his employer over a new building for the Central Bank of Iraq. The Australian and his wife Desree had been living with their children in Elphin, Roscommon, prior to his arrest. They moved to Ireland in 2019. He and his colleague were arrested after being called to a meeting in Baghdad to discuss the project they had been working on. Desree told the Irish Examiner that legal fees have cost the family more than €100,000 since Robert's imprisonment, and she had to sell the family car 'so that we could eat'. She said her husband has missed many family milestones including their children's birthdays, their oldest son's graduation, and his own 50th birthday in April. Their 12-year-old daughter asked Santa every year to bring her father home She said the couple were 20 years married last October — a milestone they had planned to mark with a vow renewal ceremony. Desree says they are waiting to get information on what restrictions apply to his release. However, they cannot get this information until the Eid Al-Adha festival ends on Wednesday. Gut issue She said he needs to be brought back to Ireland as a matter of urgency because he is very ill with a gut issue. He has had no medical assessment since his release. While he was on a high after his release, he found it difficult to sleep on Thursday night, finding his new accommodation as 'too quiet' after his prison experience. Desree said the Irish Government has gone 'above and beyond' in Robert's case, especially as he is not an Irish citizen. On Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the fact that he is an Australian citizen is a complicating factor. However, he said: 'Both ourselves and the Australian government have been working together in terms of endeavouring to get him out.' He said the Irish Government has been making 'continuing efforts for quite a long number of years now' in Robert's case. Mr Martin said the current Iraqi foreign minister has been very helpful and he said he himself, as well as Tánaiste Simon Harris, have been in touch with him. Mr Martin added: "It is very distressing for his family and his wife and kids, and I don't want to say things that may in any way hinder his eventual arrival back to Ireland, but I believe this is a good first step. "We have to work very hard with countries such as Iraq and others in terms of the treatment of Irish citizens.' Read More Irish-based Australian released after four years in Iraqi jail
Agriland
2 hours ago
- Agriland
Opinion: Irish tillage sector has been left in limbo
Irish tillage farmers have become increasingly frustrated at the lack of strategic vision coming from government regarding the future direction of their industry. And, truth be told, they have more than a valid point. Recent days have seen leading representatives from the Irish Grain Growers' Group (IGGG) expressing their views in terms of what is really going on within tillage at the present time. Their annoyance centres on a number of fundamental realities. Firstly, farmers committed to the growing of crops cannot generate sustainable incomes. And, in turn, this is leading to growers leaving the industry or, at the very least, actively considering their futures in it. But it was all supposed to be so very different. Prior to the last general election, the two main parties in the current government – Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – each promised an additional €300 million of support for tillage during the lifetime of this Dáil. This works out at some €60 million per year. But, so far, there has been no indication of these monies being made available to growers in any sense. And, of course, prior to all of this, we had the publication of the National Climate Action Plan, within which is a commitment to grow Ireland's tillage sector to 400,000ha by 2030, a mere four years' time. Currently, the industry is just about treading water in terms of its geographic footprint. However, another bad harvest in 2025 could send the sector into a life support scenario. Meanwhile, everyone agrees that the tillage industry has an exceptionally low carbon footprint. And, on that basis alone, its future must be ring-fenced and further encouraged. Irish tillage There are lots of reasons why tillage farmers feel sore about the ways in which they feel politics has failed them. A case in point is the Food Vision Tillage Group. It was set up by the previous government and seen by many as the 'great white horse', empowered to map out a clear future for arable farming in Ireland. However, its report has come and gone with no formal response to its recommendations coming from either the current or previous administrations. And, of course, actions – or lack of them – always speak louder than words. Recent days have seen Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon chair an international agriculture and climate conference at which he highlighted the need for the development of more sustainable and climate-friendly food production practices into the future. It all strikes me as the perfect prelude for the minister to now issue his strategic vision for the future of tillage in Ireland.
