Letters to the Editor, May 24th: On housing, skorts and the Shannon stopover
Sir, – Eoin Burke-Kennedy's recent article
('Why is the housing crisis Ireland's most enduring failure?',
The Irish Times, May 23rd) lays bare the depth and longevity of Ireland's housing disaster, but also, perhaps unintentionally, exposes how limited the range of expert thinking on this issue continues to be.
The analysis draws heavily on the usual economic voices: those who treat the housing crisis as a problem of investor confidence, regulatory friction, and misfired market incentives. But after 25 years of this framework dominating the conversation, are we not overdue a deeper re-evaluation?
There are other perspectives – those who question whether housing should be a commodity at all, who argue for a non-market alternative, or who see high-density, State-built housing not as a last resort, but as a social good. Yet these voices remain marginalised, rarely quoted, and often dismissed as utopian.
What we're facing isn't just a policy failure, it's an epistemic one. We have cornered ourselves into a narrow version of what counts as 'realistic,' even as that realism continues to fail us.
READ MORE
If the Government is to have any hope of restoring trust and delivering actual housing solutions, it needs to start listening beyond the usual suspects. – Yours, etc,
GAVIN REDDIN,
Swords,
Co Dublin
Tackling the rental crisis
Sir, –It is very clear from Gerald Howlin's contribution, (
'Renters forking out €2,000 per month are paying the price for water charges debacle', May 23rd,
) that those who occupy the centre-right political ground have not the slightest intention of addressing the housing crisis.
The current housing crisis is the result of government policy to leave all housing provision entirely to the market. The crisis will begin to end when that policy is changed, and only then.
The idea that introducing water charges or further 'broadening of the tax base' would play any part in solving the current debacle is nothing other than self-serving nonsense.
It pours insult over injury for the many thousands whose lives are being crippled by the ongoing struggle to get and hold a roof over their heads. – Yours, etc,
JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Co Sligo.
Tips for visiting the Gray house
Sir, – Frank McNally's
'Irishman's Diary' of Thursday May 22nd
brought back fond memories of my own, happier, visit to Eileen Gray's Villa E.1027.
Might I suggest that the next time he take the train? The ticket office, book store and meeting point for the guided tours is a converted container in the car park of the train station, the villa itself 100 meters further along the clifftop footpath.
We were treated to a detailed, unhurried, English-language tour by a local, very well-informed student architect.
Afterwards, continuing along the clifftop path with its spectacular views of the Med brought us to Avenue Virginie Heriot and the former Hotel Idéal Séjour where Yeats died, there's a memorial plaque.
The graveyard is accessible after a steep climb through the old town. A helpful gardener pointed out the plaque recalling Yeats approximate tomb - the exact spot is lost forever.
The graveyard also contains the (self-designed) grave of Le Corbusier, who, tragic irony or divine retribution, drowned in the bay below the Villa E.1027 which he had defaced. – Yours etc,
PAUL O'KEEFFE,
Co Tipperary.
Sir, – I enjoyed the few minutes reading Frank McNally's befuddled attempt to find Eileen Gray's house by the sea in the south of France.
It then just took another minute or so to look up Google to learn that Eileen was an Irish interior designer, furniture designer and architect who became a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture.
I am sure we are meant to know such things. –Yours, etc,
KEVIN MCLOUGHLIN,
Ballina,
Co Mayo
Skorting the shorts issue
Sir, – Now that the camogie girls have finally been allowed their God given right to wear what they choose, any chance the lads be afforded the same freedom?
Paul Mescal in a skort in Cannes? –Yours, etc,
FIONNUALA DUNNE,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Sir,¨ –I pick up The Irish Times every day in anticipation of headlines that declare the end of wars, the triumph of good over evil, and the long-overdue return of reason to a world spinning off its axis.
Bearing in mind current global turmoil, I am usually disappointed. However, today I note that after 121 years, the Camogie Association are now allowing players the choice of wearing shorts or skorts.
It might be just a tiny move to a more peaceful world, but at least it's a skort. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Co Wicklow.
Sir. –Well thanks to be to God the skorts debate has ended. You see it had me remembering back to the 1970s when we wore divided skirts on the basketball pitch to protect our modesty. I thought those days were long over and now thankfully they are gone again
I can sleep better but how did that debate even start up?
Now I'm wondering have we moved on at all. I need to stop wondering or the bags under my eyes from lack of sleep will explode. Yours, etc,
BERNIE KIRWAN,
Gorey,
Co Wexford.
Sir,– It is great that 98 per cent of delegates at a Special Congress of the Camogie Association voted to allow players to choose wearing shorts or skorts.
The Association reminds me of golfers who know they are improving when they hit less spectators. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT O'ROURKE,
Lucan,
Dublin.
Fox hunting ban unnecessary
Sir, – Notwithstanding one's views on the subject , Ruth Coppinger's proposed Bill to ban fox hunting in Ireland is probably unnecessary due to the fact that the introduction of motorways, the increasing urbanisation, the intensive nature of farming and the difficulty of getting insurance cover, means that hunting with a pack of hounds followed by 60 or 70 riders chasing a fox across the countryside is now nigh ( or neigh !) impossible .
The much safer option is drag hunting where the pack of hounds followed by the self-same mounted followers follows a prearranged scent across a country well away from the dangers of motorways and away from horses hooves' damaging the increasing acreage of newly sown corn crops or the ever growing number of dairy paddocks .
This will mean that the camaraderie of the hunting folk will still exist along with this country's long history of producing excellent horses and riders learning from jumping over still challenging obstacles but without the need to chase a fox . –Yours, etc ,
CHARLES SMYTH ,
Kells,
Co Meath.
Shannon and stopovers
Sir, – There must be coordinated government action to prevent future uses of Shannon Airport by planes used for the extrajudicial transfer of individuals to a third country for imprisonment.
As reported by Keith Duggan and Marie O'Halloran ( 'Flight carrying 'barbaric' deportees from US to Africa stopped at Shannon Airport', May 23rd): a plane carrying eight migrants from the US landed in Shannon en route to a detention facility in South Sudan.
The Trump administration sent these eight individuals against the order of a federal judge, denying them their right to due process.
By allowing the aircraft to stop at Shannon, the Irish Government is complicit in this action. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Harris and Minister for Transport, Darragh O'Brien need to coordinate their departments to screen flights coming from the US and refuse clearance to any that are unlawfully trafficking individuals to third countries.
Mr Harris cannot presume individuals on such flights are lawfully detained, as this is just the latest of many incidents of people being sent to foreign prisons without due process and against the orders of American courts.
Dr Hidetaka Hirota previously wrote in this newspaper about the thousands of Irish migrants and their citizen relatives were forcibly and systematically expelled from the US according to similar policies to what we see today.
Facilitating the trafficking of migrants from the US does no justice to our previous generations nor to the conscience of people in Ireland today who are concerned about the aggressive migration policy being pursued in the US. – Yours, etc,
JAMES GILLER,
Co Cork.
Whither wetsuits?
Sir, – There appears to be far fewer wetsuits in evidence on Irish beaches, compared to a decade ago. A sign of increasining national resilience, or of ocean heating? – Yours, etc,
DR DAVID VAUGHAN,
Mornington,
Co Meath.
Sir, – I can attest to your report of a marine 'heatwave' in Irish coastal waters. Instead of the usual four, it only took two hours this morning for my fingers to regain their feeling following my daily dip in Portmarnock. Hence this typed letter! – Yours etc,
HUGH MC DONNELL,
Dublin 9.
Legal obligations and Gaza
Sir –We, the undersigned, members of the legal profession and academy, are writing to express our deep concern at the Irish Government's continued failure to take the necessary steps to comply with its international legal obligations in relation to the crisis in Palestine.
The daily atrocities in Gaza carry an appalling human toll and are being perpetrated by Israel in overt defiance of fundamental rules of international law and human rights.
While we commend the Irish Government's support for and engagement with relevant international institutions, particularly international courts and United Nations bodies, including UNRWA, we consider that Ireland has fallen considerably short in meeting its own specific obligations under international law in the face of these persistent and indeed escalating abuses in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, Ireland has a duty set out in Common Article 1 'to respect and ensure respect' for those treaties 'in all circumstances'. As a State party to the 1948 Genocide Convention, Ireland also has an obligation 'to prevent and to punish' the crime of genocide –- what has been described as 'the crime of crimes'.
The State must take all reasonable legal, diplomatic and economic steps to achieve the cessation of such serious violations, accountability for those responsible, reparations for victims and compliance by Israel with international law.
In its Advisory Opinion of July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to be unlawful and held that it must be ended 'as rapidly as possible'. All States are obliged to neither recognise this presence as lawful nor to 'render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation' created by Israel's illegal presence.
The United Nations General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority, adopted a resolution in September 2024 setting out how to give effect to the Advisory Opinion, as mandated by the Court. It called on States to ensure that their nationals, companies or governmental bodies do not recognise or provide aid or assistance to the unlawful situation, to cease the importation of products from unlawful Israeli settlements and to implement sanctions against both natural and legal persons engaging in the maintenance of Israel's unlawful presence in Palestine.
Ireland co-sponsored and voted in favour of the resolution which quite specifically called on States to take steps 'to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory'.
Successive Irish governments have delayed and prevaricated on what is known as the Occupied Territories Bill. We do not consider there to be any insurmountable legal obstacles, in either Irish, European or international law, preventing the adoption of legislation prohibiting the import of goods and services produced in the unlawful Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
We consider this is the absolute minimum required from the State to comply with its international legal obligations and the holdings of the International Court of Justice. Anything less would be an abrogation of Ireland's long-standing commitment to international law and human rights.
We call on the Irish Government to act urgently to adopt the necessary domestic legislation to give effect to its international obligations arising as a result of Israel's unlawful presence in Palestine and the continued commission of severe breaches of international law. Any existing legal advice on proposed legislation should be published in full.
We remind the Irish Government that its obligations under international law, including those elaborated by the ICJ, require that it acts to ensure that international organisations of which it is a member, such as the European Union, do not render aid or assistance to the unlawful actions of Israel. Ireland must press with an even greater urgency to ensure that the EU-Israel Association Agreement is reviewed and necessary action taken based on its own terms and in light of relevant ICJ rulings.
We demand the Irish Government review and report on existing trade and economic relations with Israel, including the issuing of bonds by the Central Bank, to ensure these do not contribute to recognising, aiding or assisting the unlawful situation created by the continued presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Finally, we call on Ireland to provide enhanced support to relevant international institutions, in particular those facing attacks and sanctions, such as the International Criminal Court and UNRWA.
– Yours etc.,
PROF SHANE DARCY,
Irish Centre for
Human Rights, School of Law,
Unversity of Galway
IVANA BACIK TD
Colm O'Dwyer SC
PROF SIOBHÁN WILLS,
Director of the Transitional Justice
Institute, Ulster University
EILIS BARRY,
Chief executive, FLAC
BARRA MCGRORY KC SC
AONGHUS KELLY, International
Lawyer
PROF COLIN HARVEY, Queen's
University Belfast
JANE O'SULLIVAN, Solicitor,
Community Law & Mediation
MICHAEL O'HIGGINS SC
The full list of signatories (around
350) is available at:
https://ichrgalway.org.
Sir - The prime minister of Israel has accused the prime minister of the United Kingdom, and others, as being on the 'wrong side of humanity' for their views on providing aid to Palestinians.
May I suggest that their being 'on the wrong side of humanity' is a matter of opinion. In the case of the prime minister of Israel and his colleagues it is a matter of fact that they are 'on the wrong side of humanity'. - Yours, etc,
BILLY HANNIGAN,
Dublin 12.
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