Letters: Let's not simplify Ireland's solidarity with the people suffering in Palestine

Irish Independent

07-05-2025

While our past occupation fosters empathy for those facing injustice, this narrative oversimplifies the profound moral conviction driving our support.
The Irish people stand with Pales­tine not due to historical parallels but because the continuing genocide is wrong. The images of devastation in Gaza – starving children buried under rubble, entire families destroyed and communities obliterated – should shock the conscience of any decent person, regardless of politics or views on Israel.
Ireland, and any nation that values human rights, cannot remain silent in the face of these atrocities.
The deliberate and pernicious targeting of civilians, aid workers and journalists, the destruction of hospitals and the total blockade of basic necessities like food, water and medicines do not speak to historical parallels. They are present-day abominations that demand condemnation.
Our stance is rooted in a rejection of inhumanity. Irish support for Palestine transcends political or historical analogies. It is a visceral response to the daily slaughter and starvation of innocent children.
Overwhelming Irish public supp­ort for the Palestinian right to freedom and safety rises not out of some romanticised view of shared struggle, but because people here recognise the moral imperative to oppose war crimes and evil tyrants.
Ireland's history may provide context, but it is not the sole lens. To reduce Ireland's position to a simplistic colonial comparison dismisses the depth of our sentiment that the mass murder in Palestine is simply wrong.
Ireland's solidarity reflects this truth. Our stand is grounded in human decency, not history.
Mark Moran, Stillorgan, Dublin
Government should get off the fence and recall ambassador from Israel
Can I appeal to our government to get off the American-Israeli fence?
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We have recognised Palestine as a state. That state is now under siege. I believe a genocide is taking place.
A forced famine is now happening and the Israelis are about to plough through the whole strip. Are we so afraid of American might that we have lost our ability to call out this abomination?
Have we forgotten we are a nation that was starved in the Famine? Its devastation saw our population halve and our native language almost die out.
We won't stop what America and Israel wish to achieve, but when history is thumbed through in 100 years we will have been seen to have stood for the good.
Bring home our ambassador from Israel.
John Cuffe, Co Meath
We should remember with pride the Irish men and women of World War II
Frank Coughlan's article ('Ireland isn't invited to the VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations, but the losses we suffered should never be forgotten', Irish Independent, May 1) is a welcome reminder of the Irish who served and those who died in those dark days.
It is important to remember the significant wartime contributions made by citizens of 'neutral' Ireland.
My mother's 24-year-old cousin died in the near destruction of the vital oil convoy TM1 in January 1943 while en route from Trinidad to ­support the invasion of North Africa.
His ship, the SS Empire Lytton, was among seven of the convoy's nine tankers that were sunk in controversial circumstances by a U-boat wolf pack.
In my research, I was in touch with the son of one of the tanker's officers who survived.
He was astonished to learn about the number of people from Ireland who enlisted in the British forces, as identified by Mr Coughlan (66,000 from the Republic and 64,000 from Northern Ireland).
I suspect these figures may exclude the hundreds of Irish sailors who manned British merchant ships during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Of the 11 sailors who died from the SS Empire Lytton, six were from Ireland – four from 'Éire', including a 19-year-old from Galway and a 17-year-old from Dublin, and two from Northern Ireland.
My mother's cousin was previously rescued twice. I obtained crew lists from all the ships he served on before his horrific death. In almost every case there were sailors from both parts of this island among the crews.
Nor should the quarter of a million men and women who went to work in essential jobs in Britain during the war years be forgotten.
I reckon that in many Irish homes there will be photos of young men and women, soldiers, sailors, airmen, nurses and others who will be remembered when the VE Day commemorations play out on television and radio this week. I hope they will be remembered with pride.
James Larkin, Dublin 18
Last thing country needs is more bureaucracy with appointment of new tsar
The appointment of a so-called tsar and staff to fix the housing crisis smacks of gimmickry. We don't need any more bureaucracy.
The housing shortage has been analysed to death. We need boots on the ground, more developers and tradesmen, and less red tape.
When the financial crash of 2008 hit, many developers in Ireland were depicted as greedy an irresponsible. Many left the business, never to return. Thousands of tradesmen emigrated. The presence of ghost estates around the country left the impression there was a surplus of houses for several years into the future.
Demographic change is constant. We elect politicians who in turn app­oint advisers to track such changes and not make assumptions that the housing need was sorted.
In a decade and a half we have gone from a surplus of houses to a chronic shortage. Somebody was asleep at the wheel in failing to grasp that everything is cyclical.
Nothing stands still. In order to bring developers back, they must be treated with respect.
Housing development involves a lot of volatility, from inflation in material costs to regulatory delays. Builders will start building again, but only if they are treated with fairness.
Joseph Kiely, Letterkenny, Co Donegal
Cardinals had better think carefully before choosing a pope from outside US
The conclave in Rome had better be careful. If the next pope elected by them is from outside the US, Trump might well impose harsh tariffs on the church.