Letters to the Editor: Together, we can build an inclusive and prosperous Ireland

Irish Examiner

11-07-2025

This summer, I will return to the West Cork Literary Festival, this time simply as a visitor.
Fifteen years ago, in July 2010, I first came to the festival as an immigrant writer for the launch of Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland (Dedalus Press). Since then, my journey as a poet and essayist has taken unexpected and rewarding turns, and I feel compelled to reflect on that trajectory.
Over the past 15 years, my poems, essays, and nonfiction have appeared in more than 60 literary journals and anthologies in Ireland and in the world. In Ireland, my work has featured in two more Dedalus Press anthologies: Writing Home: The 'New Irish' Poets and The Book of Life: Poems to Tide You Over.
My story is the story of a migrant writer.
Coming from a French-speaking background, I had to learn to write and publish in English. Yet Ireland provided me with the chance to grow as an artist.
My poetry has been broadcast at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, preserved in the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at University College Dublin, and my manuscript Poet in Exile was a finalist for the 2023 Patrick Kavanagh Award, alongside other recognitions.
The race riots in Ireland in recent years have also shaped my writing, forcing me to reckon with the realities of integration and the obstacles that remain.
Despite these challenges, my work is now part of the conversation on Irish identity and literature. My fiction has been studied in The Irish Bildungsroman (Syracuse University Press) with Professor Pilar Villar-Argaiz discussing my writing in the chapter Immigrant Writing and New Narratives of Self-Formation: Landa Wo and Theophilus Ejorh.
Without a formal degree in writing, I have nonetheless built a body of work, thanks to the support of cultural institutions like the Arts Council of Ireland, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, and the invaluable editorial advice of editors at journals such as Cyphers, Ropes, The Ogham Stone, and Boyne Berries.
My story shows that integration is not a one-way street. If I have been able to contribute to Irish literature, I believe other migrants can and should find pathways in every sector, not just music and sport. Ireland deserves to see the talents of all its migrants flourish in business, engineering, law, diplomacy, and beyond.
That is how we build an inclusive and prosperous Ireland. Together.
Landa Wo, Darmstadt, Germany
The West is a key driver of Israeli brutality
While we continue to hear of prevarication on the Occupied Territories Bill, and the Taoiseach expressing concern over the inclusion of services, maybe he should have a read of Francesca Albanese's latest report to the UN on the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories.
In it, she describes the 'corporate machinery sustaining Israel's settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of Palestinians'.
It is a sobering read on how international corporates have profited from 'Israel's economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide'. It shows in essence that western capitalism is a key driver of Israeli expansionism and brutality.
Micheál Martin expresses a fear that the bill may have no economic impact on Israel but a possible negative one on the Irish economy. The economic impact on Israel is irrelevant in this case, it's the moral impact, and one can see it is already making an impact based on the fervent efforts of the Israeli propaganda machine to smear Ireland's name.
The Government needs to recognise this historical moment when a Western democracy finally said enough is enough and pass legislation which calls out the illegality of the Israeli position. It will hopefully embolden others in the EU to follow suit, but for Gaza it will ultimately be too little too late.
Barry Walsh, Blackrock, Cork
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Remembering the wisdom of the ages
Looking at some of our world leaders, it is time to remember a translated line from the work of Irish-language poet Liam Gógan, who was born on Dublin's North Circular Rd in 1891: 'The gobshites' time has come. Everyone bless themselves.'
Mattie Lennon, Blessington, Co Wicklow
Irish language revival in film
There is a revival of sorts in recent years in the Irish language which is very welcome. We have seen the success of films like An Cailín Ciúin which can stand alone irrespective of what language is used in the film.
This year, the Galway Film Fleadh is showing 11 films as Gaeilge, double last year's number. This points to the very healthy state of Irish language product-ions.
Kneecap is popularising An Ghaeilge, especially with young people. This is a far cry from the attitude of my fellow classmates to the language when we studied Peig nearly 50 years ago in secondary school.
This year, for the first time, the Galway International Arts Festival has Gaeilge ambassadors volunteering at events to encourage people to use their cúpla focal irrespective of their fluency in the language.
There will be a pop-up Gaeltacht each day in the festival garden in Eyre Square between 1pm and 2pm.
The use of An Ghaeilge is becoming more mainstream. It may be small steps, but people's attitudes to the language are changing.
We have a long way to go before we experience the kind of revival that the Welsh language has undergone in Wale, but as the seanfhocal says 'De réin a chéile a thógtar na caisleáin'.
Tommy Roddy, Galway
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Ireland will miss 2030 climate target
Regarding Ireland's climate obligations, it is time to call a spade a spade: Ireland will miss the 2030 Paris Agreement target of a 51% reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions. (Irish Examiner view: We cannot ease off on our efforts to tackle the climate crisis, July 7).
The Environmental Protection Authority has recently stated that, even with the full implementation of the Climate Action Plan, Ireland will only achieve somewhere between 12% and 23% of those targets while the energy minister Darragh O'Brien has also confirmed that Ireland would at best achieve about half the 2030 target.
At this late stage, it is therefore wishful thinking to expect any other outcome, and yet the Climate Change Advisory Council and the Fiscal Advisory Council, as well as other commentators, academics, and NGOs are calling on the Government to introduce radical, punitive, costly, and disruptive measures to achieve which are now generally accepted as totally unattainable.
Dire warnings of fines and penalties exponentially increasing from €5bn-€25bn are often quoted as inevitable if Ireland fails to achieve 2030 targets.
A competent Government will be legally and environmentally able to dismiss these grossly exaggerated claims by highlighting that Ireland, as a small country, has more than complied with the more pragmatic and nuanced advice of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC) 'that countries should aim to achieve emission reductions commensurate with their responsibility for global warming'.
It is patently ludicrous to think of any Irish government ceding to the EU a cheque for €26bn, equivalent to the total Irish annual health budget.
Given the current global instability, there is no guarantee that in future Ireland will have the financial resources for such unwarranted payments.
The Paris Accord of 2015 was a noble effort to set targets of global temperature increases to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Its 'one size fits all' status however was flawed and regrettably pitted small countries like Ireland with no historical and relatively small current emissions, with the major polluters such as China, the US, India, and other large countries in the G20 group of nations, which ironically, will escape any penalties.
There is no doubt that soon, Ireland will experience the increasing ravages of climate change happening elsewhere.
The UNIPCC has long advised that countries like Ireland should focus resources on adaptation and resilience against such disastrous events.
Ireland should of course continue to reduce emissions in line with our minimal responsibility for global warming, but pragmatism and common sense should dictate that Ireland focus all resources on protecting our vulnerable infrastructure, our coastal cities, towns and communities, rather than trying to achieve the unattainable.
John Leahy, Wilton, Cork
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