Letters: It looks like we're going backwards on housing, with tenements by a new name

Irish Independent

16-07-2025

How do you live in an apartment this size? How can a couple work from home – how can even one person work from home?
Despite the tiny size, the cost is still a big mortgage, but how can anyone expect people to live and enjoy their company when so close to one another?
Home may have been where the heart was, but I think that is no more.
Colette Collins, Co Wicklow
Israel has truly mastered Orwell's concepts when it comes to linguistic abuse
George Orwell wrote in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four that 'war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength'.
The term 'Orwellian' has become synonymous with the corruption of language to mean its opposite. An organisation called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation lures starving Palestinians into aid distribution centres where they are massacred by Israeli soldiers.
Israel's 'defence' (another Orwellian word) minister Israel Katz calls for a 'humanitarian city' to be built on the ruins of the city of Rafah, where the entire population of Gaza will be imprisoned. Clearly, the word 'humanitarian' should be added to Orwell's list.
Raymond Deane, Broadstone, Dublin
Concentration camps are next for Gazans – how is this allowed to happen?
Israel is now mooting the building of concentration camps, which I cannot get my head around.
Two hundred years ago, we had similar camps in the United States in their treatment of the native Americans.
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Eighty years ago, we had the Nazi concentration camps. Only a few years ago, we had the camps in Sreb­renica. Can the world permit Israel to do the same?
Our silence is a mark of our guilt.
Paul Doran, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
If we tighten our belts in Budget 2026, expect rail network plans to take a hit
The doom and gloom regarding Budget 2026 has begun in earnest, and no wonder, given the state of the world.
Long-term, I wonder if it will have an adverse effect on the proposed rail network plans to reinstate a train service from Dublin to Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, scheduled to take 30 years?
Or will the M3 motorway, with the most expensive tolls in the country, continue to shoot fish in the Cavan barrel?
Peter Declan O'Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan
Housing children stuck in B&Bs for two years must be priority for politicians
It is reported that 14 children have been in emergency accommodation for over two years. This is unacceptable, in particular for the health and well-being of the children.
I believe this matter should be addressed as a matter of urgency by our elected representatives.
Michael Moriarty, Rochestown, Co Cork
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the summer omens don't look good
Yesterday was St Swithin's Day and, true to reputation, it poured in Armagh. Some might still hold to the superstition that 40 days of rain will follow. Frankly, in Armagh, that's not a prophecy, it's the pattern.
I was reminded of a summer long ago when I was a J1 student in California. I cycled daily along on El Camino in blazing heat.
Nearing Colma, a place known less for its nightlife and more for its abundance of cemeteries, I'd pass a roofer's yard.
Painted on the side of the building, in bold, sun-bleached lettering, were the wise words: 'It Will Rain Again.'
They should carve that into the Armagh City crest. It would be more honest than any Latin motto.
Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Co Armagh
Pub closures signal that the fabric of rural Ireland is beginning to fall apart
According to a new report commiss­ioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland, about 2,000 pubs have closed in Ireland since 2005. It says more than 100 are closing every year.
It could be argued that there is a changing way of life. Covid-19 may also have contributed. The bottom line in any enterprise is that it needs to turn a profit to sustain itself.
Clearly, pubs are struggling, and the present taxation regime and regulatory regime militate against them being viable.
I feel pubs are vital to the social and economic fabric of rural Ireland. They act as community hubs and are often the only social gathering place.
They play a part in fostering community cohesion and even economic activity. The late Austrian-American actor and activist Theodore Bikel once uttered the following words, which I find apposite to the above: 'You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.'
John O'Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Has the EU now crept so close to Nato that the two cannot be told apart?
On the RTÉ One O'Clock News we were informed that Donald Trump had decided to supply Patriot missiles to Ukraine for its defence. He was quoted as saying the EU was paying for them.
By the time the Six One News came on, we were informed it was Nato that was paying the US for the missiles. So who actually is paying?
If it is the EU, how are we in Ireland not to be involved? Is it Nato, or has EU moved so close to Nato that they are considered indistinguishable by the US?
Is this another step for our Government as it seeks to creep away from our cherished position of neutrality?
Paddy Murray, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath
Donegal boys look to be unstoppable and brought tears to my eyes on Sunday
I watched last Sunday's semi-final between Donegal and Meath in awe.
Our wonderful Donegal boys played with such brilliance and passion that my heart nearly stopped and tears appeared. With the greatest of respect to Kerry, I'm going to put my head on the block and predict Donegal won't be stopped.
Brian McDevitt, Glenties, Co Donegal