5 days ago
Letters to the Editor: Decisive action on habitats directives a must
The Government's announcement this week that Ireland must implement Habitats Directive assessments for the granting of derogations may be a moment of progress.
It is recognition, for the first time, that there is no basis for Ireland obtaining the blanket derogation without rigorously assessing the impacts on our protected habitats and species.
We have unwisely banked on maintaining the derogation status quo to fuel intensified and unsustainable agricultural production over the past decade.
Whilst it can be heralded as an achievement of sorts, it is really an indication of intent that must now be followed by action.
Water quality is everyone's problem, but for many, this week's announcement spells uncertainty, and a deep concern for their future.
We have repeatedly raised this risk with government ministers and officials and highlighted that a sudden withdrawal of the derogation would leave farmers facing a crisis, with enormous ramifications for their businesses.
We're now very close to that point.
To date there has been an ongoing failure by the State and farm leadership to plan for that potential scenario, with little to no apparent discussion about how to best manage that risk and prepare farmers for this very eventuality.
While there is much discussion of this new development being a 'shifting of the goal posts' for farmers, or a new requirement, it is in fact a legal obligation which dates back to 1992.
The Irish Government was made aware of the requirement for these types of assessments at least as far back as 2021, by their own environmental consultants, but did nothing to communicate that risk to farmers, leading us to the current cliff edge.
It's now long past time for Government to put in place a well thought through and resourced plan to transition impacted farmers away from the high stocking densities the derogation allowed.
There is a need for strong leadership to support and protect the farming community, at the same time as we protect our rivers, lakes, and estuaries.
The importance of protecting our collective waterways through sustainable land and water management is not something we should take different sides on.
Decisive action must now follow the words.
Gary Freemantle
CEO, An Taisce
Foster Place, Dublin 2
We must not be silent on Gaza
I write with continuing shock and horror at the relentless bombings and killings in Gaza.
Day after day, we witness the deaths of men, women, and children — families obliterated, homes reduced to rubble, entire communities shattered.
The images are unbearable; lifeless bodies wrapped in tarpaulin, lined up in the dust, waiting to be buried, if there is even a place left to do so.
I cannot remain silent on the terrible horror that keeps unfolding before our eyes.
Jonathan Fowler, spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland from neighbouring Jordan, described the situation as 'apocalyptic'.
He said people were being forced 'to eat or die' and likened the horror to a Hunger Games scenario.
These are not abstract warnings. They reflect the brutal, daily reality of more than two million people trapped without food, water, medical aid, or basic safety.
This is not about politics. It is about humanity. Every civilian life matters.
What is happening in Gaza is not just a crisis — it is a moral failure of the international community.
We must not become desensitised to the images of devastation, nor should we allow the cries of the suffering to go unheard.
Ireland, with its long tradition of peace-building and speaking truth to power, must continue to demand an immediate ceasefire, full humanitarian access, the protection of civilians under international law — and the immediate release of all hostages.
History is watching.
We cannot, and must not be silent.
Martin Quinn
Hon secretary, Tipperary Peace Convention
Father Matthew St, Tipperary Town
Aire facilities
The fact Cork County Council have recognised the income that could be generated by creating additional campervan locations is great. (Cobh location in six months has brought in €31,625 this year. That is €9,145 up on the same time last year.)
Motorhome owners do not always want to be 'pushed' towards a campsite, which in most cases, is no where near the centre of a town or village — and importantly closes between October 1 until the following Easter.
'Motorhome owners travel all year round.'
Motorhome owners travel all year round.
All we are looking for is simple Aire (service area/parking for motorhomes) facilities: Fresh water, grey waste and chemical toilet disposal points, rubbish disposal, and electric hook-ups are always a bonus.
This also allows us to spend in local shops, bars, etc.
Paul Simpson
Newtownards, Co Down
Dog walks on farms
John Tierney proposes a scheme whereby farmers would be paid 'a small fee' to fence off routes across their lands so as to permit dog walkers without trespassing, believing this would provide farmers with a small additional income — 'Lead the way to peace for farmers and dog walkers' ( Irish Examiner, Letters, July 10).
Mr Tierney says a grant scheme could be created for such purposes.
While it sounds good in theory it must be pointed out these would not be the only considerations.
First, how small a fee? It would have to be more than enough to cover the cost of dog and owner-proof fencing, especially on farms where livestock is being raised; also to cover income lost from land no longer available for tillage or livestock.
It would have to avoid creating unintentional rights of way whereby farmers who generously allow their land be used recreationally don't find themselves on the receiving end of expensive and vexatious litigation by members of the public who try to assume some general right of way if allowed any access to land at all — there's always one, as they say.
Dog walkers would also have to find an insurance company willing to insure them and indemnify the landowner against any liability in the event that any dog (or person) caused any damage or nuisance to property, livestock, themselves, or other members of the public.
Again, far too often farmers have found themselves on the receiving end of legal action by folk who shun common sense and believe it is everyone's responsibility but their own to ensure safety.
As a hillwalker, I have seen with my own eyes people who seem totally unfamiliar with the countryside other than in some loose recreational sense, bringing their dogs across mountain farmland and even letting them off the leash.
Most farmers might reasonably wonder what's wrong with Mr Tierney simply using existing public parks, beaches, and much-touted greenways.
Nick Folley
Carrigaline, Co Cork
Srebrenica and the horror of genocide
I want to commend Mary Lawlor for her very poignant and touching article on the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina — ' 30 years on, Srebrenica still lives under shadow of genocide' ( Irish Examiner, July 11).
The Srebrenica genocide was the killing in July 1995, of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim boys and men by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.
It was the worst act of mass murder in Europe since the Second World War.
Bosnian Muslim men carry coffins containing the remains of seven newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide at the memorial centre in Potocari, Bosnia, on July 11. Picture: Darko Bandic/AP
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia held political leaders and senior leaders and senior officers in the Bosnian Serb army responsible.
Among the most prominent were Radovan Karadzic leader of the Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladic, a military commander who was likely the mastermind of the genocide.
We do know that at that time, the Dutch peacekeepers in the UN-designated safe haven of Srebrenica were vastly outnumbered and outgunned by Bosnian Serb forces, and the resolution that authorised their deployment did not allow them to use force to defend the Bosnians that were ostensibly under their protection.
Bosnian-Serb forces threatened to execute Dutch hostages, and the peacekeepers were forced to surrender their weapons and withdraw.
It's incredulous to think that three decades on, as leaders deny what happened, remains of the thousands killed continue to be identified and buried.
It's my contention that the peace of Srebrenica hides deep scars.
Mary Lawlor sums up it very well: 'Time has passed, but it hasn't healed all the wounds... in Bosnia and Herzegovina... because it suits some people... to exploit the pains of the past for their own gain.'
John O'Brien
Clonmel, Co Tipperary
