03-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Letters: As more public money is thrown away, keeping faith in RTÉ is a big ask
Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan was on RTÉ granting absolution.
'We need a functioning public service broadcaster,' he said, and expressed confidence in the current management.
Where is this need? And for whom? A total of €725m of our money has already been committed to RTÉ over three years. Then add in licence fee and advertising revenue.
This is all despite the established financial mismanagement of the recent past and the utter avoidance by the then RTÉ management to be held accountable.
And remember that the so-called top talents are still paid enormous contracts/salaries that are mostly funded by the public purse.
I have to wonder how any reasonable person can have faith in RTÉ's self-assigned public service remit of 'holding power to account'.
Larry Dunne, Rosslare Harbour, Co Wexford
World leaders must wake up and demand an end to Israel's siege of Palestine
It has now been two long, harrowing months since Israel reinstated a total siege on Gaza, blocking the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid and commercial goods into a region already devastated by war.
Desperation has reached unspeakable levels. Mothers are boiling grass to feed their families.
Children are suffering unbearable hunger, trauma, violence and abandonment.
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Gaza's hospitals, already crippled, are close to collapse, unable to function without essential medicines, vaccines and equipment.
Women, girls and other vulnerable groups face escalating risks of gender-based violence.
Stocks in aid warehouses are nearly gone. Palestinian organisations continue to seek to supply desperate communities through local markets, but they are facing eye-watering prices.
Yet it seems world leaders are distracted while the ethnic cleansing and likely genocide of Palestinians rages on. As the UN secretary general put it, Gaza is a killing field and its civilians are trapped in an endless death loop.
The weaponisation of aid, including withholding food, water, healthcare and shelter, has led to a surge in preventable deaths and threatens the dignity and survival of Palestinians in Gaza.
This is a preventable atrocity, and it does nothing to address the horror of the remaining hostages and their families.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have intensified military operations in the occupied West Bank, severely disrupting humanitarian aid delivery there.
World leaders must demand an immediate end to the blockade.
Karol Balfe, CEO ActionAid Ireland, Dublin
Clear double standards in the media when it comes to reporting on Gaza war
A recent attack by Russia on the city of Sumy in Ukraine in which 34 people were killed was described in the western media as a massacre.
The greater numbers murdered in Gaza are described as killed or, worse still, reported as killed.
Israelis held in Gaza are referred to as hostages while thousands of Palestinians are called prisoners. Why?
The Israeli army is called a defence force. The media reports that Israel is blocking aid to Gaza, instead of saying it is starving the captive population.
Israelis who evict Palestinians from their properties in the West Bank and beat and kill them are called settlers. Is this the best description of them?
Every article appears to mention that 'the war started on October 7'. There is never a mention of the thousands of Palestinians killed before that date, including many children.
Is it really a war when only one side has planes, tanks and cruise missiles?
Michael Jordan, Dundalk, Co Louth
If you thought Trump's first 100 days were bad, you ain't seen nothing yet
The world has survived Donald Trump's first 100 days, but it has been nothing short of a car crash.
His tariffs policy has been rife with threats and bluffs, culminating in pauses, deferment and capitulation to trading partners – or rather, the bond markets.
His 'end wars strategy' by the 'art of the steal' isn't playing out as well as he thought in Gaza and Ukraine.
America is joined at the hip with the world economy, and going on solo runs doesn't work when you're so dependent on non-American resources.
What's in store for the rest of his term? Death by a thousand cuts on the shifting sands of Trumpism, or will his money friends desert him when those MAGA promises cost too much?
It might be worth the watch.
Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18
We should all celebrate Protestant influence on Irish society and culture
I am at one with Chris Fitzpatrick on the positive relationship between Presbyterianism and the Irish language ('Heartening to see the Presbyterian celebration of forgotten Irish links' – Letters, April 30).
Apart from the Irish language, there are many academic achievements by members of Ireland's Protestant community in Irish literature, music and wider culture, which is a reminder of the considerable influence the community in Ireland has had on Irish culture.
Dr Douglas Hyde, the first president of Ireland, was one of the founders of the Gaelic League; painter Sarah Purser established An Túr Gloine; WB Yeats and Lady Gregory formed the Irish Literary Theatre in 1899, which then became the Abbey Players in 1904.
George Petrie and Edward Bunting are responsible for the wealth of ancient Irish music in our archives, while JM Synge, George Russell (AE) and Kathleen Lynn were all major contributors to the shaping of modern Ireland.
Tom Cooper, Templeogue, Dublin 6
Tables have turned on the Dubs, but at least it gives hope to all their rivals
The sports blurb on the cover of the Irish Independent on May 1 looked ominous for Dublin ('Dublin facing nightmare draw in group phase').
Gone are the days when a headline such as this would read '[insert any county outside the capital] facing nightmare draw against Dublin'. Ah, well.
