Villagers: Letters to the editor 2006-11-09
I write into you again in sheer frustration at the waste of money being spent in Clondalkin lately. Over the last couple of years we have seen the so-called 'Towers' on New Road outside Dunnes Stores and the mess near Tully's Castle. These were built to highlight the entrances to the old village and then they were all taken down again except the one at Tully's Castle. The council, I am led to believe, had to spend this money or it would go back into general funds. Now this weekend they are tearing up Tower Road, which was re-surfaced lately.
The people of Clondalkin are crying for proper funding for playgroups, women's groups, Travellers groups, etc. Our estates are not being properly cleaned – we are told there is no funding.
Surely whoever is responsible for these planning disasters in the council should be replaced or re-assigned to other duties and stop wasting our hard-earned taxes.
Paul Doran, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
Changing the constitution won't help
Comhar Críostaí – the Christian Solidarity Party – is now concerned about a threatened major amendment to the constitution which would ostensibly protect children, and safeguard their rights, better than does the constitution in its present state.
We know of some cases where the government has wilfully denied children their existing constitutional rights; and we know of other cases where existing laws – which would and should protect children – were just not enforced. But we do not know of any cases in which the constitution per se has failed our children.
So why must the constitution be fixed if it isn't broken?
And why aren't we doing something about the obvious violations of our existing constitution and the contrived non-enforcement of some existing laws?
Cathal Loftus, President Comhar Críostaí. cathalloftus@eircom.net
A new Taoiseach: We like you, Borat – for Taoiseach
Borat. Mr Kazakhstan. Welcome to Ireland. You will find it quite pleasant here and very much like your own country. For example, we also have huge big holes in our roads and big dangerous pipelines running across our landscape.
We have the same political party in power for decades, the the people have been brainwashed into thinking that criticising the economy is unpatriotic and everybody is secretly afraid of the police.
But best of all, if you decide to stay here we have a job for you as our prime minister. The one we have is useless – he has no moustache, can't make a joke and anyway your command of English is much better.
John Hanamy, Milltown Road, Dublin 6
Hussein death sentence: Saddam: we've seen it before
Nothing ever really changes in human history. The winning war criminals always sentence the losing war criminals to death!
Keith Nolan, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim
Genetically modified food and feed: GM food should be made an election issue
Since 1998, Ireland has approved the introduction of unlabelled genetically modified (GM) animal feed and food in Europe (indeed, Ireland has NEVER voted against genetically modified organisms (GMO) in the European Parliament or the Council of Ministers). Therefore, if you are a meat eater, there is a good chance the animals have been fed on GM animal feed. Buying meat from abroad is also no guarantee.
According to the book Genetic Engineering, Food and Our Environment (Luke Anderson, 2000), most processed food in Europe now contains GM ingredients from soya and maize in the form of soya oil, lecithin and corn (maize) syrup. So why should we be concerned?
Apart from anything else, GM food is being forced on us despite 70 per cent of EU consumers being against GM, and there have been no long-term studies carried out on the technology. What's more, GM food has been linked to allergic reactions and the technology is unpredictable and unstable. GM crops also reduce biodiversity of wild and agricultural seeds. Perhaps most worrying of all, a single GM-seed shipment can irreversibly contaminate Irish farms within a few years through seed dispersal. If contamination occurs, lawsuits may be brought against farmers (in the US hundreds of such cases have been brought to court) .
USAID, the US International aid agency, exerts enormous pressure through the UN World Food Programme (WFP), telling countries they have no choice – accept GM food or get no aid whatsoever. Indeed, in 2004, over 60 groups from 15 African countries wrote to the WFP criticising the way in which hunger is being cynically used to impose GM food on so-called developing countries.
If nothing is done, GM seeds will terminate Ireland's reputation as a 'clean green food island'. As a result, all Irish people will lose out in the long-term. Only the biotechnology industry will benefit, their aim being of course to profit at our expense by buying up seed companies and ultimately to control the entire food chain. I urge all readers to confront politicians on this issue now that a general election is forthcoming.
Somhairle MacAodha, Lower Salthill, Galway
Charity: Art auction for One in Four
One in Four, the national charity that supports women and men who have experienced sexual abuse is hosting its second annual pre-Christmas art auction on 15 November at 7pm in The Royal Hibernian Academy, Ely Place Dublin 2. The proceeds from the sale will be used to directly fund the charity's psychotherapy and advocacy programmes.
More Viewing 14 November 2-6pm, 15 November 11am – 6pm. Sale catalogue can be viewed at www.oneinfour.org
Statement: Ireland must face up to its moral responsibility to the world's poor
As UN talks on tackling climate change get underway in Nairobi, Kenya, Friends of the Earth is calling for legislation to ensure Ireland does its fair share to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We wants the Oireachtas to pass a Climate Security Act mandating three per cent year-on-year cuts in emissions and establishing an independent body to monitor progress.
The science is clear: we need to cut emissions by at least two-thirds by 2050. The economics is clear: the sooner we act, the cheaper it will be. What we need now is the politics. The only sensible way to make the shift we need is in a planned, step-by-step way. Long-term targets on their own don't work.
Our failure to keep our Kyoto commitment shows that. All-party support for a Climate Security Act which makes three per cent annual reductions the law is the best way forward.
In Britain, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are now supporting calls for such a law and Tony Blair's government is indicating that a climate change bill will be included next week in the Queen's speech, which outlines the legislative plans for the next session of parliament.
The UN climate talks are the start of a process to agree what countries will have to do after the current Kyoto agreement runs out in 2012. All the parties to the protocol agree that the emissions cuts agreed at Kyoto are just a first step and that more intense action will be needed if the world is to avoid dangerous levels of climate change. The fact that the talks are in Kenya will also put the international spotlight on the fact that Africa, already the poorest continent, will be the hardest hit by climate change. Scientists are forecasting that the more severe climate change becomes, the more frequent droughts and falling crop yields become, making it even harder for Africa to feed itself.
Ireland sees itself at the forefront of the fight against poverty in Africa, with plans to spend ?1.5bn a year on overseas aid by 2012. But we're also the fifth most climate-polluting country in world per person and we're overshooting our Kyoto commitment by 100 per cent. If we're serious about supporting Africa's development, we have to cut our climate pollution as quickly as we raise our aid-spending.
The government is promising a new National Climate Change Strategy before the end of the year. After a decade of failing to curb rising emissions, the fear is that the government will continue to tinker at the edge of the problem, content to use taxpayers' money to buy their way out of Ireland's Kyoto commitment. But we can't buy our way out of our moral responsibility or our sense of solidarity with the poor of the world.
What we need is to put our economy and society on the path to achieving not just our Kyoto target but the much greater cuts that will be needed for Ireland to do its fair share to prevent climate chaos. The Climate Security Act that Friends of the Earth is calling for would do just that.
Oisin Coghlan, Friends of the Earth, 9 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2. Tel 01 6394652; www.foe.ie
Statement: Airport expansion fails test of sustainabilty
Opening the 'Towards Sustainable Airport Development' conference at the Great Southern Hotel at Dublin Airport on 23 October, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said, "The sustainability test of major development projects aims to ensure that the impact on the wider economic and social environment is taken into account before projects go ahead at all."
The Dublin Airport Authority has failed this test of sustainability as far as its proposed airport expansion is concerned. That was the main thesis of Uproar's presentation at the airport conference. The presentation contrasted the feeble efforts of the DAA to justify its runway proposal with the rigorous test of sustainability that is laid down by the Department of Finance. In fact, Uproar maintains that the cost-benefit analysis required by the finance guidelines to test the sustainability of the proposal has not been done at all. The DAA has therefore failed to demonstrate that its proposed parallel runway at Dublin Airport is justified in terms of its economic, social and environmental impacts, whereas Uproar, using the right methodology, has demonstrated that it is not. On the contrary, the runway will waste, at a minimum, ?3bn of public and private assets and devastate the local environment.
The DAA has also failed to make a proper assessment of alternatives to its runway proposal, as the same guidelines demand. Uproar assessed the economic and social impacts of a second airport serving the greater Dublin area and found that it would be economically viable and a boon to areas where unemployment is still a problem. It would not have the negative environmental impacts the expansion at Dublin Airport would have, such as road traffic congestion and the devastation of established communities by noise and air pollution. In other words, it would be a sustainable development, in contrast to the proposals for Dublin Airport. It would also be consistent with our National Spatial Strategy, despite the DAA's absurd claims that its proposal is justified by that policy.
UPROAR. More www.norunway.com/ac (Uproar's PowerPoint presentation can be followed here together with an audio file of the presentation)
STATEMENT 'Don't knock the rock!': campaign to save Arklow Rock
We would like to highlight in Villagers this week our campaign to save a local historical landmark known as the Arklow Rock. Our message is: 'Don't knock the rock!'
The rock is threatened with immediate destruction by Roadstone. We believe that meetings between Wicklow County Council officials, Arklow councillors and Roadstone were a cynical pretense at consultation. Time was wasted while quarrying of the rock was intensified. Minister for the Environment Dick Roche refuses to intervene and he refuses to meet us. While others have talked about the issue, we are the only group that who has acted in order to reach out to the broader community.
Our campaign began with a well-attended protest outside the county buildings in Wicklow town. Next, we picketed Roadstone's compound at the rock. In order to give local people a forum to voice concerns, we held a public meeting. Deliberate attempts to torpedo the meeting by misinformation, intimidation and suppressing freedom of speech at the meeting itself failed miserably. Not to be deterred, we gave out leaflets outside Sunday masses in the town as the campaign continued to build. We attended An Taisce's meeting in Arklow and argued for a countywide alliance on the issue.
On Saturday we gave the people of Arklow back what belongs to them – pieces of the rock! Locals queued up for pieces for relatives and young people showed a keen interest.
This landmark means a lot to people and the local football team is named after it. We are demanding that quarrying stops and that the area be made a Special Area of Conservation for future generations to enjoy.
We say environment and people before profit.
Carmel Mckenna, Wicklow People Before Profit Alliance. www.people-before-profit.org