I read with great interest ‘It didn’t start with gas chambers. It started with politicians dividing the people, us vs them’, but I have to disagree with one aspect of the article, the lack of teaching about the Holocaust in Ireland.
Far from not being educated about this tragedy, when I was in primary school in the late 1970s we were taught about the Holocaust as “the mass murder of Jews and others” by the Nazis, such was the terminology of the time.
In secondary school in the 1980s in Co Meath, I was taught about the Holocaust many times in religion classes where we discussed the evil, immorality, and awfulness of this Nazi campaign of murder, then we were taught the factual details in Intermediate Certificate (now Junior Cert) history.
My daughter, who went through the Irish education system 35 years after I did, was also taught about the Holocaust in religion, civics, and history classes.
During my time living in North America, the UK, and Central Europe I have met very few people with greater knowledge and awareness of the vast scope and extent of the Holocaust than I received through primary and secondary school in Ireland.
In a time of global misinformation, it is important to both praise and support the Irish education system for such vital teaching about the past as well as preparing children for the future.
Leo E Sharkey, Bratislava, Slovakia
Discrimination in a racial Jewish state
Nesrine Malik’s article on what Israel has done to thousands of little children would shake you to your bones.
To think on the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz and the liberation of the concentration camps by the Soviets that we would now be questioning the Israelis level of brutality and carnage on innocent little children is mind-numbing.
In a thought-provoking article for The New York Times recently, Peter Beinart states “American Jewish leaders don’t just insist on Israel’s right to exist. They insist on its right to exist as a Jewish state. They cling to the idea that it can be both Jewish and democratic despite the basic contradiction between legal supremacy for one ethno-religious group and the democratic principle of equality under the law”.
“States don’t have a right to exist. People do,” he argues.
If we view the smiling faces of the hostages released by Hamas versus some of the emaciated Palestinian prisoners released by Israel under the ceasefire plan we’re almost transported back 80 years again. The oppressed have now become the oppressor. How could this happen with the full blessing of the most powerful country in the world in 2024 is it fair to ask?
Arabs and Jews have little hope of living in peace if Israel is given carte blanche by the United States and its supporters to exist solely as a Jewish state. An exception cannot be made for Israel to discriminate on race, ethnicity, or religion because of its past. We see the results of this discrimination daily in Gaza and the West Bank.
The tens of thousands of lost children of Gaza deserve better than the largely empty rhetoric of antisemitism being levelled at us as a justification. Israel must be held to account for its actions. Failure to do so puts the lives of little children everywhere in jeopardy and not just in the Middle East.
Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry
Tackling gridlock
In a recent article it was noted that “a study by satnav company TomTom found Cork was more congested than London, Toronto, or Rome”.
This a partial accounting of the study’s findings. According to the metric of journey time, the same study ranked Cork at 162nd, with an average travel time for 10km of nearly 22 minutes, which was considerably lower than London (33 minutes), Toronto (25 minutes), Rome (30 minutes), and even Dublin (just under 33 minutes).
Cork is a small city. According to an analysis by Stuart Neilson, Cork city centre is within a 15-minute walk for 22,000 residents, within a 30-minute walk for 53,000 residents and a 45-minute walk, or 20 minutes cycling, for 106,000 residents. What would happen if all these residents had safe travel infrastructure that gave them the freedom to choose to walk or cycle? As anyone who is able to walk or cycle knows, you can do it yourself. You aren’t slowed down when others walk and cycle too. But if you choose (or are forced to choose) to drive when large numbers of other people also drive, the traffic system grinds to a halt. The TomTom study defines congestion as the percentage increase in journey time compared to free-flow conditions.
For Cork it was 41%, which put it at 38th in the world. A complete over-reliance on roads and private car transport has created a very fragile transport system in Cork.
The population of Cork, like the population of Ireland, is growing. With our current car-favoured infrastructure, more people means more cars equals slower buses. Calls for better enforcement of traffic infringements are vital for the safety of all. So too is infrastructure that can facilitate safer walking and cycling which will benefit everyone: young, old, pedestrians, cyclists, those on the bus, and even those who choose to still drive.
Fionn Rogan, Ballincollig, Cork
Power outages
The chaos wreaked by storms Éowyn and Herminia begs the question: are our electricity and water infrastructure systems fit for purpose in 21st century Ireland? Continued dependence on pre-EU wooden poles and Victorian-era pipes is clearly not the answer.
Upgrading our physical infrastructure is as important as investing in our digital infrastructure.
A national plan to deliver state-of-the-art, integrated physical and digital infrastructures should be a priority of the government and a ‘call to arms’ for our engineers.
While not headline grabbing, investments in electricity, water, and sewage at national and local levels should deliver a better quality of life for all citizens.
Declan Deasy, Castlebellingham, Co Louth
Chaos in the Dáil
I always enjoy Fergus Finlay’s column and agree with him most of the time. I agree that the Government supporting independents seeking opposition time is morally insupportable whatever bending of the rules may suggest otherwise. But I did not expect him to trivialise the anarchy that prevailed in the house on Wednesday.
The actions of a street mob became the modus operandi of the opposition. Dick Spring in his time had many decisive speeches in his time but none as significant than calling out Charles Haughey on the limits of his role as acting taoiseach at a similar time of the start of a new parliament. The sight of the present Labour leader as a support to the SF leader justifying their actions was very disturbing. The seriousness of the issue was the justification for their actions. There will be significantly more important issues coming before the Dáil over the next five years. Is this organised chaos the precedent? Will the Labour Party support it?
Jack Coughlan, Sundays Well Road, Cork
Rip-off insurance
Why are the insurance companies allowed to take advantage of the fact that motorists are required by law to have motor insurance? They increase the premium at will and then reduce the cover by increasing the excess. The excess is the amount that the insured have to pay before the insurance policy applies. I recently renewed my comprehensive car insurance; not only has the renewal cost increased from last year but the hidden costs have also increased dramatically. The “loss or damage to your car” which was an excess of €250 is now €400. For named drivers the excess was €450, and is now €650. You may have your excess of €400 reduced to €300 but at an extra cost of €56 which is a sneaky way of increasing your premium.
Windscreen replacement used to be free but now carries an excess of €25. This also applies to any other glass replacement even though the policy states that glass breakage is fully covered. Is there no watchdog or regulator for the motor car insurance companies?
The maximum car hire benefit of 21 days in the event of your car being written off is now reduced to 14 days. There is no way you can get a replacement new car in 14 days.
They have increased the cost of insurance, reduced the cover, and increased the cost to the insured in the event of an accident.
Eugene Rochford, Crossmolina, Co Mayo