On your bike? Then you should have a reg plate
YOUR recent headline (Crackdown on Rogue Cyclists, July 31) prompted me to write this letter.
The maximum on-the-spot fine for such cyclists is €60, while an irresponsible dog owner who does not clean up when their pet fouls a public area can be fined €150.
The potential fines for law-breaking cyclists are having little effect in my locality. I can’t walk out of a shop without looking to see if cyclists are speeding on the footpath; they crash red lights regularly and compete for space with me on pedestrian crossings.
On two occasions I have been assaulted by cyclists when I stood my ground on a footpath and told them they are breaking the law.
Some years ago, I saw a pregnant lady have a narrow escape from injury when overtaken by a cyclist from behind on the foot path in Dublin’s Dame Street.
I said to a garda in Dublin Castle that I would write a letter to a paper on what I had seen.
He said it would be better if I sent a letter to the Garda Commissioner saying that all bikes should display a registration number as it would be a deterrent to law-breaking cyclists. TONY MORIARTY,
Dublin 6.
Carbon tax and OAPs
FURTHER to your report on August 6 regarding Leo Varadkar increasing carbon tax, he must think OAPs and the poor are going to be taken for fools!
We were given €5 in the last budget and had to wait six months for that.
He thinks he and his so-called Government can keep the poor down-trodden. No way can we continue like this!
We will have to take to the streets again!
Micheál Martin, why are you not bringing this bunch to an end?
And how about €1,000 to all grannies and grandads and the poor, instead of a miserly €5 next time? VINCENT O’CALLAGHAN,
by email.
Another Dev in the Park?
MICHEÁL Martin is lacking judgement in ignoring calls for the grandson of his party’s founder to stand for the Presidency.
Who more fitting to be the face of our Republic with coming commemorations where his grandfather fought? Éamon Ó Cuív has always held himself with dignity and proved to be a diligent voice for the electorate.
The incumbent did a great job, as did previous presidents.
However, Michael D Higgins did tell the electorate that he would not seek a second term.
He should now step down with the dignity he deserves.
Éamon Ó Cuív would also do a great job. And if he should decide to run as an Independent, with the backing of Sinn Féin and others, he would outrun all those wannabes. Mary Lou McDonald could show real leadership where Micheál Martin has failed. GRÁINNE KENNY, Co. Dublin.
A forgotten hero
MANY Donegal people claim, justifiably in my opinion, that theirs is the forgotten county.
However, Donegal might not be quite so forgotten if its people remembered and advertised their own county’s heroes and heroines.
One such hero is James Patrick Craig – a scholar, teacher, innovative compiler of grammar and composition books for the Irish language, and a composer and singer.
His words will be spoken and his songs sung in St Connell’s Museum, Glenties on Saturday August 18, when the county and country will get an opportunity to honour this man who did so much to kickstart and maintain the Irish revival in the early 1900s. Let him not be forgotten again. ERNAN O’DONNELL,
by email
Ban the hijab? No!
THE Cole Porter song Anything Goes includes the lyrics, ‘In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. But now, God knows, anything goes.’ What would his lyrics say now?
The arrest of a woman in Denmark for wearing too many clothes, specifically a hijab, has changed how this is seen, or maybe not seen. There were times when people were arrested for wearing too little: swimmers at many beaches, streakers at sports events, although many countries have become more comfortable with a range of optional clothing.
The concern in a number of countries is with people who cover up too much, and although all say it is not based on religion, the main items banned seem to be those worn by Muslim women.
The hijab ‘hides’ less than the habits worn by the nuns who taught me. I, and anyone else, can wear a football scarf and cap on a cold day and nobody tries to arrest me even though my face can hardly be seen. The argument of identification issues is trivial given that fingerprints are adequate proof of identity and certainly enough to get you jailed.
I now wait for the next celebrity or royal wedding where the bride will be arrested for wearing a veil. DENNIS FITZGERALD,
by email.