Ireland must do more to end Yemen famine
IN 1847 the Choctaw Indians donated $170 toward famine relief in Ireland.
Also in 1847, Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I personally offered £10,000 in aid to Ireland, but British diplomats advised him that it would be offensive to offer more than Queen Victoria, who had only donated £2,000. It was suggested that he should donate £1,000.
Genuine humanitarian efforts recognise no ethnic or religious divides. Why, then, is Ireland doing so little to address the suffering of the Yemeni people who are undergoing a similar famine caused by foreign aggressors?
Some 85,000 children under five years of age have starved to death in Yemen, yet Ireland and the international community have stood idly by and continue to support oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who are perpetrating violence and famine on the Yemeni people. In February this year, the UN Security Council renewed sanctions against Yemen, exacerbating the famine, which is further exacerbated by a blockade enforced by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, yet no sanctions have been imposed on the main perpetrators, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen are defending their people against internal corruption and external aggression, yet because they are Shia Muslims they are being attacked by their more powerful Sunni Muslim neighbours.
The answer as to why the Irish Government is doing so little to help is probably that we do a lot of trade with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and none with Yemen. Ireland is also complicit in these famine deaths by allowing the US military to resupply Saudi munitions through Shannon Airport. DR EDWARD HORGAN,
Castletroy, Limerick.
The climate hoax
A ‘VIRTUAL Climate Summit’ is under way in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, but anyone with a brain that works knows the concept of man-made climate disaster is a load of arrogant hogwash.
The planet is NOT in the conjured-up ‘danger’ the quasi-science says it is, but the nonsense continues to make certain people rich. This is another gateway to extract from hapless citizens huge revenue which is laughably called ‘carbon tax’, with the proponents of the giant con trick continuing to laugh all the way to the banks and the government coffers.
Take no notice of the apocalyptic jargon ‘they’ expect never to be challenged, because the prophets of doom are living in exactly the same way as every human on Earth, while pretending they are ‘different’ in a gentler, caring way of the angels – as long as people cough up the dosh to keep them ‘concerned’ on our behalf. ROBERT SULLIVAN,
Bantry, Co. Cork.
Not Martin’s fault
I AM sorry to see Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane leave, but the way I see it, no matter who the manager of the Ireland team is, with the present crop of players we have at our disposal we won’t make any progress.
If you look at the clubs our team are playing for, there are limitations as to what class of players we can choose.
We really need to be able to pick from the likes of Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or Man United, but we don’t have that class of player. I think it’s unfair for Martin O’Neill or any other manager you might care to name to carry the can, as we don’t have the class. What can you expect? BRENDAN O’BRIEN,
Tallaght, Dublin.
Hospital outrage
AS I walked into a hospital yesterday to visit a friend, I noticed the new extension wall was either granite or granite cladding, which is expensive.
Why no plaster and paint? As I navigated my way around old people on trolleys everywhere, I felt my blood boil.
These are people who have worked and paid their taxes for a lifetime, and this is what they get.
It is appalling. Hands up who has ever seen a politician, banker or builder on a trolley. I am sick to the core. I am ashamed to be Irish because of what we are allowing to happen to our fellow countrywomen and men.
PETER McGINNITY, by email.