Halloween was scary for all the wrong reasons
IN SPITE of the fact that fireworks and bonfires are now illegal, it has done nothing to alleviate the nightmare of being kept prisoner in my own home on Halloween ni ght f r om 6 . 3 0 pm to 10.30pm.
There was also a bonfire blazing at the back of my house which had been painstakingly built by an adult, assisted by children.
There is nothing new about any of this except that the fireworks don’t start in September as they used to. I don’t expect the gardaí to be running around estates confiscating fireworks – I actually don’t know the answer but I do know that my tolerance for this behaviour has run out.
I was exhausted on Wednesday and also find it very annoying that communities accept this behaviour. ‘Ah, sure it’s only one night’ – one traumatic and disturbing night for my little dog and me. ELAINE ELLIOTT, Navan, Co. Meath.
A proper response
ANYONE notice the difference between the UK and Ireland when it comes to the big boys and girls getting up to mischief?
Michael Fallon, defence secretary in Theresa May’s government, is gone in 60 seconds for alleged misconduct earlier in his career. How refreshing to see someone resign or be sacked – held to account, held responsible.
Here in Ireland everything would be blamed on someone else or swept under the carpet, covered up – let’s have a Commission of Inquiry and in the third report he said: ‘Not me, Your Honour, I wasn’t there. The files have gone missing, Your Honour, they were shredded by mistake. CCTV wasn’t working, Your Honour.’
‘Not enough evidence – case dismissed.’ ‘Thank you, Your Honour’ No shame, brass necks – I don’t know why we put up with it. DAVID J COLEY, Ennis, Co. Clare.
Why we need trees
PJ DALTON’S proposal (Mail, Letters, Wednesday) to cut down 180 out of 200 roadside trees on a three-mile stretch of roadway in his native Co. Meath is outright dangerous scaremongering.
If the councils were to adopt this senseless measure, it would be met with resistance.
People like this forget that climate change is in effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and seas – and that losing vast swathes of rainforest for the cultivation of palm tree oil is driving the inclement weather of storms such as Ophelia that felled the trees in the first place and led to the untimely deaths of three people in Ireland.
Trees are the lungs of the earth that provide us with vital oxygen to nurture all life on the planet.
Even trees that are dying provide shelter for roosting bats, squirrels and other mammals in the long cold winters. So let’s have a review of where we are headed and not go blindly in the dark with solutions that will only compound the problem. IAN HESTER, Co. Roscommon.
Speak for yourself, Leo
IT WAS reported in the papers that Leo Varadkar publicly stated that Ireland would not recognise the result of the Catalan poll.
Leo did not ring me to ask my opinion so he is definitely not speaking for me or, I am sure, the bulk of the Irish people.
In this case, he would need to have a referendum seeking the opinion of the people he is supposed to be representing.
JOHN FAIR, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
I deserve redress
I WAS tempted, through fear and dread of the Irish Government and the international bankers who would ultimately profit from my paying of the water charges (tax), but from somewhere I found the strength to resist the threats.
I suffered no small degree of upset arising from this national malaise which stalked the country for years. I feel I am entitled to distress money for all the unnecessary suffering I endured, not least the fear I could be followed to my very grave in pursuit of payment. I think I was very brave. ROBERT SULLIVAN,
Bantry, Co. Cork.