Coalition may be evicted if it does not fix housing

ON THURSDAY last, housing once again dominated Leaders’ Questions with Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty informing Green Party leader Eamon Ryan that not including apartments in the new measures recently announced essentially provided the green light to vulture funds to buy up more properties.

My sense is that this Government is not fully up to speed regarding the palpable anger that’s out there vis-a-vis this modern-day fiasco of our housing crisis.

It seems to me that this administration could well be eviscerated at the next election if positive results are not forthcoming apropos to same.

One would have to say that the present regime was unequivocally fortunate to gain power in the last election but it may be a different proposition at the next plebiscite.

It would be true to say that the vast preponderance of our younger demographic may not vote in the conventional way at the next election and the parents of these younger voters may in turn be influenced to vote in a non-traditional way too as a result of witnessing their children being disenfranchised and helpless when it comes to being locked out of the housing market.

It seems Covid-19 did a great job in camouflaging and disguising this disastrous and dire state of affairs.

Only for Covid, it’s my contention that, similar to the water charge marches, we would have had similar mass marches on the housing issue to convey the message that enough is enough.

John O’Brien, Stoneyford, Co. Kilkenny.

Money talks in GAA

THE GAA prides itself on being an amateur organisation but there is still an obvious professionalism attached to it. Dublin have been accused of having an unfair advantage over other counties and their footballers have proved to be virtually unbeatable over the last few years.

Other counties have not been afraid to spend lots of money in their efforts to rise further up the ranks. One of the latest is Armagh, who have hired the services of former Kerry AllIreland winner Kieran Donaghy to join their backroom team. Donaghy may well help the Orchard County to have more fruitful days but the long treks from the Kingdom obviously come at a big price.

Surely, ‘Star’, as he is called, could be better employed in assisting his native county overturn the dominant Dubs in the months ahead. But money probably dictates!

Liam Wilson,

Waterford city.

Frost’s cynical move

AFTER the genuine efforts of Queen Elizabeth to enhance relationships between our two countries, we now witness on the tenth anniversary of her visit one of her subjects, David Frost, seeking to undo much of her good work.

He should have heeded her words when she said ‘we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all’ before he picked July 12 as the target date to end the Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol.

The would-be rioters scarcely need further notice to replenish their stocks of rampage materiel.

Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.

Cruelty at its worst

EVEN the most seasoned animal welfare workers and volunteers were stunned by an act of cruelty earlier this week. According to several newspaper reports, a pregnant cat was used to blood two dogs on a Co. Cork housing estate. The animal was torn apart and the kittens ripped from its womb as fans of the ‘sport’ looked on. Hopefully Gardaí will apprehend those responsible for this crime.

Unfortunately the practice of blooding is widespread in Ireland. Unscrupulous greyhound trainers feed live creatures, such as cats, rabbits and birds, to their dogs in the belief that this will enhance their performance.

Unlike hare coursing and greyhound racing, blooding is prohibited by law. But that doesn’t prevent it from happening at secretive pre-arranged venues.

Convictions are rare, though back in 1994 trainers were filmed at a track in Co. Tipperary, blooding dogs on live rabbits and footage of the illicit training session was included in a Channel 4 documentary on Ireland’s greyhound industry.

Anyone who witnesses this stomach-churning activity, or has any information on a specific incident, should report it to Gardaí immediately.

What was done to that poor cat in Cork was a disgrace to humanity.

John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.

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