Protest at Trinity College Dublin

Support for students

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sir, – As long as the Irish Government continues to fund it, the management of Trinity College Dublin have some responsibility to all Irish people in how they conduct their business, including both their management of our priceless artefacts and their links to Israeli government-funded institutions and researchers. The majority of people in Ireland have great sympathy for the plight of Palestinian people and deplore the actions of the Israeli government in shooting, bombing and starving them in their homes, hospitals, universities and “safe” refuges. Why do Irish citizens have to pay a considerable sum to Trinity College Dublin, an institution they are already funding through their taxes and which most of them will never get the chance to attend, to see our national treasures such as the Book of Kells, the Garland of Howth and the Book of Durrow? Like many Irish people, I fully support the protesting students in their aims and urge Trinity College Dublin to adopt the principles of boycott, divest and sanction in relation to Israeli academic institutions and research in solidarity with the Palestinian people, most especially their fellow students and academic staff in Gaza, whose universities have been destroyed. – Is mise,

DEIRDRE DE BLÁCA,

Stigh Lorcáin,

Baile Átha Cliath.

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Sir, – Why exactly should the Book of Kells be in Trinity College on a pay-per-view basis in the first place, and not in a suitable location in Kells, or in the National Museum, available to view for free? – Yours, etc,

ULTAN Ó BROIN,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.