A chara, – The five-year anniversary of our first lockdown is an important moment for reflection. Recent pieces in The Irish Times, including the editorial marking the anniversary (“The Irish Times view on the Covid-19 anniversary: five years on, it is time for an inquiry”, March 12th) and Hugh Linehan’s article questioning the media’s role during the pandemic (“How well did the media do its job during Covid lockdowns?”, Business, March 31st), offer contrasting perspectives on matters. The editorial asserts that Ireland’s response “compares relatively favourably” to other developed nations and that restrictions “helped curtail deaths”. Hugh Linehan, on the other hand, questions the media response and the lack of debate on restrictions. He is, of course, quite right to do so.
If the upcoming Covid inquiry is to have real value, it must critically examine claims like those made in the editorial rather than serve as some kind of exercise in retrospective justification.
A key aspect of that scrutiny must involve revisiting the debate – or lack of it – surrounding lockdowns and restrictions. Linehan references Sweden’s approach, and it is worth recalling how The Irish Times covered Sweden in 2020. An editorial at the time described Sweden as an unlikely “poster boy” for a laissez-faire response, calling its outcomes “disastrous” while praising Denmark and Norway for their strict measures. But was that judgment correct? Five years on, we now have extensive data and analysis and the benefit of some hindsight to assess the results objectively. A BBC report, which the Linehan piece refers to, details a study on excess mortality in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. The research found that while Sweden experienced a spike in excess deaths during the first waves of the pandemic, its long-term and overall outcomes were comparable to those of its stricter neighbours.
The question of whether restrictions truly “curtailed deaths” must therefore be interrogated rigorously by an Irish inquiry, not assumed. Equally, the wider consequences of restrictions demand serious attention. Several articles published by The Irish Times this month highlight just one area where the effects of pandemic measures are still acutely felt: children’s lives. A recent report detailed a sharp rise in school absenteeism and disengagement since the pandemic (“Children are missing school at an alarming rate. What is going on?”, Education, March 25th). A CSO study earlier this month found that most parents believe Covid restrictions harmed their children’s social development, citing school closures and exam cancellations as major disruptions. Another report highlights ongoing developmental impacts on the youngest children (“Children less ‘ready’ to start school and have more emotional problems since pandemic - study finds”, News, March 10th).
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These are just some of the long-term consequences. Delayed medical screenings, undiagnosed conditions, and worsening mental health are among the many others. If the purpose of the Covid inquiry is to extract genuine lessons rather than reinforce predetermined narratives, it must be independent, critical, and data-driven. Every restriction imposed should be assessed. While there will always be debate over the overall effectiveness of lockdowns, there can be little doubt that some measures were not very effective or, indeed, useless. If we fail to acknowledge this, we risk learning nothing from what we all endured. – Yours, etc,
RÉAMONN Ó LUAN,
Dublin 14.
Taxing ‘passed on’ wealth
Sir, – As we struggle to envisage ways to finance the future running of the country it is interesting to read that ¤295 billion is likely to be “passed on” in the next 20 years or so (“Retired people have €295 billion to pass on” (Business, April 1st). Taxed at any level approaching income taxes it would plug some of the fiscal gaps that are foreseeable. Incentives to work hard would remain and, for some, be boosted. Our society would be a fairer one. One wonders what mental gymnastics have to be done to avoid taking this obvious step. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.
Wave goodbye to BBC Sounds app
Sir, – It was disappointing to read that the BBC intends to block the “BBC Sounds” app outside the UK jurisdiction.
The variety of stations from BBC Ulster to BBC 6 is testament to the BBC as a fantastic broadcasting organisation. (“Blocking Irish listeners from BBC Sounds app a ‘slap in the face’”, News, March 31st).
Now that UK and Irish Government relations are back on track post-Brexit, perhaps the Government could lobby to have BBC Sounds extended to the Republic of Ireland listeners as a gesture of good neighbourly relations? – Yours, etc,
MIKE MORAN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Contrary to your report that BBC Sounds will become unavailable to Irish listeners “within weeks”, I can confirm that, for certain broadcasts, this has already happened.
I have been a regular listener for many years to a service that presented a multitude of quality programmes and podcasts in areas such as sport, politics, documentary, arts and culture, science and technology, as well as making available most of the BBC radio channels.
The BBC, to its credit, took every opportunity, when appropriate, to include an Irish element to these broadcasts. In doing so, it made its own unique contribution to relations and understanding between the UK and Ireland.
This decision, whatever about its legitimacy under the public service broadcasting agreement between Ireland and the UK, is quite simply a step backwards. It is also impossible to see how it can make any real impact in solving the BBC’s budgetary challenges, which require a much more radical overhaul than to merely disenfranchise Irish listeners. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Terenure,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – The BBC is going to exclude us from its Sounds app. What an outrage. And the cheek of them to deny us something we don’t pay for. Like water, broadcasting costs nothing since it falls freely from the sky. As our politicians have always known. – Yours, etc,
ADRIAN MOYNES,
Dublin 8.
Trump’s tariffs and Europe
Sir, – The US imposition of trade tariffs is deeply regrettable, with serious implications for the EU and Ireland. With Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and mounting pressure on the EU to increase defence spending, the prospect of a trade war adds further instability globally, with costs ultimately borne by businesses, consumers, and workers.
Notwithstanding the challenges the EU is facing, it is worth remembering that as a single market of 450 million people, the EU has significant leverage to mount a robust response. Brussels should also seek to coordinate its response with like-minded allies like Canada and others outside of the bloc.
Just as the EU demonstrated its ability to be agile and united in its response to Brexit and Covid-19, European Movement Ireland calls once again for a determined and coordinated EU response.
The EU must respond, rather than react, by taking a measured but firm response to US tariffs. Above all, Europe must stand together to protect its citizens and economy.
Ní neart go cur le chéile. – Yours, etc,
NOELLE O CONNELL,
CEO,
European Movement Ireland,
Dublin 2.
Housing and migration policy
Sir, – As ever, the 2023 ESRI Annual report on Migration and Asylum provides a comprehensive statistical breakdown of both immigration and asylum seeking in Ireland in 2023. However, it is silent, as is the Government at present, on the actual policies in place to manage both areas while it is simplistic in the extreme for your editorial to claim that housing is the main problem affecting immigrant integration (“The Irish Times view on migration: basing debate on the facts”, March 30th).
Currently, the international protection process remains overwhelmed by a 20,000-plus backlog which is not going to be helped by a second processing system coming into operation in June of 2026 under the Migration Pact we have rushed to embrace. As regards immigration, the Trump effect may be about to derail the issuing of large numbers of work permits should economic contraction arrive. It is also noteworthy that no integration strategy has been published since 2021 which bodes ill for social cohesion should a major recession hit in the near future.
The floundering efforts of the Government to address the housing crisis do not inspire confidence of any real progress being made in what is turning into a social disaster for both Irish citizens and non-citizens. There is the suspicion that both the Government and much of the Opposition would not be troubled should large-scale emigration resume as this would ease the pressure on them to deliver on housing. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL FLYNN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
Protecting hedgerows
Sir, – Tom Gelletlie’s letter (Letters, March 31st) touches on an important issue, namely the capacity of our hedgerow corridors to deliver much more.
We would agree that the annual autumn cutting of hedgerows at the same, often very low height is disadvantageous to the services provided by these wildlife corridors: carbon storage, flood control, shelter, shade, pest reduction, and most of all, havens for nature. Also, the health and longevity of the hedge itself can be compromised by such cutting regimes.
The consensus among hedgerow experts is that the “ideal” landscape should have a diversity of different hedgerow shapes and sizes as well as a diversity of constituent plants and trees and that management regimes should aim to deliver these elements where possible. Rotational cutting (ie, not cutting all hedges every year), increasing the cutting height incrementally and various rejuvenation techniques for dying or gappy hedges are all relevant here.
We have been greatly encouraged by the willingness of farming and farm contractor organisations to review hedge cutting regimes: we are working with the FCI (Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors) at present along these lines and have learned from their members of the challenges faced by contractors in delivering best practice. For instance, annual cutting is needed along roadsides where visibility is compromised, and rotational cutting regimes do not suit all situations or farmers’ individual requirements.
We also agree that farm payment schemes are part of the solution to changing hedge management practices and our group is currently liaising with the Department of Agriculture and to help design measures in the next round of CAP payments which will incentivise wider, denser and taller hedges. – Yours, etc,
ALAN MOORE,
Secretary,
Hedgerows Ireland,
Fethard,
Co Tipperary.
A friendly word with Plato
Sir, – If truth really is more important than friends, then perhaps it is worth pointing out that the maxim “Plato is my friend, but truth is a greater friend” (quoted by Tim Crowley in Geraldine Walsh’s article “Are we listening to what the past is trying to tell us?”, Wellness Wisdom, Health + Family, April 1st) is not a direct quotation from Aristotle.
While the wording is not his, it is, however, a neat summary of what he says on the subject (Nicomachaean Ethics) when he admits that examining the idea of the universal will run up against his friendship for Plato, but maintains that, especially for philosophers, it is a duty to prefer the truth to one’s friends.
The maxim had a long after-life, usually cited in Latin, and sometimes, on the medieval grapevine, attributed to Plato talking about Socrates, rather than Aristotle. Social media have always been unreliable. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN McGING,
Regius Professor of Greek (Emeritus),
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.
The Irish Times – 1001 uses
Sir, – Recent correspondence on this topic (March 29th, April 1st) brings me back to the time when reading the paper left one’s fingers covered in black ink.
That ink was put to good use and old newspapers, consisting of printers’ ink and the more absorbent paper used back then, were widely used for cleaning and polishing windows and glass.
I have just done an experiment with Saturday’s edition and can confirm that a dampened page of The Irish Times still works brilliantly.
MARY DALY,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – Recent correspondence to your letters page on various uses for The Irish Times newspaper after being read has put me in mind of a specific role I was tasked with in my family home in the 1940s. Being a time of general scarcity, only posh people bought toilet rolls. Every now and then, I was despatched up to the toilet with old copies of the Evening Mail and the Evening Herald and a strong carving knife to cut them into usable-sized sheets.
I can only assume that the quality of newspaper in those days was more absorbent then it is today. – Yours, etc,
TONY CORCORAN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.
Improbability theory
Sir, – Am I alone in finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from April Fool stories? – Yours, etc,
DAVID VAUGHAN,
Mornington,
Co Meath.
