Sir, – The UN has called for £190 million aid for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.
The British conservative MP Frank Ledwidge, in his recent book Investment in Blood, claims that since 2006 it has cost UK taxpayers at least £15 million a day to keep British troops in Helmand province alone, in what we all know is an unwinnable war that has caused untold suffering for the people of Afghanistan as well as a total of 444 British troop deaths, 2,600 wounded and more than 5,000 soldiers "psychologically injured" since 2001.
So the cost of 13 days worth of British troops in Afghanistan would answer the UN’s humanitarian call to help the stricken people of the Philippines. The required solution to both problems requires little mental effort.
The Irish Government should set the example and immediately re-deploy the seven Irish soldiers serving under Nato command in Afghanistan and put them instead to peaceful humanitarian use distributing aid in the Philippines.
Such a move would bring hope to both the people of Afghanistan and the Philippines and show that humanitarian aid and peace should prevail above the apparent exigencies of futile imperial wars. – Yours, etc,
JIM ROCHE,
PRO, Irish Anti War
Movement,
PO Box 9260, Dublin 1.
Sir, – I am very disappointed over the scanty coverage by RTÉ on the Philippine islands disaster. RTÉ seems out of touch with international news compared to BBC, ITV and Sky News, which give extensive coverage.
Irish people are indebted to the thousands of Filipino nurses and care workers in our hospitals and health clinics. Of course the other major interest in Ireland are the great Colomban priests and nuns and Redemptorist priests working in the Philippines for many years. – Yours, etc,
Fr CON McGILLICUDDY,
Sacred Heart Residence,
Sybil Hill Road,
Raheny, Dublin 5.
Sir, – Your shockingly powerful front page photograph of the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban city (November 11th) makes me vow never again to complain about a wet Monday morning in Dublin. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BYRNE,
Cormac Terrace,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.