Galway Advertiser 2003/2003_12_25/GA_2512_E1_020.pdf 

Extracted text

20

LETTERS

December 25 2003

Farmers' protest or singles evening?
Dear Editor, Last week, my wife, daughter, and I went shopping in Dunnes Stores, Terryland as is customary. We soon realised that the store felt crowded with male shoppers, each with a trolley and next to nothing in all of them. My wife wondered whether we had stumbled in on a singles evening or what. The penny dropped when an announcement came across the intercom system saying that many farmers were staging a protest. We continued to shop and found many detours necessary while farming tips were being exchanged by many "dressed to kill," and glances carrying the same endorsement. How many of these farmers voted into power the Government responsible? Is it fair them to inconvenience and intimidate people who may well have voted for an Ireland with a different vision. We've all heard, you've made your bed and now lie in it. Presumably they seek a better deal for their produce after all it's only fair. Also I agree wholeheartedly with an article in last week's issue that suggests that when a fox makes it back in one piece to her den in the farmers field, she should find sanctuary there. After all it's only fair. Yours Benedict Donnnelly, Ballybane, Galway.

Christmas brings terror for hunted animals
Dear Editor There is a marked increase in bloodsports activities during the festive season. In stagemanaged displays, Ireland's hunting community put on public showings of horses and hounds throughout Ireland. In an attempt to foster good public relations each local hunt goes out of its way to attract public attention by holding hunt meets in town and village centres while forgoing the usual meet locations in the depths of the countryside. The public is fed an image of harmless foxhunting while its true nature, which is the hunting down and killing of an innocent animal, is kept hidden. Hunting with hounds is a brutal activity. It exists solely for pleasure and entertainment. It has no role in conservation and the protection of wildlife. There is no justification for bloodsports. They are evil and barbaric and an affront to a society that engenders respect for life. It is time for our legislators to deal with the issue of bloodsports. They must carry out the wishes of their electors who do not wish to have wildlife abused and killed for entertainment. Our wildlife is part of our precious heritage. No one group pleading tradition and culture for their evil practices should be allowed to inflict terror and death on our wild animals for their own perverse pleasure. A ban on all bloodsports would be the best present wildlife could receive this Christmas. It is time to call of the hounds. Yours John Tierney Campaigns Director-Association of Hunt Saboteurs PO Box 4734/ www.huntsabsireland.org Dublin 1

New Inn should not be walked upon
Dear Editor, I want to thank you very much for bringing the New Inn dump dilemma to the fore in your editorial. I am gone from New Inn to New York since 1968, not long after that the old New Inn dump came into being. I remember coming home on holidays with my wife and kids in the seventies to a roadway littered with garbage, plastic manure bags, the stormy weather made sure that every tree and fence in the neighbourhood was decorated with garbage, you name it, rats running from one side of the road to the other; being bombarded by seagull s***e (you couldn't go for a walk without getting splattered) I was ashamed to invite any Yanks to my beloved village for that reason. New Inn Cnoc Breac meaning the speckled hills used to have beautiful sand hills from Ballyfa to New Inn village, until the county council took every grain of sand to build the fine roads else where in the west. It left New Inn with a scar as big as Lake Michigan, and to add insult to injury the national roads authority is to build a super highway right down the middle of (you guessed it) New Inn. A gas line was just completed, and wound its way right down the middle (you guessed it right again) New Inn for your information when they dug for the pipeline through the old garbage dump 2 years ago, I saw with my own eyes white manure bags that were buried 25 years ago as fresh with their contents, as if they were dumped yesterday. Is this what we want for the future generations? No. The old dump should have been developed after it closed down, eg a horse riding track, a beautified park, something to draw tourists to the area, I would not budge on the super dump until New Inn is given a super industrial complex so we have some decent employment for the area. That should be the trade-off. I am fed up with how our part of the county is been treated by the politicians in Galway as the "red headed stepchild" . The people need to voice their option loudly that we have had enough. I can see it now. The year is 2010 , Sarsfields are in the All Ireland club final, Ger Canning giving a geography lesson on the team from the parish of the super dump. That we don`t need, thanks for letting me vent this anger. Yours, Sean O`Rourke , New York/formerly New Inn.

Tea price was a rip-off
Dear Editor, I read with interest a few weeks back that at the Fine Gael conference in the Radisson Hotel, the hotel was charging delegates 1.90 for a cup of tea. I went to my local shop on Monday and purchased 100 teabags for 1.65. At the above rate, if the Radisson sold 500 cups of tea at the conference, it cost them 8.25 and they took in 950. If this is not rip-off Ireland what is? However, I was delighted to see that candidate Padraic Conneely raised the matter with the hotel and the hotel then reduced the price to 1.50 per cup. I hope he will do the same if he gets elected to the city council. As a mother of four chidlren, I am only too aware of the high cost of living. Yours, Catherine Slevin, Newcastle.

Paws... has given life to my sister-in-law
Dear Editor, Might I take the time out to congratulate the Galway Advertiser for its Paws for Thought column. It is a novel feature which makes for interesting reading. My sister-in-law has recently come through a very hard time and was suffering from low morale. That was until she spotted a lovely cat in the Paws for Thought column a few weeks ago and it has changed her life completely. I know that the column ensures homes for many of the animals that are in the sanctuary. To dedicate the space for it, especially given that animals do not place ads is a noble gesture and congratulations to all involved. Yours, (Grateful) Name with editor Lisbeg Lawn,

Galway GOAL says thanks for help
Dear Editor, Please allow me to use the columns of the Galway Advertiser to thank the people of Galway and surrounding areas for their continuing support during 2003. Since opening its Galway office three years ago GOAL has received enthusiastic and generous support from communities, schools, organisations, and individuals throughout the West of Ireland. This support has been the source of great encouragement for me and my colleagues in the GOAL office and also for the many dedicated volunteers the length and breadth of the West of Ireland who give so readily of their time to assist the poor in the developing world. The extent of human suffering seems to increase annually and 2003 has been another very busy year for GOAL with increasing demands on resources making the support of the public and corporate sectors more important than ever. GOAL believes in keeping running costs and overheads to a minimum to allow as much as possible to be spent on the poor in the developing world. This is appreciated by generous people parting with their hard earned cash and is also understood by the local media who have responded with great coverage of GOAL events and activities. So, once again I would like to thank the staff of the Galway Advertiser and the people of Galway. I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year and of course I appeal to you for your continued support in 2004 and beyond. Your Ronan Scully GOAL West of Ireland 1 Marangoni House Oldenway Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway.

Roundabout signs are honouring dead landlords
Dear Editor, Through your great paper, I wish to complain about the incredibly stupid idesa of Galway Corporation to erect these new name plates at the roundabouts. It i a very stupid waste of the citizens money. Especially as all of the names are of old Irish based, but foreign landlords. people who stole Irish land from Irish people and evicted many Irish tenants. I hope the Corpo have no more silly ideas such as this. Yours, Donal Healy, Crannagh, Gort.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
The Galway Advertiser wishes to advise that it is not responsible for the content which appears in the letters pages and accepts no liability arising from publication of material on these pages. 41-42 Eyre Square, Galway. Tel: 091 - 530900. Fax (General) 091 567079 Fax: (Advertising) 091 - 567150 Fax: (Newsdesk) 091 - 565627 / Internet Address: http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie / news@galwayadvertiser.ie