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Jack Grealish, left, and Declan Rice celebrate England's win over Ireland at Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile Booing Rice and Grealish says more about that type of ‘fan’ than anything else I can’t understand the Irish soccer fans who booed Declan Rice and Jack Grealish right through the Ireland v England Nations League match on Saturday. Did they really think that it would put them off their game? And then to rub salt in to these fans’ wounds, both Rice and Grealish scored.
And I was secretly glad they did, as it showed up the ignorance and stupidity of the booing fans’ actions. Some of these “fans” will probably be cheering on Arsenal and Manchester City next week and might have posters up in their bedrooms of the two footballers. And what kicks do they get out of booing the English national anthem? Compliments to Rice for his sporting behaviour when he scored his goal.
It showed that he has more respect for the Irish fans than a lot of them do for him. Donough O’Reilly, Stillorgan, Dublin Having seen Ireland’s performance against England on Saturday, I think our only hope of becoming a technically proficient team is a return of street football and the ball skills associated with “three-and-in”, “last man back”, “next goal wins”, fly keepers, no sidelines, playing in the dark, semi-burst balls, slide tackles on hard concrete and one-twos against lampposts. If only.
Chris Fitzpatrick, Terenure Road East, Dublin 6 Richard Curran wrote an important article (‘Forget about dynamic pricing, what about dynamic spending? – Sunday Independent , September 8) on the waste of public money by government departments and politicians. Strange then that his only generalised swipe was at local government. I have long called for a new accountable system of local government – structurally and financially – that would proactively respond to the Council of Europe’s determination in a report published last October that Ireland has the fourth worst system of local government in Europe.
Shamefully only three countries – Russia, Hungary and Moldova – were deemed to have performed worse than Ireland. Perhaps instead of a generalised attack, Mr Curran would join me in calling for a national forum on local government financing? Let us build a better system instead of just moaning about the present one. Councillor Dermot Lacey, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 There is an opportunity for all candidates in the next general election to add to their manifesto that, if elected, they will adopt one of the recently added bicycle parking slots.
If 36 candidates promise to pay €1,867 a year for their five-year term as a TD out of their €112,000 annual salary, this would tally up to just over €336,000, the original cost of the Leinster House bicycle shelter. It could be a great vote-catcher for the Irish public, who clearly can see through the glass roof of the bicycle shelter. If Leinster House had a similar glass roof, there could be more transparency in the new government that could prevent a similar circus happening again.
Seamus Joyce, Richmond, London Your editorial (‘Imprudent spending of taxpayers’ money is a slap in the face – Irish Independent , September 7) sums up how flaithiúlach the Government has been with the public purse. It was only a few weeks ago that Taoiseach Simon Harris suggested we should have a Department of Infrastructure, to oversee major infrastructure projects. Perhaps the bicycle shed debacle has emphasised a more urgent need for a Department of Common Sense.
There was always waste with the public purse in good and bad times, but since Covid, it seems to have gone bananas. And still we hear from the ESRI that 230,000 children are going without the basics for a comfortable life. The indifference to spending is not compatible with a caring and just society.
It’s time for our ministers for Public Expenditure and Finance to get a grip of the handlebars of Ireland Inc before we end up off the road again. But I suspect that prudence might be kept under wraps until after Budget 2025. Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18 Is there any truth to the rumour that the Tour de France is coming back to Ireland next year? If so, a pit-stop at Leinster House will be de rigueur, will it not? Peter Declan O’Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan Throughout September coursing clubs catch hares for the season that begins next month.
If you were to believe fans of this “sport”, hare catching is a weekend leisure activity that can involve the whole family, with people of all ages setting out to capture the animals...
some to lay nets in locations that hares are known to frequent and others to gleefully beat the ground to usher their timid prey into the nets. The coursing clubs say that after this “traditional” rounding-up process, the hares are well cared for, and may even enjoy the whole experience, including the chase on coursing day, since, they claim, the animals were born to evade predators and survive in the wild. This romanticised view is on the same level as the old image of Ireland in which the country was inhabited by leprechauns, devout holy folk always praying and maidens dancing at crossroads.
When a hare is captured it may become entangled in the net, suffering bone fractures that can’t heal. The healthy ones may succumb to stress myopathy while enduring weeks of unnatural captivity, and the ones that have dogs set on them can either sustain agonising injuries on coursing day or die afterwards in the wild from the inordinate stress levels to which they’ve been subjected..
.all for a laugh and a flutter. There are two private members’ bills in the pipeline that could, if passed, remove this stain.
I hope one of them can make it over the line, or that the Government will accept that this barbaric practice is well past its sell-by date. John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co Kilkenny Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.
