Close encounters of the Leo kind would confuse aliens

Leo Varadkar

Letters to the Editor

Reading some of Leo Varadkar’s comments in recent times, such as saying a notice to quit is not an eviction, I was reminded of what a clever fellow once said – if aliens ever arrived here, instead of running the risk of misunderstandings if we try to communicate verbally, we should just play Beethoven’s 9th and all would be well.

On hearing it, the aliens are sure to be respectful and spare us, recognising us as a highly intelligent, civilised people.

On the other hand, if we decide that the best approach would be to completely bamboozle them and keep them confused, we could just play a loop of Mr Varadkar’s many bizarre observations. They’ll be scratching their heads for an age.

There can be usefulness in the simplest of things it you look hard enough.

Jim O’Sullivan

Rathedmond, Co Sligo

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A mean Green machine that has hell of a lot to answer for

It is a great wonder to witness the alacrity and firmness of purpose with which harsh sanctions were meted out to Neasa Hourigan by the (so-called) Green Party. Great stuff! These guys don’t muck around, do they?

Would it be entirely amiss for a lay observer of political goings-on in the Republic to wonder as well why the Green Party failed to show similar mettle and fortitude when the Coillte “vulture fund” deal came to light.

I am assuming the Green Party must have been aware of it but its silence on the issue, as far as I can judge, has been deafening. Values askew? Obviously, and the ship has gone adrift!

Gearóid Ó Baoighill

Fontenay-aux-Roses, France

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Summer time and the living is certainly getting easier

Summer time began at 1am yesterday. The extra daylight certainly puts a spring in our steps and joy in our hearts. The trees are sweetly blooming while warmth, growth and greenery are returning. Birds are singing and building nests, bees are buzzing, while animals are mating and producing offspring.

How wonderful it is to listen to the bleating of lambs in the fields and to marvel at “a host of golden daffodils”.

The arrival of summer time boosts our energy levels after the dark, cold winter. We appreciate how good it is to be alive and living in a country of rare scenic beauty. Summer time whets the appetite for exercise, sport and outdoor living. Alfred Lord Tennyson maintains that in spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love.

Mine turns to sea swimming in Fenit, walking and cycling on the spectacular new Tralee-to-Fenit greenway and the mouth-watering anticipation of a feast of Gaelic football. The sun will shine all the brighter over Kerry if Jack O’Connor and the lads retain the All-Ireland senior football title!

Billy Ryle

Spa, Tralee, Co Kerry

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DUP suits itself, so perhaps it’s time to stop appeasing it

The DUP claims to be loyal to the British crown. After His Majesty’s government in the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly, by 515 to 29, for the Windsor Framework, the DUP is not prepared to endorse that decision. Yet when the UK voted, narrowly, to leave the EU, the DUP embraced that decision. It begs the question, what is the DUP loyal to: the British crown or itself?

The time for DUP appeasement seems well past its sell-by date.

Why should it be allowed to continue to hold up progress? An updating of the Belfast Agreement seems desirable.

Joseph Mackey

Glasson, Athlone, Co Westmeath

Climate change intrinsically linked to overpopulation

I’m somewhat bemused by the debates relating to climate change and the solutions to same.

Is it not obvious to everybody that overpopulation of the planet is the problem? There are roughly eight billion of us.

Yet in all the articles I’ve read and the programmes I’ve seen on TV, not once has anybody mentioned overpopulation.

James Chawke

Dublin

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That US even considers Donald Trump leadership material is truly wacko

Doubtless it is a coincidence that Wacko Trump launched his latest 2024 election campaign tirade in Waco, Texas, but really his whole style of hectoring and bullying is tantamount to incitement to hatred and violence.

It says much for the state of reality in the United States when this idiotic, boorish and misogynistic moron can be even contemplated as a possible “leader” – particularly after suffering him for four years already.

David Ryan

Co Meath