Opinion

Hospitality industry should respond to need rather than greed

As the lockdown in the north started to open up the one thing that was very apparent was the prices in the pubs, hotels and guest houses. Colin Neill of Hospitality Ulster said that the owners of those establishments had to increase prices because of the lockdown, loss of earnings and the money they had invested in preparing their premises to reopen.

I agree with his thinking but it is not a true reflection of the impact of Covid 19 in the North and across the island of Ireland.

Thousands of people have lost their jobs and their homes across Ireland. Their mental health has suffered in ways that will take medics decades to understand. Hospitality Ulster should have responded to need rather than greed.

The south of Ireland has had to meet the same expenses and that was increased due to the lack of vaccines for the population which put more pressure on the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry in the south put the same measures in place to protect the public and staff. The one thing they failed to do was to pass the cost of lockdown on to the very people who were going to help their businesses to recover.

I was astounded to hear the story of a couple out for a night in Belfast and they ordered a pint of Tennents, a vodka and Diet Coke for the grand total of £15.

I was in a four star hotel in Mayo in the first week hotels in the south reopened.

Due to the Covid measures they had in place I was unable to sit in the public bar unless I was eating but I was seated in a very pleasant lounge with a sun room and access to outdoor tables.

I ordered a pint and my partner had a glass of wine. I handed over €20  and was surprised when I got more than €10 in change. A pint of beer was the same price as it was before lockdown.

I never had a connection with the old saying “never bite the hand that feeds you” until now.

Maybe Hospitality Ulster should learn from that phrase.

 PAT NEESON


Belfast BT14

GAA members should leave their political leanings at the gate

IRISH NEWS sports writer Brendan Crossan’s article advocating that sport and politics should mix (June 11) was really saying one sport, the GAA, should be campaigning for a united Ireland. This was supporting GAA members who have recently been public under their respective county names in sending letters to taoiseach Michael Martin to promote something he has already been doing for some time at a political level. Members of the GAA involving the association at this stage would be counterproductive. There is a need for much more work in proper reconciliation needed in our communities that everyone should be involved in including the GAA. The most obvious question I ask of Brendan and others sharing his opinion is what do they suggest the other major sports in our country do? It is unclear the background to this recent involvement of GAA members. There have been many occasions over the 137 years of the GAA’s existence, when political groups ‘piggy backed’ on the popularity of the association and only for strong and visionary leadership to deter this, we wouldn’t have the strong vibrant body that it is today. Love and care of our families is always our first priority and for those who are really committed to growing and protecting the GAA for some of us is in second place. The level of voluntary selfless commitment shown all over the island is evident and has propelled the GAA to the top. It seems very evident that the sad and disappointing efforts by many to draw the association into politics  comes from those whose respect and dedication to the GAA is relegated in preference to their political beliefs. The strength of any grass roots, community-based sport is the voluntary effort, but equally important is that members can be welcomed from all backgrounds and class. Whenever they walk into that dressing room or playing arena it is essential they leave their political leanings at the gate.

TOM DONNELLY


Co Fermanagh

Ireland’s neutrality should not be undermined

There is a determined campaign afoot to undermine and abandon Irish neutrality. The British-based Sunday Times seems to be leading the Charge of the Nato Brigade into some valley of death (June 13, ‘Neutrality has no place in an increasingly hostile world’). The article claims that the ransomware attack on the HSE was a security wake-up call for Ireland, but this is a criminal matter best dealt with by Irish and international police rather than for military action. It claims without justification that Russia has shown “a lack of respect for our sovereignty” and goes on to falsely claim that Russian “military aircraft have entered Irish airspace on more than one occasion in the past year” with their transponders switched off. There is no evidence that the Russian air force has ever violated Irish air space, which extends only out to 12 miles around our coast. The Russian air force is fully entitled to fly through international air space beyond those 12 coastal miles. The only serious breaches of Irish neutrality in recent decades have been by three million US troops transiting through Shannon Airport to Middle East wars. Not only have US military aircraft violated Irish sovereign air space but more than 10,000 of these have landed and refuelled at Shannon Airport since 2001.

Even more worrying is the virtual decommissioning of the Irish Army Air Corps, while at the same time there has reportedly been a secret agreement to allow the British air force operational access to Irish sovereign air space. This is tantamount to a reversal of the 1938 handover of the three Irish ports that enabled Ireland to remain neutral during the Second World War. Irish freedom and sovereignty cost a lot of valuable lives and should not be thrown away for spurious reasons.

EDWARD HORGAN


Castletroy, Co Limerick

Expression of thanks to Park Lodge

As we approach the end of a unique academic year I would like to thank all those working in Park Lodge Primary School in north Belfast for everything they have done in supporting and caring for all our children over the past 16 months.  They have been fantastic in very trying and challenging circumstances. I hope all the leaders, teachers, assistants, office and canteen staff, caretakers, school crossing patrol and all connected with the school have a wonderful and restful summer and that when they return in September it is to a more normal setting.    

DOMINIC McCULLOUGH


Belfast BT15

Comedic twist to life

I don’t do Facebook, Twitter, or any of those other vicious pretend-writing sites online but truth be told I’ve had the greatest fun over the past year when accessing TikTok.

Lots of the stuff on there is brilliant for those who love a comedic twist to life.

During those horrible Covid days when we were warned our very existence depended on the goodwill of our rulers, it was joyous to know there are so many clever and humorous people out there who saw beyond the gloom and doom.

ROBERT SULLIVAN


Bantry, Co Cork