Letters: Recent convictions of men for sexual assault shows how women are not safe in this country

Is there nowhere in Ireland that women might be safe from sexual predators?

Deirdre Cooper, Knocklyon, Co Dublin

It’s good that we can focus on nature and law, but can we trust our politicians?

I’m delighted that the Nature Restoration Law has finally been adapted amid opposition from powerful vested interests in Ireland and across the EU.

But I’m more than a little sceptical about the willingness of our political leadership to implement it, given the record of successive governments in relation to wildlife and habitat conservation.

Many of the politicians who we expect to oversee sweeping ecological changes to the landscape are the same ones who happily support the cruel hunting, shooting and trapping of wildlife.

Heedless of calls from animal protection and conservationist campaigners, they have consistently refused to halt the persecution of supposedly protected bird and animal species.

There will need to be a drastic change in the political climate here if our precious wildlife and ecosystems are to flourish, or even survive.

John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co Kilkenny

Policy-making really has to change if child obesity is to be addressed properly

At a time when tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods and fossil fuels are killing 2.7 million people a year in Europe, the launch of the new five-year Safefood campaign to raise awareness of the food environment around children is timely (‘Obesity expert tells how he fell for junk-food promotion as temptation is all around us’, Irish Independent, June 17).

Indeed, the shift in the narrative from individual responsibility to recognising commercial determinants of health is welcome.

Junior Health Minister Colm Burke said we must go further in tackling the issue. The HSE national clinical lead for obesity Professor Donal O’Shea said he would like to see a promise to bring in a Public Health (Obesity) Act to be included in political party manifestos for the next ­general election.

But the fact is, the Government has made the commitment already. We need the draft bill that is sitting in the Department of Health to be dusted off.

We need strong online safety and media codes addressing junk-food marketing and advertising from the media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán. And most importantly, when it comes to regulation we need the very industries that produce these harmful products to be taken away from the decision-making.

We see the growing role of the private sector as a partner in health and development of policy, and a creeping web of relationships being built to reinforce corporate influence on public health policy.

If we really want to change the food environment, then we need to change the policy-making environment too.

Kathryn Walsh, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan

Aer Lingus pilots’ salary demands should not fly if we have any sense at all

News that Aer Lingus pilots are seeking a “near 24pc” pay increase is further evidence, if any was needed, that there are two Irelands: one for the well-heeled and well-connected – and one for everyone else (‘Aer Lingus says pilot strike would cost airline up to €25m a day as action could begin as early as next week’, Irish Independent, June 18).

Willie Walsh is no longer CEO of Aer Lingus’s parent company, IAG, but he must be aghast at what is being demanded by the current batch of pilots at the airline.

Unions are important in industrial relations and providing fair and equitable compensation to their members. But the pay increase that is reportedly being demanded by pilots is outrageous.

Paradoxically, the winner in all of this may be the planet and a renewed focus on the harmful effects of burning millions of litres of jet fuel every day high up in the sky by those who take for granted how easy it is to fly around the world.

Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry

Two strikes and you’re out should be the rule for GAA football championship

Surely it’s time for changes to the GAA football championship.

Now we have situations where teams have already been defeated three times yet are still in the competition and progressing to the next round. It’s time to call a halt.

Games have become meaningless, with no sense of jeopardy. Fans stay at home, while scarce county funds are wasted. It’s time for repair: two defeats and you’re out.

Frank Broderick, Claregalway, Co Galway

Government will need to be wary of the wounded animal that is Sinn Féin

The Government faces the choice of an early general election, or holding four by-elections during the winter. There is a good chance that the coalition parties could win them all. Candidates like Timmy Dooley and Martin Conway in Clare, and Christy Cowen, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy and Pippa Hackett in Laois/Offaly spring to mind.

In Carlow/Kilkenny the likes of Bobby Aylward and Pat Deering are people who have been elected before. But by-elections can be a health hazard as the government of the day can also get a stern rebuke from voters.

Sinn Féin may be down at the moment, but it has not gone away. The party is like a wounded animal at the moment and it could now be at its most dangerous.

Thomas Garvey, Claremorris, Co Mayo

Harris must understand difference between local and general elections

Taoiseach Simon Harris says there will not be an early general election, insisting that “the electorate didn’t vote for change” in the local and European elections. But isn’t it the case that some politicians, especially those whose colleagues (and parties) performed abysmally, are blue in the face telling us there is a world of difference between local and general elections?

Peter Declan O’Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan