Sir, – I read with interest, the analysis of Fintan O’Toole “Why is Ireland so badly governed? Here’s why,” (January 20th), and found myself agreeing with much of the detail. Mr O’Toole rightly criticises elected representatives for spending time making representations on behalf of constituents to the Road Safety Authority.

On a daily basis, constituents will contact their local representative seeking supports and contacts to be made to the HSE, local authorities, passport offices, school boards, etc. This work can happen in tandem with drafting legislation and developing policy, but should it?

After all, we don’t knock on anyone’s door at election time promising a medical card or a new passport in jig time.

I have neither the interest nor the influence in seeing people jump a queue. The fact remains, however, that constituents would not seek such advocacy from their local TD or councillor if the State-funded services were sufficiently resourced to render them efficient in processing people’s requests.

Applications to local authorities for housing can take upwards of 14-16 weeks just to process, before the decade of languishing on a waiting list even begins.

And so, if we collectively voted for individuals and parties promising a genuine pathway to reform when it comes to the accessibility and efficiency of services, as opposed to voting for the person who “got me” something, it might serve us better in the long run. – Yours, etc,

AIDAN FARRELLY,

Social Democrats spokesman on children, equality and youth,

Leinster House,

Dublin 2.

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole quite rightly takes Oireachtas members to task for the amount of time they spend on “imaginary patronage” rather than the serious business of running the country.

The rot, however, continues all the way to local government, or at least what is left of it. In Andrew Hamilton’s piece (“Post-Connolly alliance seeks long-term change to left-wing politics,” January 5th), we read that an alliance of left-wing local government representatives in Galway have been occupying themselves passing motions on the Occupied Territories Bill and Irish neutrality, surely two issues that sit squarely within the remit of the national parliament?

It is a depressing picture of dysfunctional government at local and national levels. – Yours, etc,

PHILIP BROWN,

Sandymount,

Dublin 4.

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole argues that Ireland is “badly governed”. He should try living in the North for a while. – Yours, etc,

PAUL GOSLING,

Derry.

Ultra-processed foods and health

Sir, – The suggestion of Francis Finucane and Norah Campbell in their article on ultra-processed foods (“How we became hooked on ultra-processed foods,” January 17th), that we ask the politicians who come to our door what they are going to do about making cheap, healthy food a dedicated part of our daily lives does not go far enough.

A wider and higher-profile campaign to limit and reduce the availability of ultra-processed food is required across medicine, politics and food safety organisations.

Ultra-processed foods have become steadily more prevalent in our diets in the decades since the second World War. This has not happened by accident.

Multinational food companies have refined and improved the hyper-palatability and addictive nature of many ultra-processed foods to increase their profits, but at the expense of their customers’ health.

In a recent TV documentary, a former food company executive described how his then employers had purchased a number of MRI scanners for their product research branch.

While being scanned, volunteers were fed a variety of ultra-processed food ingredients and mixtures of ingredients to see which of them caused the greatest response in the reward and addiction areas of the brain.

This kind of research is indicative of the systematic and cynical approach of food companies to ensuring the maximum possible sales of their products, regardless of any negative health consequences.

As Finucane and Campbell noted, there is steadily accumulating evidence of the negative health consequences of these foods for both physical and mental health, quite apart from their poor nutritional content.

Ultimately, revised food safety regulations will be required at EU level. Irish politicians should be doing much more to highlight the negative effects of ultra-processed foods with their European colleagues, and to recruit them to the campaign.

The food industry lobbyists are formidable foes, but a co-ordinated and sustained campaign at all levels of the EU is capable of improving the food environment, to the benefit of all of us. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN KELLEHER,

Ballinteer,

Dublin.

Changes to asylum rules

Sir, – Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan proposes that after you have been granted asylum here because your life is at risk in your home country you should wait years before your family can join you.

And, as Justine McCarthy writes, it’s for no apparent reason except to put you off looking for asylum in Ireland (“Making families wait five years to be reunited is simply cruel,” Opinion, January 16th).

Whether it’s street protests in a north Dublin suburb, climbing lamp-posts to fly intimidatory Tricolours in the inner city, or speaking in nicely modulated south Dublin tones while wearing a good suit, right-wing anti-migrant populism is right-wing anti-migrant populism. – Yours, etc,

DAVID McKENNA

Dublin 8.

Sir – I am writing to express grave concern about certain aspects of the new asylum seekers Bill.

While of course the decision to shorten the time from seeking asylum to giving a decision is welcome, there are two stings in the tail that are both cruel and unnecessary.

The requirements to wait three years before an application can be made for family members to join, and that the person given asylum has to demonstrate that they will be able to support all their family members here are inhumane and solve no real problem.

Ireland is a wealthy country and the scale involved is small. It looks very much like a cynical move to placate the anti-immigrant lobby.

Time was when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael subscribed – to some extent – to Christian Democratic values. No longer, apparently. Just economics and re-election.

I am disgusted at this proposal and I hope The Irish Times will continue to highlight it.

The Government should be ashamed of itself to have even considered these selfish, protectionist, narrow-minded proposals. – Yours, etc,

MARTIN CLYNES,

Clontarf,

Dublin 3.

The world of Donald Trump

Sir, – Has the time come for serious White House journalists to reconsider attending press conferences?

Journalism depends on tough questions, diverse voices, and freedom to challenge power.

A press corps stacked with sycophants and handpicked allies is not journalism, it is propaganda.

The appalling treatment of respected journalist Niall Stanage at a White House press conference last week should have resulted in a protest/ walkout by his colleagues.

This lack of action is appeasement to a failing administration. – Yours, etc,

ROSEMARY COWLEY,

Malahide,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – The recent overthrow, extradition and imprisonment of a head of state, on the grounds that his country was the main purveyor of illegal drugs to another country, struck me as a dangerous attack on the international order and world stability.

However, your front-page headline “Cannabis smuggled from US dominates Irish market,”(January 17th), has led me to revise that view, suddenly seeing much merit in the idea. – Yours, etc,

PADDY McGOVERN,

Warrenmount,

Dublin 8.

Sir, – Whereas the US threat to impose tariffs on some EU member states, the UK and Norway in relation to those countries’ position regarding Greenland is unacceptable and deeply regrettable, as stated by our Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee, it is equally unacceptable and deeply regrettable that the Minister referred to the current leader of the US as “President Trump” and not “US president Donald Trump”.

He is not our president, we have (yet another) fine Uachtarán, and we wouldn’t want Mr Trump to be getting above his station now, would we? – Yours, etc,

MICHELE SAVAGE,

Glendale Park,

Dublin 12.

Sir, – In my opinion David McWilliams fails to state the situation regarding US president Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve as simply as possible (“Who do you trust more with your money: Jerome Powell or Donald Trump?”, January 17th).

That is, Trump assumes that, since he is president, every federal employee must do as he tells them. In particular, the Fed must set interest rates as decided by himself. The problem is the Fed was created to prevent the president setting interest rates. Mr Trump’s inability to understand that point is the very definition of his incompetence. – Yours, etc,

FRANK DESMOND,

Cork.

Sir, – The obvious pride with which Donald Trump received the Nobel Peace Prize medal may present Ireland with an opportunity to get in his good books . Perhaps Ronnie Delany could be persuaded to give him his Olympic gold medal for winning the 1,500 metres. – Yours, etc,

EAMONN O’REILLY,

Bray,

Co Wicklow.

Cheap at the price

Sir, – Having just paid €3.85 for a takeaway coffee, I feel that €1.85 is a reasonable price to pay to have a letter delivered to an address in Galway or any other part of this country. – Yours, etc,

MARY DALY,

Rathfarnham,

Dublin.

Degrees of separation

Sir, – Your two editorial leaders – “Backsliding on targets must end”, and immediately below it, “The rich get richer” (January 20th), are separated typographically, but not in reality. The dividing line between them is largely superfluous.

Ireland’s climate failure and the relentless concentration of wealth are not parallel concerns but the same crisis viewed from different angles.

The political reluctance to meet climate targets is inseparable from the power of those whose lifestyles, consumption patterns and influence benefit most from delay.

Climate inaction is not a failure of ambition, it is a political choice about who bears the costs.

The costs are kicked down the road and spread across society, while the benefits of postponement accrue disproportionately to those already insulated from its consequences.

Read together, the two editorials form a single argument: Without confronting inequality, economic and political, climate targets will continue to backslide, not by accident, but by design. – Yours, etc,

PAUL O’SHEA,

Planet Before Profit CLG,

Ballycorus,

Shankill,

Dublin 18.

That cycling debate

Sir, – Many years ago, we made the wearing of seat belts in vehicles mandatory.

We in Ireland also had the distinction of becoming the first country in the world to ban smoking in all public spaces.

In view of the increasing deaths and injuries on our roads, could we now make it mandatory for all cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists to wear hi-vis vests after dark?

And have on the spot fines for those who don’t? – Yours, etc,

MARY O’SULLIVAN,

Monkstown,

Co Dublin

Sir, – Brendan Grimes (Letters, January 17th) suggests motorists should ride a bicycle in town and country for a few weeks to anticipate what other road users are going to do because your life might depend on it.

I would suggest to him to walk on a footpath in the suburbs and try crossing the road at a green pedestrian light in the city for a few weeks to anticipate what cyclists and e-scooter riders might do as if his life depended on it.

He might discover there is a hierarchy of peril in which cyclists aren’t necessarily the most vulnerable. – Yours, etc,

ROBERT BYRNE,

Malahide Road,

Dublin 13.

A bright idea

Sir, – The Aurora Borealis lit up the night skies over Waterford last night in an amazing display of that wonderful elusive phenomenon.

There were such stunningly beautiful colours and shapes in the skies all along the Waterford estuary over the villages of Passage East, Faithlegg and Cheekpoint and further afield along the coast. Perhaps Greenland should send their Northern Lights down here for safekeeping for a little while until things quieten down a bit up there. – Yours, etc,

NOEL SHANAGHY,

Faithlegg,

Co Waterford.

Delivering the goods

Sir, – I too find that recently my newspaper arrives needing the attention of butler Jeeves and his iron (Letters, January 18th).

While this is true, I think the 4am arrival of my daily paper is thanks to the efficiency of the delivery agency people who deliver in fair weather and foul throughout the very dark and cold mornings of winter and beyond. Slightly annoying, but minor in the scheme of things. – Yours, etc,

MARION WALSH,

Donnybrook,

Dublin 4.