Letters to the Editor: Ireland must not waste the 90-day pause in US tariffs
Stock prices are displayed at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York. Picture: Yuki Iwamura/AP
I am reminded by the parallel with Eamon Gilmore’s “Frankfurt’s Way or Labour’s Way” slogan, a cautionary tale of external forces shaping domestic policy. The reality, as both Mr Gilmore and now Mr Trump appear to have learned, is that financial markets, particularly the bond market, wield considerable influence.
The fact that China holds a staggering amount of US government debt further underscores the delicate balance of power and the potential for retaliatory measures that could inflict significant fiscal pain on the United States.
This volatile landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for Ireland.
The 90-day pause on tariffs should not be a period of complacency but rather one of strategic reflection and decisive action. We must urgently examine and cultivate new trading partnerships with burgeoning economies like India and China.
Simultaneously, revisiting and enhancing our existing trade agreements with Britain post-Brexit is crucial for mutual benefit, minimising disruption, and maximising opportunities in a changing geopolitical landscape.
Furthermore, Ireland and the EU must critically re-evaluate existing agreements such as Ceta and Mercosur.
The proposed influx of cheaper Brazilian beef, potentially at the cost of rainforest destruction and environmental standards, raises serious ethical and sustainability concerns that cannot be ignored.
However, a solution could be to volunteer with the EU, for example, sponsoring conservation measures in South America, where Dunne purchasing a beef, which is often produced as a direct result of the destruction of rainforest. There is always a deal to be done.
Looking beyond our traditional partners, exploring trade opportunities with Australia, Japan, India, and other emerging markets, is essential to reduce our reliance on US foreign direct investment.
This is not to advocate abandoning our relationship with the US, but rather to adopt a more diversified and resilient economic strategy, heeding the wisdom of not placing all our eggs in one basket.
We cannot afford to be passive observers as the global economic order faces such uncertainty.
This 90-day window must be used proactively to secure Ireland’s economic future through strategic diversification and the cultivation of robust and varied international partnerships.
In Ireland, the media have focused over the years on Irish, British, and American passengers. But many were from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Poland, Portugal, France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Canada, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and what was known in 1912 as Palestine.
Six of eight passengers (all men) of Chinese nationality survived. Their story was told on the BBC World Service in April 2021. On arrival in New York, they were told they had to leave the US in 24 hours. Immigrants from China were barred from the US under the Chinese Exclusion Act; repealed in 1943.
Some went to Cuba and to Britain where again they were made to leave by the British authorities in 1920. Surviving the Titanic didn’t engender much sympathy for them. There was strong prejudice against China at the time.
Lebanon had its first Titanic memorial in 2012, with names of 125 Lebanese victims and 29 survivors. Bulgaria has a Titanic Memorial to 33 Bulgarians who died. The plaque reads: "Time has not washed away the memories of you."
In Washington DC is a Titanic Memorial unveiled in 1931 to the men who gave up their lives for women and children to go first into the lifeboats. Money was raised for it by a committee of American women and the US government.
In Australia is a Titanic Bandsmen Memorial from the citizens of Broken Hill, NSW. Some 150 of the passengers were recovered and buried in three cemeteries in Halifax, Canada. Other remains were claimed by their families.
The largest number of Titanic memorials are in Southampton. More than 1,500 people died, with more than 700 of them being crew members.
Instead of joining a future military alliance, there should be a referendum to enshrine neutrality into the Irish Constitution.
In this context, we would do well to recall the words of James Connolly who, in October 1915, at the invitation of Tralee Trades Council addressed a rally of over 3,000 workers in the Square in Tralee.
Concluding his speech, Connolly spoke out against Ireland’s involvement in the war in Europe, arguing: “I know that we in Ireland had never suffered one particular iota from any European power, but one … this war was not for Ireland, it was not for them no matter who wanted it.
"They stood for that section of the community who had fought the battles of the world and who had remained at the bottom no matter who was at the top. (hear, hear). They would no longer accept the position of inferiority. (hear, hear). They say not only are they part of the nation but they are the most useful part of it. (hear, hear).
“No matter who sold Ireland in the past, the Irish working class never sold it, they always fought for it.” (hear, hear).
Connolly’s words against war and imperialism are as relevant to the world we live in, in 2025, as they were back in 1915.
Reports of government pressure on religious congregations to contribute to redress for former residents of mother and baby institutions include a Church of Ireland denial of involvement in three Protestant institutions located in Dublin.
In my case, Church of Ireland Social Services, which reported to annual synod, was at my mother’s bedside in 1964. She was not allowed to leave her hospital maternity ward before agreeing to send me to either the Bethany Home or Westbank Orphanage. As my mother refused point blank to consider the Bethany Home, I went to Westbank. I first consciously met her when I was eight years old.
In this way, Church of Ireland Social Services and clergy facilitated the movement of mothers and children in and out of mother and baby and other institutions in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
It was no different from the Roman Catholic Church and should take equal responsibility for all the hurt, distress, and abuse that took place.
The Church of Ireland’s only legitimate gripe is in being singled out among Protestant denominations. What about the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, as well as evangelical assemblies? They also separated mothers from their families and communities, as well as from their children.
I have not been invited to submit my experience to any investigation.
Former Westbank Orphanage residents are excluded from official inquiries and redress. That is despite the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry twice recommending to the Government that this injustice be rectified.
I don’t understand why the rental market is getting so expensive and why it’s being allowed to happen.
There’s a simple solution to the rental market, and it has to be based on the value of the rental property at a rate of perhaps 0.3% up to 0.33% — the Government can can bring a property valued monthly rental income law.
That’s fair and manageable for most people who rely on the rental market, reduces the tax rate for landlords as an incentive for them to stay in the rental market, and could encourage more potential landlords to get involved in the rental market.
If the Government can bring in a property tax, why can’t they bring in a property valued monthly rental income law (PVMRI) into legislation for the rental property market?
