Letters to the Editor, October 26th: On renewable generation, that consent ad and little things mean a lot

Sir, – Ireland is investing heavily in renewable generation, grid infrastructure and large-scale battery storage. Yet substantial quantities of available wind and solar are being curtailed because the electricity network cannot accommodate it.

Before committing consumers to further expenditure, we should be asking whether we are making the best possible use of the resources we already have.

One option could be using our 1.9 million households to become part of a distributed energy network, combining rooftop solar, domestic batteries, smart meters and intelligent electricity controls.

Individually, these resources are relatively small. Co-ordinated through an aggregator, they could collectively absorb surplus electricity, reduce demand during peak periods and ease pressure on weaker parts of the network.

The Netherlands is already exploring how smartly controlled household batteries can reduce local grid congestion.

Ireland has also begun developing flexibility services, but where is the ambitious national strategy to assess what could be achieved if domestic energy resources were co-ordinated on a much larger scale?

Unfortunately, the cost of batteries remains prohibitive for many. A Government-funded pilot could help overcome this barrier while testing the contribution domestic storage could make to the wider electricity system. Rather than simply subsidising installations, participating households could be rewarded for making some of their stored energy available when and where the grid needs it.

Such a programme would require compatible equipment, smart controls and safeguards to ensure households retain the electricity they need.

There is also an immediate resilience benefit. Ordinary grid-connected solar panels shut down during a power cut, even when sunlight is available. With previous storm-related outages highlighting our vulnerability, should the Government not also examine grants to equip existing solar installations with the necessary backup technology?

This would allow households to maintain essential electricity supplies during outages while making better use of investments already made in renewable energy.

None of these measures would eliminate every grid constraint or remove the need for large-scale storage and network upgrades.

But they could help defer some infrastructure expenditure, reduce household bills and make better use of renewable generation.

The question is whether the Government has properly compared the costs and benefits of distributed energy with those of additional centralised infrastructure.

Powerful industry stakeholders have commercial interests in expanding generation, storage and transmission, but those interests should not overshadow alternatives that could deliver better value for consumers.

With a significant proportion of planned offshore wind capacity intended to supply data centres through private connections, isn’t it time Government gave greater priority to the needs of domestic consumers?

Before asking the public to pay for more infrastructure, it should establish how much more we could achieve by making better use of the renewable electricity and energy resources already available to our homes and communities. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL O’MEARA,

Fenor,

Co Waterford.

Little things mean a lot

Sir, – I was interested in Finn McRedmond’s column citing Harold Wilson’s 1974 memo “Little Things mean a Lot”. I wish the Government here would consider a few little things to make our lives a little bit better.

Such as: a half hour free parking in small towns when one wants to do a quick message, for every one hundred new houses built on the outskirts of town build an additional 50 car parking spaces at train stations or bus depots, allow more seating outside cafes and restaurants to encourage more use and social activity, after every dental visit get a free toothpaste, not the sample size. – Yours, etc,

BILL KEE,

Skerries,

Co Dublin.

Advertising on consent

Sir, – I can understand why some people had a knee-jerk reaction. Obviously grandparents love their grandchildren and want to show them affection but the video’s message was simple – a child’s body belongs to the child.

Many of us can remember receiving sloppy kisses from a family member at a family gathering, and the discomfort of knowing we had no choice in the matter.

Too often, adults, grandparents included, assume love entitles them to a child’s affection, but it doesn’t.

As a parent of two small children, I have already been teaching my three-year-old that she has full autonomy over her body, and that other people have autonomy over theirs. She asks others “Do you need a hug?” and knows to say “I need space” if someone is encroaching on hers.

Many parents are starting this early so that children understand they have control over their own bodies, and that if a grandparent asks “Can I have a hug?”, it is okay to say no.

A grandparent who asks before hugging is not being demeaned, instead what they are doing is modelling respect. That early understanding becomes the foundation for everything children later learn about consent.

It is a shame the DRCC felt it had to take the video down. I think this episode shows how far we still have to go as a country in understanding consent. – Yours, etc,

MAEDBH KING,

Dún Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – I fully accept the necessity of educating our children about the importance of consent. However, the recent controversy about hugging is just a step too far. The video in question is wrong in so many ways.

I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother. Hugging has always been a big part of my life and that will never change. There is little to beat a warm hug – it is a term of endearment.

It is very sad to think that grandparents might have to stop themselves from hugging their grandchildren or worse still that they might have to ask permission. – Yours, etc,

LAURA O’MARA,

Stillorgan,

Co Dublin.

Completely off the rails

Sir, – I see Irish Rail has written off €50 million of (our) public money regarding a failed IT project. (“Firm contracted by Irish Rail had never delivered a traffic system,” October 23rd). Did it not occur to Irish Rail to consult any other rail company in Europe to find out what IT system they use?

Coinciding with a planned increase in public transport fares, the public is again left to cover the costs of incompetence for which there never seems to be any responsibility taken. –Yours etc,

MARY PIERCE,

Kilmainham,

Dublin.

Where are the autumn colours?

Sir, – I am wondering has climate change affected our autumn colour which is different from previous years. On returning from a visit to Vermont in the USA where the autumn colour was exceptional due to the many trees, I was amazed that our autumn colour here lacked the intensity of previous years.

I remember 2023 when the whole country was a kaleidoscope of colour and was comparable to Vermont.

Autumn is nearly over now and we have not seen anything to equal it. It seems to me that climate change is having a big impact on the autumn colour as well as our weather. – Yours, etc,

MARY RIGNEY,

Kilgobbin,

Dublin.

Nursing in Australia

Sir, – Your coverage of “Irish doctors in Australia” made me smile, but it told only half the story (Letters October 19th). Having worked in Australia for seven years, I could add a chapter about Irish nurses

Australian hospitals are very much aware what Irish nurses bring to a team. Just like doctors, employers recognised the skill, resilience, compassion and a genuine warmth at the bedside that patients and families remember. Humour was front and central in our days’ work – the busier you were the more humour you would find in the most mundane things.

Some of my colleagues suggested that humour was as much a part of our Irish training as any clinical skill,

We were present in all areas of clinical practice from emergency departments to neonatal units. I always felt valued, respected and appreciated which was a foreign concept to me. This recognition mattered. It is respect, appreciation and fair remuneration that made staying a real choice. Pay reflected our responsibility and role and let me have a quality of life, a home, savings and a potential future.

I thrived during my stay but for family reasons I chose to come home and change my career path. The real question is why so many of us left (and continue to leave) in the first place?

Why did I have to emigrate to experience this supportive working environment and what would it take for the next generation of nurses/ doctors to want to come home? – Yours, etc,

MARY ANNE RYAN,

Infant research centre,

UCC,

Cork.

Psychotherapists and the EU

Sir, – I read with interest your article of “Psychotherapy group files complaint to EU against Minister for Health over sector standards.” (October 12th).

The assertion by Coru that concerns about the potential difficulties Irish-trained psychotherapists might face practising elsewhere in Europe are inaccurate, and that the opposite is true, deserves closer scrutiny.

Coru appears to conflate statutory recognition of a profession in Ireland with the recognition of professional qualifications across Europe. These are not the same thing.

EU legislation facilitates professional mobility, but it does not guarantee automatic recognition of qualifications, particularly where significant differences exist in education and training requirements.

Several European countries already regulate psychotherapy and have established demanding standards concerning the duration and depth of training, supervised clinical practice and personal psychotherapy.

If Ireland adopts substantially lower requirements in these areas, on what basis can Coru confidently assert that this will improve the mobility of Irish-trained psychotherapists?

Has Coru undertaken a comparative assessment of its proposed standards against those of other European countries? If so, the findings should be made public.

The European Association for Psychotherapy has worked for decades towards greater coherence in psychotherapy training and professional recognition across Europe, while respecting the diversity of psychotherapeutic approaches.

Regulation should strengthen professional standards and facilitate mobility, not merely establish a statutory title. Without evidence of comparability, Coru’s assertion risks confusing legal recognition with the substantive professional formation necessary for recognition elsewhere in Europe. – Yours, etc,

JOSÉ CASTILHO,

Vice-President of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP)

Chair of the European Training Standards Committee (ETSC) of EAP

Capel Street,

Dublin 1.

TOM WARNACKE,

General Secretary of European

Association for Psychotherapy,

Vienna,

Austria.

Red lights

Sir, – There have been several letters complaining about pedestrians and cyclists going through red lights.

Based on my daily commute, I would add that many motorists seem to consider a light that has gone red within the last few seconds to be little more than a suggestion – only a little bit red, perhaps.

While everyone should obey the rules of the road, it seems obvious that motorists, who are among the most dangerous and least vulnerable road users, should be held to account first and foremost.

The blind eye that our car-dominated society turns to the bad behaviour of motorists also goes some way to explain the reaction of letter writer Frank J Byrne to cyclists on the footpath.

There’s a reason they’re not in the road with the cars. – Yours, etc,

RORY CROTTY,

Douglas,

Cork.

Sir, – Motorists, motorcyclists, e-bicyclists, cyclists, etc. should all read the RSA’s Rules of the Road, currently available in all good bookshops – fiction section. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL KEEGAN,

Booterstown,

Co Dublin.

Private sector pension levies

Sir, – Further to Norman Croke’s letter (October 20th) about the need to meet the requirements of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages – whereby in countries where collective bargaining coverage falls below 80 per cent an action plan must be established to increase it – there are aggravating circumstances in Ireland as a result of the financial crisis in 2008-2009.

One of these, which fell entirely on private sector workers, was the decision to impose a levy on private sector pension funds equivalent to 5 or 6 per cent of their value.

Inevitably this was passed on to the recipients of those pensions.

There was no Fempi-type provision for these cuts to be reversed when the State’s finances recovered, any more than there was for private pensions to be adjusted in line with those regularly awarded to public servants in negotiations with the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

The EU directive does, however, provide for alternative means of addressing this shortfall. It could most effectively and equitably be done through the creation of a universal pension scheme, introduced incrementally, to which all employees and employers contributed, and from which all pensioners would eventually benefit. – Yours, etc,

PADRAIG YEATES,

Portmarnock,

Dublin.

School meals

Sir, – What an interesting article on the “school meals initiative” (Friday, October 23rd).

The way in which school meals has been introduced is clearly not working. I’d suggest it’s not tighter controls we need but a completely different approach.

It’s hard to believe that ¤232 million was spent in the 2025/26 school year, especially when we’ve been made aware that it was spent largely on high sugar and high fat food, with very little nutritious content.

In France and most continental countries, school meals are cooked in the school kitchen. Local ingredients are used, local staff are employed.

Why can’t we build kitchens in our schools? I’d imagine you could build a lot of kitchens for ¤232 million.

Our children deserve better. – Yours, etc,

GABRIELLE HYLAND,

Dublin 11.