Sir, – Niamh DeLoughry’s letter on the wider impacts of the Iran war (April 6th) highlights the severe consequences of fuel disruption. I am writing from Siem Reap in Cambodia, where we are now seeing similar pressures play out in very real ways for families and schools.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, petrol prices have risen by over 40 per cent and diesel has more than doubled. For many Cambodian families, this has made everyday travel increasingly unaffordable. In rural communities, it means children missing school and teachers struggling to reach their classrooms.
This comes just weeks after conflict along the Cambodia-Thailand border forced school closures in areas where we work and led to the temporary displacement of some 640,000 people. For many children, these repeated disruptions have lasting consequences.
At the same time, drastic cuts in international aid are tightening the space to respond. The impact of the suspension of USAid, followed by many European countries slashing their aid budgets, cannot be overstated. As global support contracts, progress in education is reversed, undermining the foundation of long-term development and limiting countries’ ability to move beyond humanitarian crises.
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Education has played a pivotal role in Ireland’s own national story. Supporting education globally has never been more important. – Yours, etc
COLM BYRNE,
Chief executive international operations,
See Beyond Borders,
Cambodia.
Born in the 1980s
Sir, – Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said that the current energy crisis is “the worst the world has ever seen” (April 5th).
This is a lamentable error from one who was previously our minister for foreign affairs and who, therefore, should know better.
However, it’s probably due to the habit among some to imagine that history started about 10 minutes before they were born.
There is almost no comparison between what is going on now and the rationing experienced in the 1970s. The oil-producing countries of the Middle East placed embargoes on western countries perceived to be pro-Israel in the Yom Kippur war (1973) and we saw more rationing in 1979 when the Ayatollah overthrew the Shah of Iran. Of course, Harris was born in the 1980s so that explains that. – Yours, etc,
LEE HEALY,
Ballincollig,
Cork.
Priority fuel customers
Sir, – During the fuel shortages of the 1970s, I saw a handwritten note Sellotaped to a petrol pump in a small village in north Mayo: Petrol only for priest, doctor and midwife.
It would be interesting to know who would feature in any list of priority customers should we reach such levels of shortage again. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN LYONS,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.
