It meant a lot to Kerry to be the inaugural winners of a trophy dedicated to one of the Kingdom’s noble sons. As the county basked in sunshine, there was giddy talk about bringing Sam home for a glorious double. But a dark cloud shrouded the county on Thursday morning when news broke of the death of the legendary Mick O’Dwyer, who often cautiously remarked that “no county has ever won the All-Ireland in April. Kerry’s first game in the Munster Championship must be the focus”. When Micko was asked for his formula for longevity, he succinctly replied: “Exercise, good food and a positive attitude.” That was a profound statement validated by a life lived to the fullest for 88 years. His passion, commitment, humour, positivity, optimism and determination made him a national treasure. Micko was living proof that a fulfilling life is based on a strong work ethic, sensible self-maintenance and altruistic service. Micko achieved remarkable success in his football career as an outstanding player and, subsequently, as a charismatic manager without equal. He turned good players into greats. The motivator supreme inspired his charges with pride in the jersey, love of the county and a never-say-die attitude. Despite his many achievements in sport and business, Micko, a modest, congenial man, was as content walking the beach in Waterville as he was patrolling the sidelines in Croke Park. May the green sod of his beloved Kerry rest lightly on his gentle soul. Billy Ryle, Spa, Tralee, Co Kerry US business leaders are afraid to speak out Sir — The latest reports from the Wall Street Journal reveal corporate executives in the US are afraid to say things even in private about the American economy. It now appears that US president Donald Trump has the characteristics of being the quintessential dictator. I note that in recent weeks he has gone after law firms that represent his political opponents. It’s accepted that dictators go after their political opponents, but it starts to get very serious when a person in power goes after the legal representatives of their opponents, and that’s what’s happening in the US. Trump’s openly authoritarian instincts are now being unleashed. John O’Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary We must not allow tyranny to thrive Sir — Donald Trump’s initiat-ives are about to plunge the world into economic recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1930s. If we recall that period in history, we had a tyrant who brought chaos and ruin to our world after the policy of -appeasement failed to quell his thirst for power and conquest. We need to make a stand against the tyrants of the world, no matter how powerful they -believe they are. James Cooper, Kilmore West, Dublin 5 Trump’s busted flush to bring us all down Make America great again? The US has always been great, especially to Ireland, and many other countries struggling in harsh economic times. Just ask any of the millions of Irish emigrants who made their homes in the free world over the centuries and thrived in their new environment. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has -surrounded himself with yes-men and yes-women in his government who will pursue his goals and disregard the usual decorum and niceties. He told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House that he “hadn’t the cards’’ in his efforts to get the US on-side in the Russia conflict. The question now for Trump is: Has he the cards to pull his tariffs policy off? Or will he impoverish the United States and end up as a lame duck in his own country and across the world? Tom Towey, Cloonacool, Co Sligo Let’s not risk being laughed off the stage Sir — Ireland is hoping that food and alcohol will be exempted from any prospective retaliatory tariffs by the EU. Sadly, this reminds one of the “free pass” Ireland requested to the soccer World Cup in 2010 (due to Thierry Henry’s blatant handball). Fifa president Sepp Blatter publicly laughed us off the stage for having the temerity, or naivety to suggest such a move. Today, we’re dealing with a US president who will do much more than laugh us off the stage. And there’s a lot more at stake than a beautiful game. Peter Declan O’Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan Further reactions to those US tariffs Sir — Might I suggest a page from the Trump playbook? As has already happened, impose random radical tariffs that panic and depress the stock market. As the stocks drop, Trump and his cronies swoop in and buy large amounts of low-priced stocks. Trump rescinds his -lunatic tariffs, stock prices climb back to a high, then they sell off their stocks to make a killing. Watch this space. Ray Dunne, Enfield, Co Meath Sir — Donald Trump’s tariffs could be a death sentence for business in this country. The potential is there for small and medium-size businesses to be wiped out overnight. The Irish Government has been warned repeatedly about being overly reliant on specific sectors of the economy, but that advice has not been heeded. Now the ice is melting beneath our feet. Maurice Fitzgerald, Shanbally, Co Cork Sir — How about we introduce a designated Trump-only tariff? Every time he appears in public covered in that awful fake tan, we hit him with a tan tariff. One thousand dollars per appearance. Ireland would make a fortune. Susan Bevan, John’s Lane West, Dublin 8 Sir — And all this time we were concerned that nuclear warfare would be the end of the world as we know it. How can one man wield so much power? Mike Burke, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare Plenty of life left in the Irish language Sir — I know exactly where Naoise Dolan is coming from (‘I still feel shame when I speak Irish, but I’m talking through it — as Gaeilge’, March 30). The only state exam I ever failed in my life was O-Level Irish, so naturally I went on to establish an Irish-medium stream in a school in Co Tyrone. Thankfully, my successor has taken it to far greater heights and today over 400 children are being educated entirely through Irish — proof, if nothing else, that a language can thrive despite its champions. My own brush with linguistic humiliation came in a famous music pub in Gweedore, Co Donegal. The landlady, who must have been in her 90s, emerged to assess me and declared: “An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?” Knowing what she said, but embarrassed at my juvenile level of the language, I replied: “No, I don’t.” She frowned and said: “No Irish at all?” When I admitted my deficiency, she delivered the ultimate verdict: “You must be a bit of an Englishman, so.” I’ve been working through the shame ever since. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh Students deserve a lot better from UL Sir — Once again, thank you to Wayne O’Connor for his for-ensic reporting on the University of Limerick (March 30). The controversies continue. Can we conclude that members of the staff in various -disciplines, including IT, are at the whim of a vicarious -student records system for grading -purposes? The university, its staff (both academic and admin-istrative) and above all its stud-ents are not well served by such unreliable systems. Complexities be damned. Rather than a “scoping exercise”, perhaps all concerned would be best served by a person-centred, caring, cultural approach to a solution. Our young (and some not so young) people deserve better. Ellen Ni hEilidhe, Charleville, Co Cork Sir — UL has known for years that its student records arrangements are not fit for purpose, but it has chosen to defend them and invest its resources in vanity -projects and real estate rather than academic consolidation. Now we learn that an audit of all classifications between 2019 and 2025 will be carried out. Will UL publicly release the findings of this audit? And what about all the years before then? Jeremy Callaghan, Caherconlish, Co Limerick Destroying a village to save it is just nuts Sir — Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s main opposition, is banned from running in the next election. The Bundestag debated bann-ing AfD, Germany’s main opposition party, before the elections. Last year, the election of Calin Georgescu was declared void by Romanian courts. The EU is taking the same approach to democracy as the US commander in Vietnam who explained: “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” Aidan Harte, Naas, Co Kildare Níl aon rud scanrúil faoin gcúpla focail A chara — Chuala mé an agallamh le Naoise Dolan ar an raidió agus rinne sí sár-jab air. I mo sráid bhaile féin, tá fear amháin in a cónaí ann ó 1984 agus a chéad am a bhí mé ag caint leis bhí sé as gaeilge in ár Ciorcal Comhrá. Agus sin níos lú ná coicís ó shin! Táim ag impí ar gach duine atá suim agaibh in ár dteanga deas dul amach agus é a labhairt gan eagla ar bith oraibhse. Leo Ó Seanáin, Droichead Nua, Co Chill Dara Ceann Comhairle role compromised Sir — We need a government, opposition and an orderly Dáil. The core of the disruption so far of the current Dáil was the way in which the Ceann Comhairle was chosen. There are more problems coming down the track. The neutral status of the Ceann Comhairle as a respected office of the Dáil by all TDs and parties is badly damaged as a result. Mary Sullivan, College Road, Cork Fall in visitor numbers risks economic crisis Sir — I found it surprising that the Sunday Independent (March 30) omitted what was arguably the biggest news story of the week — and no, it had nothing to do with tariffs, Mich-ael Lowry or Paddy Cosgrave. The number of visitors coming to Ireland in February of this year fell by 30pc compared with the same time last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show. Visitor numbers in January also saw a big drop, falling by 25pc from last year. If these calamitous reductions in the number of visitors continue into the summer months, not only will the tourism capital of the country (Co Kerry) be economically devastated, but our capital city will suffer the consequences as well. We have only have ourselves to blame for this impending catastrophe. Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry Burke punished for his sincere beliefs Sir — Eilis O’Hanlon (Opinion, March 30) wrote an inter-esting, informative and sympathetic article about Professor Kathleen Stock of the University of Sussex, who was found to have been unfairly treated by her employer, being forced to resign after she was targeted by some students “for daring to express her belief that sex is unchangeable”. O’Hanlon is totally supportive of Stock, and so am I. I am perplexed, however, that when it came to the part of her article discussing relevant Irish examples, the only example cited was Mary Kenny. Not a word about Enoch Burke, who was suspended by his school after expressing precisely the same belief Stock expressed. And not a word about the contrasting approach to the issue in the two jurisdictions. In Britain, the case was exam-ined and Stock vindicated. In Ireland, the State has concentrated instead on trying to make Burke stay away from the school. Jim Stack, Lismore, Co Waterford Free speech does not mean a free-for-all Sir — Eilis O’Hanlon is right that freedom of speech is the backbone of universities. This is an inalienable human right. Universities are the right places for vibrant dialogues, inter-cultural, inter-faith and inter-religious understanding and debates, mutual respect, scientific discoveries, tolerance, social cohesion, diversity and inclusivity. However, universities have an obligation to distinguish free speech from speech that stirs up violence, promotes appalling acts of antisemitism, Islamophobia and hatred and spreads disinformation. Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob, London Tara’s fortitude an encouragement to all Sir — What an inspirational interview with Tara Doyle (“I was 35, happily married and had just given birth to our first baby when I found out I have an incurable brain tumour”, Life, March 30). I can but wish her and her family the very best going forward. Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9 Lowry no saint, but I would vote for him Sir — In my opinion, last week’s In my opinion, the Michael Lowry article (March 30) by Liam Collins was excellent and fair and the Shane Ross article was flawed and unfair. As a Thurles man, I know much about Michael and the pain he has endured in recent decades. He is not a saint. None of us are. Senior judges, Revenue commissioners and commentators are not infallible. But I would happily vote for Michael if I were still a Thurles resident. Shane Ross made the cardinal error of shooting the messenger. Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy was obliged to rule as decided by Oireachtas rules makers. So too would any replacement. Joe Foyle, Ranelagh, Dublin Sir — I enjoyed Liam Coll-ins’s article. It may be on public record, or on a tribunal transcript, but for what exactly did Ben Dunne owe Michael Lowry money, that ended up in kind in the latter’s conservatory? Sean Seartan, Thurles, Co Tipperary No allowance to help with my two sons Sir — I have just phoned Citizens Information to find out if I can apply for carer’s allowance for my sons. One is my foster son of 30 years, who is almost blind, sev-erely diabetic and intellectually impaired. The other is my stepson, who has Down syndrome and is intellectually impaired and non-verbal. I have never received any allowance. I was told there were no changes to the Government’s stance. I’m a women of 75 and it takes all of my energies to care for them between blood sugar levels, injections and severe patience in guiding them in what they do. I can and do care for them with preciseness, care and kindness and prefer this to a carer from the HSE or anywhere else coming to my home. I’m well able to do it and a few bob for being their carer for years would not go amiss. We are awash with money for refugees, and I don’t begrudge them this, but the Government should be looking after their own too. Terry Healy Riordan, Kill, Co Kildare