DEAR SIR: The Taoiseach, in relation to climate change, says we must face reality. The reality is that the rest of the world couldn’t care less what we do, for they know well that if every one of our 6.5m cattle drop dead or if a tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean rubbed us out altogether, it would make almost no difference whatsoever to the global problem of climate change.

The leader of the Green Party announced with great fanfare and barely concealing gratification that we have the most ambitious programme of any of the over 200 countries on the planet.

What this means is that the citizens of this little island, not knowing when we will come to an end of the pandemic, are going to be rode over, especially farming and rural communities. All at the staggering cost of €125bn we don’t have.

Why have we to be out there as leaders? And what for?