Irish Examiner view: Time to call out bad practices

Mon, 26 Feb, 2024 - 01:00

Another weekend brings the dreaded news for families and friends of loved ones that road collisions have claimed the lives of more of our citizens.

There were separate incidents in counties across the country yesterday, which saw one man die in Cork, a 10-year-old airlifted from an accident in Clare to hospital in Limerick, and a cyclist hospitalised following a collision in Meath.

All three incidents are just the latest in a spate of road traffic accidents that have caused chaos on our roads this year.

The death of a young man in Cork in yesterday’s crash in Rathanker, near Passage West around 2.30am, will lead to much grief in the community.

His family and friends will find little comfort today in the well-meaning comments from politicians and neighbours that it is a life cut short too soon.

So far this year, we have lost 35 people on our roads. A person dies on our roads, on average, once in less than 48 hours.

Last week, two young men died in a crash in Limerick — while a 19-year-old man died in a separate incident in Sligo.

Earlier this month, a 15-year-old girl died in a road crash in Tipperary while. On January 31, two men in their 20s and a teenage girl died in a road crash in Carlow.

According to research from the Road Safety Authority, the highest risk age among those travelling on Irish roads in 2023 was the 16-25 age group.

This age group represented over a quarter of all road deaths last year, 48 fatalities in all.

Roads Minister Jack Chambers is due to appear before the Transport Committee later this week to progress the Road Traffic Bill. His response to the most recent death on our roads was to call, again, for greater enforcement of laws which should reduce accidents.

A “camera-based enforcement strategy” is a focus for this year, then there’s a plan to apply multiple penalty points for multiple offences at once. These will only go so far.

To prevent future road carnage, as well as political intervention, it is long past time that we as a society all stand up to actions which lead to bad practices on roads and ostracise those who would sit behind the wheel and not take responsibility.

Know someone who texts and drives? Call them out. A passenger in a car going too fast? Refuse to travel any further.

No more families need to be visited by gardaí bearing the most awful news any mother, father, daughter, or son can ever hear.

Support local in climate battle

When Midleton, Co Cork, was hit by a deluge in October last year, it left some in the community bereft.

To try and summon the will to start all over again was disheartening and troubling for businesses which had been hit before and felt they may be hit again.

Eleanor Dunlea, toe owner of Lollipop Kids in Midleton, thought of packing it in. She had seen her premises flooded three times and could not face a fourth occurrence.

“We, as business owners, are constantly on alert and waiting for the day the water and flooding will come back,” she tells our reporter today.

However, though some businesses could not reopen their doors, others have had to face down their fears and start all over again.

“I had to reopen because people were constantly texting and calling because children need shoes,” Ms Dunlea said.

To date, almost €6.5m has been paid or will be paid to 231 applicants to the emergency business relief scheme following the floods.

There are some businesses which continue to fight for what, by rights, should be owed to them. They deserve support while they fight for their livelihoods.

The lessons from the floods can be summed up in two sentences: Support your local shops before they are no longer there, and ask people coming to your door in the coming weeks and months seeking your vote what they are doing to help fight against climate collapse.

Little for class act to smile at

One could imagine that, for a sportsperson, being described as “world class” at anything, would mean they had reached the pinnacle of their chosen profession.

Many a world-class athlete has been born on these shores, and reached the top of their chosen sport. Names such as Keane, Taylor, Ruby, and McIlroy are among those who spring to mind.

However, when the sporting star is being lauded for being “world class” in the same breath as an insinuation that all is not well, the intrigue grows.

So it is that Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool’s match-winner in yesterday’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea, described Caoimhín Kelleher, the winning goalkeeper as world class, while outgoing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp described him as the “best number two goalie in the world”.

The Corkman’s future at the club has been in doubt in recent months. Indeed, Klopp said last month that the former Ringmahon Rangers goalkeeper was “not smiling a lot, at least when I’m around” in a nod to perceived frustrations at his lack of playing time.

Football fans might argue the toss over whether Kelleher is truly world-class, but after his heroics again yesterday we can be sure of one thing, he is certainly smiling now.

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