Girl guide’s standing order a big letdown

MY mother and I boarded the 7am Cork-to-Dublin train at Limerick Junction at 7.56 on a Saturday morning last month.

The train was full — standing room only. My mother saw a vacant seat, asked if it was taken and, as it was, she said she would sit there until the occupant returned, as passengers are often in the dining carriage and may not return for some time.

After about 30 minutes, a young girl guide approached and, as she did so, her unit leader went over and in a very abrupt and rude manner asked my mother to vacate the seat.

My mother is elderly and suffers from chronic back pain which is not helped by standing for long periods.

What really annoyed me was that she was asked to stand by a troop leader of an organisation which, when I was a member, had respect for senior citizens.

I would have thought that a good example of enabling “girls and young women to develop to their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world” (mission statement of the Irish Girl Guides) would have been for the troop leader to offer my mother her seat.

The girl guides themselves were very well behaved and I have no doubt the girl whose seat my mother was occupying would have gladly sat with her friends and left my mother in her seat but for the intervention of the unit leader.

When I was a girl guide we were always encouraged to have respect for the elderly and offer our seats to anyone in need, and it is very discouraging to see this policy has disappeared over the years.

I wanted to confront the unit leader in question there and then, but I didn’t want to cause my mother any more embarrassment. If this is what being a girl guide in Ireland today stands for, then I would be very slow to encourage any girl to join the organisation. Needless to say, my mother and I, and many others, continued our journey standing.

Áine Casey

Caherline

Caherconlish

Co Limerick