The choices that leave a child with no shoes

Last week I read about the three-year-old boy in Dublin who has Down Syndrome and needs special shoes to help him walk because he suffers from low muscle tone.

The HSE says it cannot afford to provide them.

Without these shoes, which cost €400, his ability to walk will be hampered.

I was initially saddened to think about the difficult challenges people face. Then I began to feel angry. There are political choices that have been made, and that continue to be made, that resulted in this state of affairs where a toddler has been denied the most basic of requirements, shoes so that he will be able to walk.

What does it say about our state and our society that this could happen?

Is it not barbaric and cruel to deny a child his right to enjoy a full and dignified life?

If our ministers, politicians and civil servants, economists in the IMF and the ECB, could put themselves in someone else’s place, in someone else’s shoes, could they not see that the budgets that impact on the most vulnerable are the very last things that should be cut?

The cuts must start at the top. Let the bondholders and speculators shoulder much more of the responsibility for the bank crash and not only the Irish public.

Cut the wages and perks of the highest earners, not those on minimum wage. Increase taxes in a fair manner, not flat charges. Then we can start to create a just society that meets everyone’s basic needs, but especially prioritises those most in need.

Siobhán O’Sullivan

Blarney St

Cork