Dear Sir... Readers' Views (09/06/16)
Muhammad Ali really was the greatest
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” was the trademark of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who has sadly passed away at 74. A man who will live on for eternity in boxing’s hall of fame. Ali was the greatest boxing entertainer of all time. There were legendary fights with his old foe Joe Frazier. In The Thriller In Manila, both fighters came close to death fighting in such oppressive humidity.
In The Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire, against all the odds Ali knocked out big George Foreman to regain his heavyweight crown.
Not only a fantastic fighter but also a true humanitarian. Ali refused to be drafted into the Vietnam war on his beliefs. We lost his prime years, as he was banned from boxing.
Then we got the comeback, and the world once again resounded to the echo of “I am the greatest!”
Farewell, champ, and thanks for all the pleasure you gave us. Smokin’ Joe Frazier will be there to greet you, and welcome you into boxing heaven. Ring the bell. The champ has come home.
Ireland rose at 5am to watch Ali fight
Here are four of my personal memories of Muhammad Ali.
As a boy in the schoolyard, there were arguments about who were the most famous people in the world, Muhammad Ali or The Beatles.
There was (and maybe still is) anger at the fact that Ireland was the one place on the planet you could not see Muhammad Ali fight George Foreman live. RTÉ was the only TV station available in Cork at the time and the fight cost them far too much to show, especially as Ali was going to be beaten in the first couple of rounds.
Then there was my relative who was simply not interested in sport at all but who set his alarm for 5am to watch Ali fight on the other side of the world.
One of Ali’s 19th century ancestors was an Irishman named O’Grady. I also had a close relative named O’Grady and what he had in common with Ali was Parkinson’s disease. The two of them could well have been distant relations.
Surely someone was aware of abuse
Regarding the horrific abuse case where a man who raped his stepsons hundreds of times was given 21-year sentence, in any country you care to name — never mind a relatively small country like Ireland — it is just not possible for such a horrific litany of abuse to continue over any period of time, without some or all of the following knowing about it.
(A) Neighbours (B) clergy (C) teachers (D) relations (E) any number of other people.
I fear that what happened to these two boys, is only the tip of a very large iceberg lurking in every neighbourhood.
It is too late for this letter to do any good for these victims; however, it may have some effect on other people, particularly those mentioned in A, B, C, D and E.
State protects our wealthiest people
Desmond Fitzgerald (Irish Examiner Letters, Friday, June 3), makes a valid point that the EU protects the wealthy.
I would go further and state, in my opinion, various Irish governments down the years have protected the wealthy. This was clearly demonstrated by the bank bailout. Now we have a Government minister talking up vulture funds.
The Irish people need to heed the warning of James Connolly (which he seems to have predicted).
This country would be rule
through capitalists, through financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individual institutions planted in this country.”
Wake up, people of Ireland and see how we are being sold out.
Republican at large in Doonbeg
Last week, Enda Kenny described Donald Trump’s comments as “racist and dangerous”.
Of course when “The Donald” arrives in Ireland at the end of this month, Enda will no doubt change that to the “Republican in Doonbeg”. Will we be surprised?
US presidents have been killing foreign people for decades
While I would not always agree with Donald Trump, and cannot imagine enjoying a pint with him, I am puzzled by some of the remarks against him.
For instance, for the last 40 or 50 years, all US presidents have been killing hundreds of thousands of complete strangers, including thousands of innocent children — of all colours, all over the middle east and far east, from Vietnam to Iraq.
It obviously had nothing to do with defence.
So how was it that nobody ever called those presidents racists?
Ireland ignores many EU directives
Enda Kenny said we have to pay water charges because of an EU directive.
However, the Irish government has refused to implement many EU directives — for example the strategic environmental assessment, Aarhus convention, human rights for disabled people, and vrt directives. EU directives are not obligatory. Governments implement only those directives which suit them.
Environment needs a ministry
Lumping in the department of the environment with communications is an extraordinary move to say the least and it can only be ill-founded, particularly when you look across the European continent at the flooding disasters there now.
These Irish politicians just don’t get the message about climate change. They keep on looking for derogations for carbon emissions, water charges, turf-cutting etc, and now they effectively neutralise the Environment ministry in the same way as the Arts ministry. What Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Heather Humphreys have in common is light-touch regulation and useless PR outings.
Denis Naughten now follows in their footsteps, lumping environment with communications, which is akin to aligning the health department in with the war ministry — they are not compatible.
He is in command of a €50 million budget for expanding broadband. Why not the same resources for a dedicated Department of the Environment to address the Irish Water issue (Lynn Boylan MEP called it where we stood on that issue with the EU Commission) and the potential threat from heavy industrial projects such as oil and gas drilling. All this begs the question, why did they downgrade the environment ministry in the first place? The Government spin is that the Irish Water debacle was the reason. But was this just a smokescreen for part of the strategy in the programme for government to facilitate hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” more easily? Clearly we need a robust environment ministry.
Fair Deal requires a care assessment
I refer to the article on June 3, ‘Half of elderly could stay at home’. The perception created in this regard is misleading. Persons supported by the Nursing Home Support Scheme, commonly known as Fair Deal, are required to undergo a care needs assessment which identifies whether persons need long-term nursing home care. The purpose of the care needs assessment, undertaken by a HSE multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals to include geriatricians, GPs, or nurses, is to ensure that long-term nursing home care is necessary and is the right choice.
Our policy stakeholders, representative organisations and wider society must keep sight of the importance of the differing specialist care services that are particular to older persons’ care needs.
We must not allow the discussion and debate surrounding the challenges presented to meet our older population’s care needs to become polarised or fragmented.
Our attention must be focused upon ensuring the right care at the right time in the right place, with a focus on primary and community care.
A fit-for-purpose and properly-resourced continuum of care — which includes vital care services including home care and nursing home care complementing one another — must be a priority for our society.
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