Dear Sir... Readers' Views (10/10/16)
I wish gardaí well in quest for fair pay but strike is not the way
“A policeman’s lot is not a happy one” went a song in the famed Gilbert and Sullivan Opera, The Pirates of Penzance.
Unfortunately, if the police are not doing their job: keeping the peace, preventing crime, and helping to bring law breakers to justice, society’s lot will be not be a happy one either.
If our gardaí go on strike, they will be putting the safety and security of millions of people at risk.
I sympathise with the gardaí’s call for full restoration of pay to pre-recession levels. It is a reasonable demand in view of the vital, in many cases, life-saving, service that our police force offers all of us and I am conscious too of the gardaí who have died while fighting crime. They are heroes of which we can all be proud.
But if this pay demand is not met fully I don’t believe the gardaí are entitled to go on strike. They knew when they enlisted in the force that this course of action is not open to them.
Aside from the fact that they would be breaking the law, thus undermining their duty to uphold and enforce the law of the land that applies equally to every citizen, they must surely be aware that, to again quote Gilbert and Sullivan, many a criminal will be “maturing his felonious little plans” during the strike.
So while I wish the gardaí well in their pursuit of fair pay, I hope they will not engage in an illegal act that could have catastrophic consequences for decent law abiding citizens who, as a rule, look to the gardai for protection… not law breaking!
Gardaí should stop motoring fines instead of strike
I fully support the proposed strike action by the gardaí. It is disgraceful that a new recruit is expected to exist on €23,000 pa. They are frontline staff to protect us from criminals, drug dealers and occasionally white collar criminals, in contrast to the over-staffed and over-paid public sector. They are just looking for a restoration of pay and allowances before austerity struck.
While I support their action, I would like to suggest that they continue in their main policing duties i.e. catching criminals and protecting the public instead of an all-out strike, and instead refuse just for those days to stop fining motorist for no car tax, insurance, NCT, parking offences etc.
This action would hit the politicians and government where it hurts most, in their pockets. The gardaí should not be used as underpaid revenue collectors.
Abortion a rights, not women’s, issue
I think it is unfortunate that Daniel McConnell and the Editorial in the Irish Examiner of 4-10-16 sought to give the impression that abortion is a religious matter. It is a human rights matter, with the central issue being the human right to life versus the right to take life.
The issue might be an awful lot clearer if the hierarchy within the media stopped giving its unquestioning imprimatur to those who spuriously claim that a foetus is an integral part of a woman’s body, when the medical evidence (mentioned as being central to any debate on the matter) shows otherwise.
Progressive medical scans show the development of a separate life, with a separate heartbeat and organs, and a genetic distinction from the mother. Extensive and expensive research is regularly undertaken to determine how various foods , vitamins etc. along with substances like tobacco and alcohol can affect the developing foetus.
Handedness, the hand that the new life will use predominantly after birth is decided genetically at an early stage, while simultaneously the notion is perpetuated that there is only one life. As well as denying that any rights should be enjoyed by the unborn, the so-called ‘pro-choice’ position also denies any rights to men, even to husbands, over their unborn children. Women may decide to consult the men in question, or equally decide not to. It is entirely at their discretion on the grounds that women enjoy absolute rights of life and death over unborn children.
I have no desire to see the views of any church imposed on the citizens of this country, but find it impossible to deny that the alternative is an imposition on a minority of unborn children who are denied opportunity for life on the pretext of it being a women’s health issue.
Coverage of US campaign lacking
It is not a generalisation to state the following — it is fact. Almost the entire coverage of the presidential campaign in the United States and throughout the Western hemisphere by the Western mass media — led by CNN. Sky, New York Times, Washington Post, etc — borders on irresponsible journalism. Why? The tenor of the coverage is that Donald Trump is a slightly neurotic dangerous comedian and Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted.
In addition, the campaign is viewed and covered as if it was a light hearted “soap opera.” It is not up to journalists to cast this image, this should be left to columnists and editorial writers.
CNN, one of the major media outlets, sets the tone with the TV anchor, Kate Bolduan, whose election coverage treats the campaign as a comedy show with cute, “my comments are cuter than yours”, and the ultimate unprofessional reporting of “Countdown to election day.”
“Countdowns” are appropriate for sporting events and theatrical opening nights. Not for an event which is going to choose one of the most powerful political office holders in the world.
Violence of vandals is not pro life
I was very sorry to hear of the vandalism that occurred to office of Mick Barry TD in Blackpool recently. However, I would like to point out that there is no proof, that has been made known publicly, that it was someone of pro life persuasion who carried out this attack.
It could easily be a stunt by pro choice activists to discredit the pro life side. Such a prank does nothing but distract from the real factual and research based arguments around the abortion issue.
The violent attitude used to carry out the vandalism is what the pro life side is trying to prevent, in the case of killing an unborn baby while causing physical and psychological harm to its mother, in the process.
‘Anti-choicer’ name calling unhelpful
I’d like to address Mr Barry, TD’s use of negative language in his letter to the Editor on Monday, October 3. He uses the term “anti choicers” to describe prolife supporters.
The thing is, once a baby is given the chance to live, there is a lifetime of choices ahead. If abortion is the choice made, all further choices are terminated.
Name calling is not helpful, so Mr Barry in his public position might respect his prolife constituents and show an example to all sides. I’m sure he would not like to be referred to as an “anti-lifer”.
Affordable housing is about homes not ‘property’ market
It is now widely acknowledged that the shortage of affordable housing is the greatest crisis currently facing this country and that this has been the position for some time.
While there are many voices addressing the crisis, a single word has come to dominate the debate. That word is “property”. Thousands of paragraphs and many hours of radio and television airtime are given to this one word, so much so that “property” has become the almost universal replacement for more relevant terms like house, home or accommodation.
The use of “property” to describe housing or accommodation has one key agenda, that of utterly rejecting the idea of the construction of public housing. The vital quest for a home is almost invariably described as “getting a foot on the property ladder”. The implication is clear — once an individual or family gets a foot on that slippery ladder they will spend the rest of their lives trying to get to the next rung. The cost of this, financial and otherwise, will be enormous.
The rejection of all other options, especially that of a major state or local authority housing programme, makes home seekers easy prey for the vultures of the private market. Added to this is the Government’s insistence, accepted by all the large political parties, that even social housing should be built by private developers.
The result is a win-win bonanza for the developers.
There used to be an old saying “Home is where the heart is” but sadly current economic and housing policies by successive governments ensure that “Home is where the heartbreak is”.
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