Dear Sir... Readers' Views (07/01/17)
We must have zero tolerance for antisocial neighbours
Week in, week out, people beg me to ask the local authority to have them moved from their houses, because their lives have been made intolerable by their neighbours.
The housing in which these people live is good; in some cases excellent.
It is centrally located and would be in great demand if the tenants were not aggravated by antisocial louts.
There should be zero tolerance of antisocial behaviour.
Is a level of antisocial behaviour tolerable? Why? Is a signal being given that a certain level of vandalism is acceptable?
The provision in legislation giving local authorities the power to refuse to sell, or let, a dwelling, because of evidence of antisocial behaviour on the part of a tenant or a prospective tenant, is an important improvement.
A message must be sent to the minority who, with skill and encouragement, exploit the good nature of local authorities. It is important that current legislation sustains that principle.
We need to put more resources into training tenant organisations. Local authorities must focus on estate management. In the past, many critical decisions were made at local authority level, without any reference to the people affected. There was no tradition of consulting with tenants about what was best for their areas.
However, we are gradually realising that residents are the best people to advise on the type of structure needed to better manage local authority estates. We need to put more resources into the development of estate management.
One final question: When can we expect our social housing programme to be at construction stage?
With 97,000 families on waiting lists nationwide, God speed the day!
Hospital trolley crisis is an emergency
The hospital trolley crisis is not a âperfect stormâ, but an ongoing emergency.
At least 2,000 closed hospital beds should be re-opened to bring Ireland up to the OECD average of 4.8 beds per 1,000 population.
The winter initiative, launched by Health Minister Simon Harris, has failed. His claim that the crisis is the result of a âperfect stormâ is a self-serving excuse. This crisis was inevitable, due to the closure of hospital beds and lack of political will to staff and re-open them.
The crisis showed the failure of the model that has been pursued by numerous governments.
I am calling for the creation of an Irish National Health Service, which is fully funded and free at all points of access.
The ministerâs winter initiative has failed, as was predicted by medical unions. The IMO described the âŹ40m as a âdrop in the oceanâ compared to what was needed, and the INMO said that it would fail without extra staff. There is a staffing crisis across the whole health service, from nurses to GPs. Both predictions have, unfortunately, come true and patients are paying the price.
There are 612 people on hospital trollies across the country. That is a new record. In Cork University Hospital, there are 33 people languishing in corridors.
Mr Harris is saying that this is the result of a âperfect stormâ, but in reality it is an ongoing national emergency. At this time every year, there is a spike in hospital admittances, but the trolley crisis is consistent all year round. The record for the number of people on trolleys has been smashed numerous times in the last year.
In submissions to the committee on the future of healthcare, the INMO has said that, due to cuts and lack of staff, there has been an effective loss of 2,000 public hospital beds. Ireland lags towards the bottom of OECD countries, having only 2.8 beds per 1,000 population, compared to an average of 4.8 per 1,000. This is why we have overcrowding â and we donât have the staff or money to re-open them.
Hospital nurses have voted 90% in favour of taking industrial action, because of the staff shortages, bed shortages, and working conditions, and they have our full support.
This is a national emergency.
We need a fully funded public health service, an Irish NHS.
The health model built by numerous governments has failed spectacularly.
A war of words is preferable to war
The phrase âthe pen is mightier than the swordâ was coined by novelist and playwright, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in 1839, in his historical play, Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu, chief minister to King Louis XIII, discovers a plot to kill him, but, as a priest, he is unable to take up arms against his enemies.
His page, Francois, points out: âBut now, at your command are other weapons, my good Lordâ. Richelieu agrees: âThe pen is mightier than the sword... Take away the sword; States can be saved without it!â
A similar phrase appears in George Whetstoneâs Heptameron of Civil Discourses, published in 1582, in which Ratcliffe notes: âThe dashe of a Pen, is more greeuous then the counterbuse of a Launce.â (The dash of a pen is more grievous than the counter use of a lance.) Napoleon is another who is said to have compared word and weapon. âFour hostile newspapers are more to be feared than 1,000 bayonets,â
History has many times been turned on its head by brilliant scribes.
The pen has had a more profound effect on mankind than the sword.
Words are more powerful than weapons in accomplishing your purpose.
Shakespeare is just one example of the power of the pen. The Bible another.
Irish should only fight for Ireland
A report in the Belfast Telegraph (January4), âRecruitment for British Army soars in Republic of Irelandâ, should be of deep concern to all Irish people.
Concerns have been justifiably expressed about Irish citizens who have gone to fight in the Middle East with ISIS and al Qaeda, but nothing has been said about Irish people who admitted fighting with militia groups supported by Nato states, or who join the British forces.
There is nothing heroic in helping to kill people in the Middle East, in wars that are wholly unjustified, and counterproductive, and which have caused the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War and retaliatory terrorist attacks on European countries.
For those who wish to pursue a military career, the Irish Defence Forces provide just opportunities for creating international peace, instead of creating wars by joining foreign armies for mainly mercenary reasons.
Itâs time we Irish put behind us our cap-in-hand colonial servitude of âfighting in every clime, for every cause but our ownâ.
Legislation should be introduced that would remove Irish citizenship from any person who joins a foreign army, or who participates in military actions as a member of a foreign militia.
Killing other human beings should never be considered an honourable career option, and the use of deadly military force should never be justified, except in very clear and limited cases of self-defence, as is specified in the much-ignored and abused United Nations Charter.
Time to name and shame drunk drivers
Naming and shaming drunk drivers is now long past mere consideration. The recent RSA ad should name the drunk driver involved.
Water charges statements hilarious
Reading the statements from Fine Gael ministers and members, on the water charges fiasco, is becoming hilarious. Local Government Minister Simon Coveney adds greatly to the mirth with his latest musings about âfree allowancesâ and only charging for what is termed âexcess useâ. (Simon Coveney moots free daily water allowance of 123 litres, Irish Examiner, January 5). Before the obvious question is asked about what might constitute âexcess useâ, Mr Coveney explains thus: â...if you have one house in the estate that is filling a swimming pool out the back, everybody else in the estate has to pay for it. That is just not fair.â
Which leads to the very obvious question: How many houses in any estate in Ireland does Mr Coveney think have swimming pools out the back?
You really couldnât make this stuff up.
Turkey is far from a true democracy
In her support for Turkish membership of the EU, Victoria White claims that âTurkey is not an Islamic state. Turkey is a democracyâ (âEU should show political maturity and fast-track accession of Turkeyâ, January 5). The facts show otherwise.
A total of 1,845 Turks have been investigated, detained or prosecuted for âinsultingâ President Erdogan since he was elected in August 2014.
One was a doctor who on Facebook compared photos of President Erdogan with those of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Others were cartoonists, writers and even school kids.
Turkey has imprisoned more journalists than China.
Perhaps the most bizarre case involves Arzu Yildiz, a young mother and journalist.
In May 2016 Ms Yildiz, was sentenced to 20 months in jail and stripped of parental rights over her children because she had reported on the smuggling of arms into Syria by Turkish military intelligence.
The treatment of Ms Yildiz is unfortunately typical of modern Turkeyâs warped view of women.
Last year President Erdogan told a womenâs association that childless women were âdeficient, incompleteâ and that âfamily planning and contraception were not for Muslim families.â
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