Dear Sir... Readers' Views (18/01/17)
Let’s not raise a toast to café sandwiches
While I agree, mostly, with Michael Clifford about ‘has-bean cafés’ against the like of Starbucks, what spoils his column for me is the mention of a toasted sandwich.
Now good for him that he can find a place that caters to his needs but I wish I could so easily find a place that did likewise for me.
Please, please spare me the places that assume that sandwiches MUST be toasted.
There was one place in the centre of Cork City that was open for five years up until fairly recently.
Both times I had sandwiches there they tried to serve them to me toasted.
One time they got the order wrong and the other time what was written on the blackboard did not mention toasting but they assumed that it did and did not ask a mere customer.
Another place in town will serve me a cold sandwich if I ask but look at me as if I am a pervert.
These people do not realise the history behind sandwich toasting.
There was a time in Ireland when a given loaf could be several days old and the best way to compensate was to toast it.
Actually there is one bread company that STILL has a slogan older than anybody reading this: “Today’s bread today” and that is a historical reference to all that stale bread in Ireland.
And the practice of toasting sandwiches (customer requirement or not) survives to this day.
I at least half expect that those who do it assume it is all part of ‘customer service’.
Israel conference is not a hate-fest
Please allow me to reply to Mr B Williams’ letter in the Irish Examiner, January 14, 2017.
The conference is not discussing the right of Israel to exist.
That is pure fabrication by Mr Williams and indicative of the ‘slogan’ fear mongering of the Zionist activists who infiltrate, helped by the Israeli Embassy, political associations, student groups and the media.
The conference is going to debate the ‘International Law and the State of Israel’.
To describe it as a ‘hate fest’ only shows how unwilling people, indoctrinated by the Zionist lobby, are to objectively discuss the future of a One State Solution for the Israel/Palestine lands and their people.
Mr Williams only quotes the number of speakers who he considers as unsympathetic towards Israel without giving a name and a reason.
To lash out against the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign shows a certain lack of ingeniosity on Mr Williams’ part.
To witness the daily disregard of UN resolutions by the Israeli government, the imprisonment of more than 80 Palestinian children without legal representation, the blockades and the constant psychological pressure put on the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupiers, does not require me to join any group, but demands from me to be informed and to think of a possible solution for peace in those lands.
That is the reason for me to welcome UCC to stage the conference, which hopefully will be attended by many like-minded people and is our privilege in a free democratic society.
Perhaps Mr Williams will attend as well?
In the meantime Mr Williams as president of Irish4Israel would be well advised to read ‘My Promised Land’ by Ari Sharif, the currently best history of Israel and the writer’s thoughts for Israel’s future.
Dissent in Vatican not as it seems
TP O Mahony in his article on dissent in the Vatican (Irish Examiner, Friday, 13 January) states that Pope Francis wrote in Amoris Laetitia that he agrees “with the Synod Fathers that baptised Catholics who divorce and remarry civilly should be more fully integrated into Christian communities”.
That was not what the Pope said. He wrote “... ... baptised Catholics who divorce and remarry civilly should be more fully integrated into Christian communities, in the variety of ways possible while avoiding any occasion of scandal.( paragraph 299) Not at all the same thing.
Paltry sum is not nearly adequate
In December 2016 the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, announced funding awards of €2,460,500 to 137 animal welfare organisations throughout the country involved in protecting animal welfare.
An examination of the figures indicates the amount allocated is down from €2,541,000 to 140 groups in 2015.
This paltry sum, which is nowhere near adequate to deal with the myriad of animal welfare problems around the country, amounts to less than 4% of the amount recently handed over to the horse (€64m) and greyhound racing (€16m) gambling industries.
The comparison is striking. While funding to horse racing saw a €4.8 million increase and the greyhound industry received an additional €1.2 million, the money paid out to groups dealing with Ireland’s animal cruelty crisis was cut by €80,500.
Animal welfare organisations face an uphill battle to keep their services on the road.
Existing on the proverbial financial shoestring they are forced to divert time, resources and energy away helping animals into conducting fundraising events.
It is ironic that this Minister for Agriculture issues reduced funding for animal welfare organisations with hollow platitudes of concern for animal welfare while being a supporter of two animal exploitation industries that provide a flow of cruelty cases to be cleaned up by voluntary animal welfare organisations.
It is an outrage that with so much animal cruelty in Ireland, the government chooses to prioritise the funding of racing industries which are contributing to the problem.
To add to Minister Creed’s account of shame is his refusal to implement legislation that would consign bloodsports like foxhunting and hare coursing to history.
When it comes to Ireland double standards and political cowardice is the balm for the people.
Spending taxpayer’s money on cruel activities while reducing the amount allocated to curbing cruelty is something that can only be squared in mind of an Irish politician.
How Obama will be judged
On the back cover of Barack Obama’s best selling novel The Audacity of Hope written and published in 2006 while he was still a US senator reads “At a time when America’s standing in the world has sunk to unprecedented depths ... his book aims a missile of decency at the White House” (Daily Telegraph).
I can think of no better response from a conservative news publication to Eric Conway”s myopic and partisan ramble on how history will judge President Obama (Letters, January 13).
Future of primary health in balance
We would like to endorse the article by Fergus Finlay on 10 January, in which he proposes the urgency for investing in primary care.
The notion of primary healthcare in Ireland as a philosophy of healthcare delivery was first proposed in the early 1980s but due to the fiscal downturn at that time was put on hold.
Since then, primary care has been heralded as the way forward in addressing the many plights of the health service delivery, including the launch of its strategy amid much fanfare in 2001.
However, since then, the commitment to operationalising this strategy has fallen well short of its commitment.
Primary care is not just a network of services on paper or a solution to the health service ills trotted out when the service is in crisis.
Primary care is the solution but it is also letting the entire health system down.
Primary care lacks the ability to return patients to their homes to where they belong, where they wish to be and should be.
Primary care lacks ability because it is grossly under developed.
What is required is a 24-hour primary care service staffed with all members of the multidisciplinary health care team to include public health doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.
As Finlay correctly points out, PHN numbers in Ireland have been steadily declining, even prior to the public service moratorium in 2009.
Since then funding to sponsor the education of PHNs has only been granted on a year by year basis, and then not in sufficient numbers to replace losses or develop services.
Ireland is not unique in not appreciating the value of PHNs and their contribution in promoting public health and preventing ill health.
There was a dramatic decline in Health Visitors (HV) (a profession with similarities to the PHNs) in the UK between 2005 and 2010 which prompted the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government to publish ‘A Call to Action’ which aimed (and was largely successful) in delivering 4,200 extra HV posts by 2015.
When will Irelands call come or do we continue to focus on reactive healthcare and not do that well either?
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