Letters to the Editor: School closures may become stain on the nation

'We know from court records, and from our own experience in hospitals, that children came to great harm during the lockdown in March. Schools are a safe haven for these children, where their well-being is observed,' writes Dr Ann-Marie Hayes.

The delay in the reopening of schools during the third wave of the pandemic will be a stain on our national conscience unless we act now.

There is a distinction between children with special needs and children who are vulnerable.

Firstly, let us consider the impact of school closure on children with special or additional needs.

Last weekend, I spent part of my long, onerous call shift as a paediatric registrar counselling a mother by phone about her child with autism. He had suffered a seizure at home and was to come to hospital by ambulance. The paramedics were unable to bring the child to the emergency department, such was his distress and aggression. His mother, overwhelmed and broken, explained that his behaviour had deteriorated since school closure and was now unmanageable. The responsibility of caring for his physical, emotional, and medical needs, coupled with her profound love for her child and duty to him, were equal parts humbling and enraging.

This is not good enough in 2021. We had time. We should have had contingency plans for this eventuality. We should have learned from what happened in March and April. The burden that we are placing on these families, once again, is unacceptable.

The desperation of families with children who have suffered irreversible regression is one of the most damning situations I have faced in my career. The real, lived experience of these families needs to be told and heard, until schools reopen for these children. We, as a society, are condemning these children and families to situations that, in some cases, will have lifelong consequences. If children cannot access healthcare, their lives are at risk. The urgency cannot be overstated.

Vulnerable children are at significant risk of child abuse. We must consider both of these groups when we talk about the reopening of schools. We know from court records, and from our own experience in hospitals, that children came to great harm during the lockdown in March. Schools are a safe haven for these children, where their well-being is observed. Concerns are flagged to child-protection staff and steps taken to ensure children are safe. We have had wonderful advocacy and support for those experiencing domestic violence during this pandemic. This is to be applauded.

Vulnerable children, and their plight, have remained largely hidden. This type of abuse will have life-changing consequences. Surely, after the report into mother and baby homes, we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past and fail our most vulnerable citizens again. It is unconscionable not to act now. Schools are an essential, irreplaceable component of child protection and must open for children designated as high risk.

As a children’s doctor, I would beg unions, and especially the Department of Education, to move whatever mountains are necessary to make this happen. The lives of our most vulnerable children could depend upon it.

Dr Ann-Marie Hayes

Paediatric specialist registrar and lead doctor in training,

Cork University Hospital

Travelling abroad puts us all at risk

I’m writing this from the relative safety of Sydney, Australia, and from the perspective of an Irish person living abroad who has not had to endure the severe lockdowns my loved ones have in Ireland.

Guny Patel, Kinsale Tourism & Commerce. Picture: Dan Linehan

However, the behaviour of people like Guny Patel (‘Kinsale Business Chamber chair defends decision to travel to Lanzarote’, Irish Examiner, January 31) has flow-on effects, even as far away as Australia.

For close to one year now, I have required an exit permit from the Australian government if I want to travel abroad, and the only flights coming into Australia are repatriation flights for citizens stuck abroad, and which charge high prices.

Even if something happens to my parents or siblings, the Australian government will not permit me to travel while Ireland is considered a Covid-19 hotspot.

There is no such thing as ‘travel on compassionate grounds’ when it comes to potentially transmitting the virus from country to country.

Travelling unnecessarily not only increases the risk to my parents in Kinsale, who are over 70, in terms of possible infection and the importation of new strains of the virus, it also reduces the likelihood that I will be able to see my family any time in the near future.

We must protect our fellow Irish citizens (home and abroad), who are doing whatever they can to protect themselves and their loved-ones, and not travel.

Clodagh Ross-Hamid

Sydney

Australia

Carers should be a priority for vaccine

Family carers need to be prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccine to protect the vulnerable people in their care and also themselves.

For, if the carers fall ill, who will look after their loved-ones, many of whom need 24-hour care?

Our health minister, Stephen Donnelly, said: “Family carers are a diverse group. Therefore, each individual will be vaccinated in the group that is appropriate to them.”

Vaccination priorities: Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

So, really, what Mr Donnelly is saying is that we are not to be prioritised.

Unless we have an underlying condition, work on the frontline, or are of a certain age, we will be in the last group to receive the vaccine.

I’m the mother/full-time carer of a vulnerable child. He won’t get the vaccine until the Government decides it’s safe to vaccinate children, so I must protect him in the meantime. Carers must be prioritised for the vaccine.

We are prioritised for the flu vaccine every year, so why not for the Covid-19 vaccine? Government should realise this.

Aisling McNiffe

Straffan

Co Kildare

Border vaccine row exposes EU agenda

If there is something positive to come from the abhorrent actions of the EU in attempting to create a vaccine border in Ireland, it might be that some people might take a more dispassionate and critical view of the EU itself.

Throughout the Brexit process, the commentary in this country was ridiculous, to the point of being absurd: Britain was cast as the pantomime villain and the EU as the benevolent prince, defending Ireland’s interest to the end.

The events of the last few days have exposed this as fallacious.

We were told that the British were causing a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland, and that the EU — in the interests of peace — simply wouldn’t permit that.

We now know, however, that Ireland was nothing but a pawn in the EU’s game against the British government. Brexit is only a month old, and the EU have already attempted to create the very thing they were adamant they wouldn’t allow: An Irish hard border.

The row with AstraZeneca is merely a new front in their political battle with Britain. And, this time, Ireland is to play the role of cannon fodder. The peace and prosperity of people living on both sides of the border can be sacrificed so that the EU can put pressure on their perceived enemy. The fact that this political manoeuvre is being done with a life-saving vaccine makes it all the more reprehensible. The hypocrisy of the EU, on this occasion, cannot go without mention. The EU is not the source of all evil. Nor is it the beacon of light and righteousness that it, and its supporters, like to portray it to be. Hopefully, the last few days will open eyes to that.

Simon O’Connor

Crumlin

Dublin 12

Virus predictions lack consistency

Covid strategy: Professor Philip Nolan.

Philip Nolan, the chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said recently that he could not accurately forecast just one week ahead as regards the virus, yet now he’s predicting three months ahead when he says that a near-zero Covid-19 strategy won’t work.

Kevin T Finn

Mitchelstown

Co Cork

Messi earns in days what I did in years

There are reports that FC Barcelona is considering legal action in relation to a newspaper that published details of footballer Lionel Messi’s contract.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi's willl reportedly earn €555m over four years.

The published claim is that he is being paid €555m for four years of playing football, which is a little more than I earned as a teacher on about US$60k a year, with 35 years’ experience.

I have no reservations about Lionel Messi — who seems a brilliant player and a good person — but I do with his pay.

At present, the US minimum wage is $7.50 an hour, although it may soon double, which, for a 40-hour week, would take about 40,000 years to earn Messi’s salary (I double-checked that approximation). It takes Messi about three days to earn what I did in a life’s work.

Admittedly, someone who is one of the best in the world at what they do will earn more, but how much more is appropriate? There are lots of numbers to consider, and philosophical issues to debate, but that’s what comes from being a retired maths teacher.

Maybe there should be a maximum amount that a person can keep, say a million a year, and everything earned above that goes to charity.

A few sportspeople, business executives, and pop stars might not like that system, but a lot of charities would.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne

Australia