Letters to the Editor: Appeal to the public not to hold a protest in Cork

Caitriona Twomey of Penny Dinners is scared that people may be put at risk during the anti-lockdown protest planned for Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

I’m writing this because my heart is breaking and I’m scared. Scared because there will be a protest in our city today and people I love and care about may be put at risk unnecessarily.

The virus is killing our people, its making our people very ill and fatigued, exhausting all our frontline workers, creating havoc with our mental health and closing businesses.

We at Penny Dinners see the pain and destruction every single day. People let us know of their worries, their fears, their loneliness. 

We’ve been listening a whole year and we have seen an increase in their vulnerabilities and we are doing our utmost to keep everyone safe. 

All are scared of this horrible virus. There are so many people making an effort to stay safe and keep their families safe. I’m worried about today because it may hurt someone I love, someone I care about or someone I look after. 

I’m asking people not to attend. I’m asking those who are going to protest to think of those who are struggling, don’t take our lives in your hands, err on the side of caution and please let us all be safe.

Caitriona Twomey

Cork Penny Dinners

It’s counter productive to protest

To those organising the anti-lockdown gathering in Cork this weekend let me add this.

I know how they feel. We are all fed up to the teeth with the lockdown and feel like going out to the street and screaming but the purpose of the lockdown is to limit the spread of the virus and the more successfully this is done the sooner the lockdown can be gradually ended.

If a large number of people come together it will be impossible to maintain social distancing and if some of those present, without realising it, have the virus they will inevitably spread it to others.

Likewise, if many refuse to wear masks this too increases the risks. Even someone who cannot wear a mask for medical reasons may spread the virus. So it is not just a matter of right wing elements joining and using the gathering.

If they wish, as we all do, to end the lockdown as soon as possible then organising a gathering like this is as good an example as I ever seen of shooting yourself in the foot.

Brendan Casserly

Bishopstown

Cork

Gardaí are not to blame for the virus

Anyone who attends prohibited crowded events during the Covid-19 pandemic should be locked up and have the keys thrown away.

Harsh punishment will also have to be implemented against social-media sites that spark protest.

We’re all fed up with the lockdown, but but none of us can gather in crowds; Covid-19 doesn’t care about our frustration.

Physical and verbal attacks on innocent gardaí are unforgivable.

They, too, are vulnerable human beings, who merely enforce laws made by those who don’t have to confront public wrath.

Also, it should be noted, the gardaí didn’t create Covid-19.

Dr Florence Craven

Bracknagh

Co Offaly

Thugs should visit patients in ICU

I found it upsetting and disturbing to watch a bunch of thugs create havoc on Dublin’s streets last weekend.

It was a shocking display of arrogance, flouting the lockdown law while attempting to cause serious damage, attacking gardaí with fireworks, cans, and bollards.

Three gardaí were injured. It’s a miracle that nobody was seriously hurt. Let these people visit patients in ICU departments fighting to survive. Then, maybe, they might be less uncharitable and be more considerate, if they are capable of being so.

These thugs should be punished for their actions.

Una Heaton

Co Limerick

No chance of Ireland exiting EU

I was amazed that a letter so riddled with falsehoods and biases should get published but Robert Sullivan managed it — ‘Ireland should tell EU to sling its hook’ (Irish Examiner, Letters, March 3).

He fails to mention the 13 substantial changes Ireland successfully sought to the Lisbon Treaty before it was ratified.

Also, where he got the notion that Ireland would vote to leave in any referendum is beyond comprehension as more than 89% of Ireland’s voters are in favour of the EU.

But perhaps the most outrageous assertion is that Ireland is merely a pawn in the EU’s games against the UK.

This is the same EU that listened to the early briefings by Leinster house to take the issue of the border seriously and to ensure that peace on the island remains intact. The resultant NI protocol is the manifestation of the EU meeting the concerns of a member nation.

Right-wing elements in the UK hijacked and perverted the Brexit referendum with lies, falsehoods and unrealistic promises. Robert Sullivan is attempting the same in “Éire”.

We must stand firmer in not
allowing this to occur here in Ireland.

Richard Kavanagh

Dublin 1

Co Dublin

Angelus provides a few moments at 6pm

I just had to reply to the letter from this gentleman PJ Daly ‘RTÉ Angelus bells must be silenced’ (Irish Examiner, Letters, February 13).

I want to defend RTÉ’s broadcasting of the Angelus.

Is Mr Daly an Irishman? Does he realise that the majority of us are Catholics?

I’m as horrified as anyone on the revelations about the mother and baby homes. And I’m over 80 years of age, and lived in Ireland, Cork actually, during those times.

Ireland, I agree was a bit priest ridden and was very bigoted, especially about having a baby while not married.

But the Church wasn’t the only culprit, what about society as a whole who turned a blind eye? 

What about the girls’ families who allowed their daughters to be put into these homes, and the fathers of these children who got away scot-free?

I for one love to have a few moments every evening at 6pm. It’s calming and relaxing especially in these times.

Thanks, RTÉ for the Angelus every evening. To me, it’s certainly not abomination.

Eleanor Kennedy

Nenagh

Co Tipperary

1974 bomb victims treated callously

Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s swift initiative in contacting British prime minister Boris Johnson to discuss the proposal for a joint bid by Ireland and the UK to host the Fifa 2030 World Cup — ‘Taoiseach contacts Boris Johnson on ‘exciting possibility’ of 2030 World Cup bid’ (Irish Examiner, online, March 2) — is welcome if the bid can be successfully negotiated to Ireland’s advantage.

Your report suggests that the joint bid is also being viewed in political circles in both jurisdictions as an opportunity for the Irish and British governments to cooperate and re establish a close working relationship in the aftermath of Brexit.

This appears to be an opportune time for Mr Martin to press Mr Johnson to make relevant undisclosed security documents identified in the Barron Inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, available to an independent, international judicial figure.

Having been ignored by Westminster for almost 47 years the victims of these bombings are still being treated in a callous manner by those whose duty it is to identify the terrorists, not harbour them.

The possibility that this demand may cause diplomatic tensions
between Dublin and London must not be a deterrent from our pursuance of justice for the innocent victims.

Tom Cooper

Templeogue

Dublin 6w

Minimum unit pricing on alcohol deferred

It is a matter of deep regret that Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has decided to defer the introduction of minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol by 18 months.

Easy availability of cheap alcohol costs lives. On top of that Covid-19 has been worsened for many women, children, families and communities because of the easy access to cheap alcohol during the pandemic

MUP for alcohol was adopted as policy by Mr Donnelly’s current department in 2012, following a three-year process chaired by the current chief medical officer, examining all the evidence of what would be effective in lessening alcohol related harm. 

As a follow on the same government department introduced the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill in 2015, when the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar was health minister. 

In 2018 the Bill was voted in to law as the Public Health (Alcohol) Act by, having been brought through both Houses of the Oireachtas by then minister for health Simon Harris.

MUP is the most important component of Ireland’s public health alcohol policy; it will save lives.

We read this week from Limerick of the latest in a very long list of serious Covid-19 breaches fuelled by alcohol, two days after Mr Donnelly’s ill-judged announcement.

This matter is too big for one department. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has a track record of standing up to vested interest on this issue. It is time for him to show the same resolve and bring this very effective and long debated measure into immediate effect.

Joe Barry

Adjunct Professor of Population Health Medicine

Trinity College Dublin