The level of commitment and dedication of our hospital heroes has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.
I have just experienced an invasive procedure in Cork University hospital, where the team at the X-ray holding bay were totally devoid of any notes whatsoever, due to the hijacking of all HSE records, and were forced to commence with a blank sheet of paper.
Yet they managed to gather and prepare all necessary notes to enable the surgeons and consultants to complete their tasks with a successful outcome.
This is being done on an hourly basis, day in and day out.
If I had access to medals, I’d hand them to each and every one. I am truly in debited to them all. Thank You.
Terry O’Doherty
Kenmare
Co Kerry
Savagery of West causes problems
Despite the aircraft carriers, the Predator drones, the F16s, and the ‘iron domes’, war has not changed. It is the same thing it always was. A moral contest.
Wars are won in the temples, churches, villages, and slums before they are ever fought. The one who wins there wins everywhere.
The weaker asymmetric enemy tells the empire: “We can win even where you succeed because we are willing to sacrifice more than you.” Just ask the people in Vietnam.
The US has the “full-spectrum military dominance” it has coveted in its congress. It has invested trillions of dollars in military technological dominance. At the very same time, 10m-15m of its adult citizens have been induced by some of its most reputable companies to become addicted to Fentanyl and other licensed opioids.
That is the Goth and Vandal of their decadent “Rome”. Each age has its plague.
The Pax Americana is nothing to object to. We will miss it when it’s gone.
Empires are engines of exploitation and subjugation, but the British empire of the 19th century and the American colossus of the 20th century will be nostalgic and benign things to compare to if we allow Russia and China to run the table in the 21st century.
Two million people live in concentration camps in northwestern China as we live and breathe. A western journalist was lured to his limb-severing death at a Saudi embassy. That was almost televised.
The West has treated Russia badly for centuries. It has treated China far worse. We have a responsibility to recognise all of that. The things we object to are reflex actions to the multitude of calculating savageries that we began the dialogue with in the first place.
Michael Deasy
Carrigart
Co Donegal
Banning traffic in Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council officials have once again proposed to ban buses and cars from part of Lower George’s St in Dún Laoghaire (the town’s main street). They did this previously, around 10 years ago.
Eventually they had to agree to lift the ban because shoppers had to walk relatively long distances (carrying their purchases) — mainly through Marine Rd, which is usually quite cold (even in summertime) as it fronts on to the sea — to get a bus home.
Motorists voted with their wheels and drove to shopping areas where they were welcome, often with free parking.
As a result, business in Dún Laoghaire was very badly damaged, resulting in shop closures and job losses.
The elected representatives on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council appear not to have been consulted prior to this latest decision.
This time the county council officials have offered public consultation, which is in sharp contrast with their banning of vehicles on “a trail basis” from the seafront at the beginning of the current lockdowns. That “trial period” is now up, but the ban has not been lifted.
The proposed ban on the main street is also in the name of a trial period.
As a result of the seafront ban, long tailbacks are commonplace. Any further street closures will add to this.
The last time the county council banned cars and buses from the same part of the main street, their decision was opposed by Dublin Bus, Dún Laoghaire Business Association and local residents’ associations.
It remains to be seen who really runs our county council — the elected representatives or the paid officials.
Breasal Ó Caollaí
Dún Laoghaire
Co Átha Claith
Drive to improve breastfeeding rates
It’s fantastic to see that there is finally more drive to improve breastfeeding rates in Ireland.
People in this country are so undereducated in the benefits of breastfeeding and the lack of resources is disgraceful.
I’m not at all surprised that we have the worst rates for breastfeeding in Europe.
Hopefully they bring about some positive changes and increase the resources available across the country, as well as the education of the public in addition to all healthcare staff, and crest general awareness of the benefits.
Ciara Newport
Wexford
Lack of support for new mothers
I gave birth to my first child in 1998 in Mullingar hospital. At that time, it was standard practice for first-time mothers to stay for five nights after the birth of their baby.
I was committed to breastfeeding my baby and the support I received in
the hospital was phenomenal, with a midwife regularly sitting with me as I struggled to latch my baby on or worried as she fed incessantly.
By the time I left the hospital, I was confidently feeding my little girl, though there had been many doubts along the way. When my son was born a few years later, I was able to feed confidently.
I do not know how this experience can be repeated when mothers are thrown out a few hours after giving birth. Mothers really need help with feeding until their milk supply is established. I have had the experience of my family and friends giving up feeding due to a lack of support.
Geraldine Gorman
Mullingar
Co Westmeath
Long way to go on animal rights
A law to be enacted by the UK government will formally recognise animals as sentient beings and ensure that animal welfare will receive priority in all policy decision making.
We could do well to emulate this move, given our high incidence of animal cruelty and the antiquated laws we have to deal with it.
The UK law will clamp down further on hare coursing, which was banned by a Labour government in 2004.
Not only is this legal in Ireland, it has the backing of Government ministers and the two largest parties refuse to allow a free vote on its abolition.
They are determined to block Deputy Paul Murphy’s upcoming Private Member’s Bill that seeks to end the practice.
In Britain, the police pursue hare-coursing gangs vigorously. Here, the only police present at a coursing event are the ones directing traffic.
Yes, we have a Green Party in Government that has excellent policies on animal welfare. However, it lacks the power to implement them.
Such are the constraints imposed on the Green Party by its coalition partners that it appears set to oppose the Murphy bill.
We may be a long way from recognising animals in law as sentient beings, but we can at least protect the gentlest creature in the Irish countryside from this pathetic excuse for a ‘sport’.
John Fitzgerald
Callan
Co Kilkenny
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