Letters to the Editor: Time to stop the nonsense and fully reopen our hospitality businesses
What does this government know about running a restaurant ā and why is it more dangerous than going into a hairdresser, shop, or supermarket?
I am so tired of a government that dictates what businesses should and shouldnāt do. Maybe it should experience what itās like to run a business for the last 15 months.
Most people donāt understand, me included, the cause of or the way this virus works, but we know that we have to be careful in order to be safe.
Lives have been lost and they will always be remembered.
We are now the only country in Europe that does not allow its citizens to dine indoors in restaurants, so it appears our government and Nphet think they know better than the rest of Europe of how to control this pandemic.
At what cost is the real question.
We know that eventually someone is going to have to pay for all these closures and āfree moneyā; from a monetary point of view it makes no sense and it will leave a huge burden on both us and the next generation to pay it off.
From a mental health point of view we donāt know the cost of this pandemic yet.Ā
What we do know is that the cost of mental health is not about money, it's about functioning on a day to day basis.
So how do we move on and why should we?
Last year the taoiseach said: āWe have to learn to live with this virus.āĀ
Well, 14 months later what have we actually learned? In my opinion we have gone backward into a place where we donāt know what the truth is anymore and we are finding it very difficult to see any form of hope or normality returning.
By reopening dining we are restoring peopleās jobs; allowing people to enjoy those normal feelings of meeting their friends, and most importantly hearing the sound of laughter again.
How can a hotel be considered safe to open and a restaurateur be made feel like heās not capable of running his premises safely?
What does this government or health service really know about running a restaurant in the first place and why is it more dangerous than going into a hairdresser, shop, or supermarket?
Every other country in Europe has laws around living safely and they are enforced. Is this really the case in Ireland that we put laws in place and donāt enforce them?
If proprietors do not control their establishments then they should be ordered to close and be fined heavily for not complying with safety standards.
Another statement from our government was that āweāre all in this togetherā. Really? Itās time to stop the nonsense and get back to the business of living for all our sakes.
Indoor dining is postponed again despite vigorous ventilation being enforced in such establishments. A poorly attached toupee would do well to remain in situ in such situations.
It would also appear that non-essential travel is going to resume.Ā
From hazy recollection of my last flight, it involved protracted seclusion in a confined area where the worst toupee in Christendom could remain firmly welded to the pate of its owner. Ventilation was of a recycled nature.
It was good to see your article on beach cleaning activity ā Team tackles 'Cork's dirtiest beach' one broken beer bottle at a time (Irish Examiner, June 27).Ā
This is a small part of what seems currently to be a massive community effort across east Cork to tidy up town and country environments.
One voluntary group with more than 100 members, Kindred Spirits, has collected approximately 1,500 bags of litter around Midleton in the last three months.Ā
In one morning clean-up at Ahanesk on Cork Harbour they removed more than 60 bags of rubbish as well as televisions, metal, building rubble, and tyres.Ā
They have also put in place a system of litter collection bags around the town which they service daily.
The local county council staff also give a helping hand with disposal of the bags collected by Kindred Spirits volunteers.Ā
A local business has kindly donated a number of litter bins which have been installed in strategic spots ā and also serviced by this local community group.
We should be recognising and celebrating not only the national organisations, of which Beach Clean Ballynamona is a part, but also the truly inspiring collective spirit of local community groups.
Well done to the too often unrecognised groups of local community volunteers throughout Cork and beyond who are quietly getting on every day, rain or shine without a fuss, making such big differences to where we live.
Marc OāSullivanās fine article ā From beloved icon to city landmark (Irish Examiner, June 28) ā on the statue of Fr Mathew by John Foley in the āCork in 50 Artworksā series omitted to cover the controversy over whether āto clean or not to cleanā the sculpture.
Around 1968 our city fathers, urged on by city traders, decided that John Foleyās work needed to get a facelift after some 100 years.
Advised by art conservationists at the time that such ācleaningā would actually destroy the natural patina, a process which developed since the piece was made, they persisted in their misguided efforts.Ā
Art practitioners informed all that if this beautiful soft natural green patina was removed the work, though initially looking like a new penny, in time it would turn to an ugly black, which would be irreversible.Ā
People like the late Diarmuid OāDonovan of the Crawford Municipal School of Art, tried in vain but their advice was not listened to.
We all know what we are left with.
Leo Varadkarās address on aspirations to Irish unity invites further reflection and analysis. It seems clear that three possible scenarios (if not solutions) exist. Let us examine these:
(1) A border poll produces a majority in favour of a united Ireland: Putting in place the necessary mechanisms for this will leave us with a disgruntled and very large minority of Unionists determined to resist all such moves, however much the majority bend over to accommodate their fears and apprehensions.Ā
They are British and see no reason to be thought Irish, they tell us. Stalemate.
(2) A border poll rejects a united Ireland: This leaves a disgruntled and very, large nationalist community cut off from their true home not wishing to be part of Britain.Ā
Again, an unhappy situation results leading to unrest, resistance and unresolved tensions.
However there is a third scenario, one which does not leave us with disenchanted minorities and disgruntled communities: an autonomous Northern Ireland, in which both Green and Orange unite in the white of peaceful cooperation, running an independent statelet.Ā
But with what financial support, you may ask? Initially the US, the UK, and whatever we can offer from our own limited resources.
Does it seem like pie in the sky? On consideration it has the overriding merit of enticing true engagement between both communities the North, respecting each other as equals (as Arlene Foster advocated in her valedictory address) and learning to live, not as divided communities but as, one cohesive community to the benefit of all.Ā
The mutual interest is best served by cooperation.
Ironically, the ultimate result of such a scenario might well be the opting to unite with the Republic for all sorts of practical and economic reasons but if that option were then pursued it would not be partisan but, one agreed to by a well-integrated and united Northern Ireland ā not a divided one.
In a word, to achieve a united Ireland we must firstly build a united Northern Ireland. Anything less will not work.
John Coughlan
Cork
Re your editorialĀ ā Home prices soaring: conscience, ambition all too absent (Irish Examiner, June 29). A council can build and sell an A2-rated two-bed, three-bed, and four-bed detached and semis for ā¬140k, ā¬178k and ā¬224k respectively as were built and sold by a DCC/ O Cualann housing in Poppintree, Ballymun, in 2020.
One or 200,000 homes, one or 31 councils building on this rollover build/sell basis reduces the cost to inflation.
This saves the state tens of billions over time and I suggest that possibly 30% or less of those savings could enable even the poorest of families to afford a mortgage on their own homes if that money was used to deliver āhelp-to-buy grantsā based on means and with conditions.
This proposal can deliver mortgages from ā¬80k to ā¬220k and still save roughly ā¬2bn pa over time for the State.
Why donāt the Government and Nphet just say we will have to be in lockdown for the rest of this year as everyday it is doom and gloom.Ā
However, during the Euros, Wimbledon, and other events there are plenty of spectators attending.Ā
Let us all get back to normality and learn to live with this virus.
