Letters to the Editor: Being an ‘outlier’ has its benefits in a pandemic
Being an ‘outlier’ may contribute to lawmaking, as did Ireland’s progressive move in pioneering a ban on indoor smoking in March 2004. Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA
Perhaps those interest groups wedded to the mantra that Ireland is the ‘outlier of Europe’ due to our cautious approach generally, and more specifically because indoor dining and drinking is not yet permitted, should consider a few pertinent facts as a reality check on this assertion.
Being an ‘outlier’ breaks no law. On the contrary, it may contribute to lawmaking, as did Ireland’s progressive move in pioneering a ban on indoor smoking in March 2004.
Before this pandemic, our hospital system wasn’t very robust in terms of redundant capacity that could be quickly mobilised, a position that has markedly improved since.
At this point in the pandemic, staff at all levels in our health system have had a most exacting 17 months, with capacity to deal with future heightened demands.
I suggest that, in the circumstances, many of us are happy to retain this ‘outlier’ status.
As Covid-19 continues to keep its perilous grip on the world we are far from achieving equitable distribution of vaccines.
Goal continues to be concerned about ensuring our staff, their families and the communities we support are safe.
We have seen the devastating effect of the pandemic and now, sadly, the Africa Centres for Disease Control, a public health agency of the African Union, has warned that countries on that continent are experiencing a third and more deadly wave.
Several countries are reporting that their health systems are overwhelmed; thousands are dying every day in countries without sufficient access to the vaccine.
The fairest and most effective way to end this pandemic is to ensure that everyone has a vaccine.
Goal is painfully aware of the global disparity in access to vaccines, and while the Covax mechanism has provided badly needed supplies, it is simply not enough.
Alarmingly, while Ireland’s vaccine rollout is gathering speed, and soon every adult will have access to a Covid-19 vaccine, less than 3% of people in lower-income countries have access to a vaccine.
Since the pandemic began, Goal has adapted its work and programmes responding to the pandemic by supporting communities and ministries of health across the 14 countries we work in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
This response includes support to more than 1,000 health facilities in Sudan, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Niger, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Honduras with provision of personal protective equipment and infection prevention and control supplies.
We have trained and mentored health staff, have done mass media messaging, and empowered communities to understand the virus and to take action to stay safe.
In this context Goal is delighted to be part of the Peoples Vaccine Alliance Ireland, a coalition of Irish NGOs, organisations, health practitioners, trade unions, and activists who have come together to call on the Government to take a stand for fairness, equality, and global health.
The alliance will be launched on July 8 and is appealing for the upscale in production of Covid-19 vaccines so they are available to everyone, everywhere. We urge everybody to support this campaign. Speaking together as one voice is always more powerful.
In all the discussions about ethos at the National Maternity Hospital, one important item seems to have been forgotten.
What could possibly be the ethical basis for giving away a hospital constructed at a cost to the public purse of a figure approaching €1bn?
If we — the State — pay for it, we must own it, and the land on which it stands. Nothing less is acceptable.
The controversy regarding the siting of the new National Maternity Hospital is overblown and has wasted valuable time. There is an old saying: ‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth.’
Instead, it has been insisting on its own conditions, causing a stalemate.
Is the State not ‘cutting off its nose to spite its face’ by its fear that in this new hospital a baby might be regarded as a person with its own dignity, from the very beginning of his/her existence?
In a article of July 3 in relation to the proposed global tax regime, journalist Matthew Lynn rejoices in the fact that while it “may well prove catastrophic for the Irish, it could also be a huge opportunity for the UK”.
In fact, Lynn says in the article that ‘Britain must exploit’ the ‘weakness’ ruthlessly.
That is a stark reminder of the economic war on a former colony declared by Brexit and the continuation of that economic war, driven by the Brexiteer mindset towards that former colony, that can be expected to operate into the future.
Ireland’s defence of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, an international agreement drawing a line under centuries of colonial rule, is described in Matthew Lynn’s article as making the UK departure from the EU “as difficult as possible”.
All of that gives an idea of what is at stake for Ireland, not alone as a result of Brexit, but in the OECD negotiations on corporate tax.
In the coming days, the fate of more than 3m people in Syria will be determined when the UN Security Council decides if the only remaining border crossing between Turkey and north-west Syria can stay open.
The Bab al Hawa crossing allows humanitarian aid to be delivered to a region where 81% of the population, half of whom are children, are in need of immediate humanitarian support.
Ireland is pressing hard to keep the border open and, along with Norway, is drafting the UN resolution to maintain the border crossing. We fully support Ireland’s leadership in the negotiations.
The UN estimate that 22m civilians are caught up in this horrific conflict; some 80% of the population live below the poverty line, and 9.3m people are food insecure.
Covid-19 continues to spread at an alarming rate while the healthcare infrastructure is woefully inadequate.
Access is critical to ensure that all humanitarian agencies can continue to provide life-saving assistance. Concern’s work, with the support of Irish Aid, supports 1m in Syria.
In the run-up to the vote, Concern and more than 40 other NGOs operating
in Syria have been calling on all members of the Security Council to approve the reauthorisation of the crossing for at least 12 months, and to re-open the Al Yarubiyah and Bab al Salam crossings which have been closed for the last 18 months.
If the border crossings are closed, and there is a genuine fear that this might happen, the work of the entire humanitarian community in Syria could be in jeopardy, and the consequences will be disastrous for families whose lives have already been devastated by years of war.
This cannot happen.
Shauna Bowers reports that it might be 20 years before congregated care is eliminated (Irish Examiner, July 2).
The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is clear that “persons with disabilities” must “have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others”, and not be “obliged to live in a particular living arrangement”.
Persons with disabilities also have the right to access “a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community”.
Ireland ratified the CRPD in 2018. Twenty more years is too long to wait to provide people with disabilities with the choices they have been denied.
