Here in the US the majority of the time the news on television and in print is negative. Unfortunately for me, it seems to be the same in Ireland. I am a Cork native and regularly surf the websites of the Irish Examiner and other Irish dailies.
So many times in the last six or seven years I have read distressing articles about thousands of children waiting and waiting on lists for speech therapy.
The recent article 3,000 children in Cork waiting to be seen by disability service was disheartening because it told me that children with so many type of disabilities are not accessing the services they should be.
This situation obviously reaches far beyond speech services.
Reading the article was a real “downer” for me as I am sure it was for many people.
Growing up in Cork as a stammerer, I know firsthand that Ireland lagged behind in speech therapy.
I know that services for stammerers are light years ahead of the scene in the 1970s.
I wish to recommend the website of the US-based charity The Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org) which provide diverse free resources such as books for downloads as well as many streaming videos.
Hopefully, parents of stammering children can find help in these resources.
I just wish I could do something to help the other children who were in the photo that accompanied the article who have such compelling disabilities.
I hope and pray that one day soon I will read an article that the situation for these 3,000 children with disabilities in Cork has changed for the better.
In my opinion, there should be few greater priorities for government officials than seeing that handicapped children are properly taken care of.
Colm Ruane
Bronx
New York
Do we not all deserve a bonus?
While healthcare workers were undoubtedly at the coalface, many above and beyond their duty, some not; did lorry drivers not keep delivering healthcare workers’ food and collecting their waste?
Did shop workers not keep serving us and them, did wholesale workers keep supply lines running? Did the elderly not cocoon, some for a year and more, did children not sacrifice their education, their mental health and their youth?
Did factory and construction workers not keep the wheels of industry turning to pay for it all?
Did the HSE, the chief medical officer, and government not praise us all for putting our collective shoulders to the wheel?
In fact, did we all, with few exceptions, not do our bit in whatever way we could to do the right thing to protect one another for the common good, however misguided the advice on the common good was and is at times.
Do we all not deserve that bonus?
Kevin T Finn
Mitchelstown
Co Cork
Been here before on corporate tax
The Government is under pressure to increase the rate of corporate tax here in order to ‘bring Ireland into line with other countries’.
Whether you agree with proposed tax changes or not, I’d like to take the opportunity to remind readers what both the government of the day and the EU said back in 2008/’09 around the time that no campaigners were claiming we would have to change our tax rates if we voted yes to Lisbon/the EU Treaty.
No way, the government of the day assured us.
“The EU has promised us that even if we vote yes, Ireland’s tax regime is Ireland’s business — copperfastened, triple-locked, and double-glazed.”
Or hollow words to that effect.
And yet here we are, more than 10 years later, having dutifully voted the way we were told the second time round.
Nick Folley
Carrigaline
Cork
Live with the past don’t be ruled by it
The recent controversy stirred by the decision of President Michael D Higggins not to attend a church event in
Armagh serves to show very clearly, yet again, the fraught nature of North-South relations on this island.
We can debate ad nauseam the merits and drawbacks of what happened 100 years ago to little or no avail.
Suffice it to say both states have their origins in violence and bloodshed and we must “live with the past but not be ruled by it”.
Let us rather accept things as they are here and now and learn to work from there towards tolerance and partnership for the good of all.
Yes, that sounds platitudinous in aspiration but any amount of flogging a dead horse will never win the race.
We can speculate, conjecture, repine, recriminate until the cows come home and find (perhaps to our surprise), that there is no sign of the heifers coming over the hill at the end of it all.
No, I say, to endless talk and debate; yes, I say, to deeds of goodwill and positive outlook.
Discussing how best to repair a pothole on a busy road can only be of limited value; the job must be tackled and done when all voices have fallen silent.
How, then, to apply this to our divided island is the question facing us.
We will not have a united Ireland until we have proven sufficiently to our northern neighbours the absolute merit of an independent republic over living as subjects in a monarchical kingdom; we live as free citizens, they as subjects to the crown.
We have in our own hands the means of achieving a united Ireland; reform our Republic by remedying our ailing health service, our homeless families, our creaking prefab classrooms (still a problem in places), etc.
In short: “Show me it is to my advantage to be part of your republic.” Every success story sells itself.
John Coughlan
Cork
Lack of respect for our dead
To the rear of my home is a historic site, St John’s Cemetery (Parkowen). Over the past three years, both myself and volunteers have put enormous effort into maintaining it by planting trees, shrubs, flowers, herbs, etc, in a bid to restore it to its former glory. Maria Young (Green Spaces for Health) and her volunteers have worked tirelessly and that hard labour is now beginning to bear fruit: The birds, bees, and butterflies and all of god’s creatures are all returning happy and safe in their new haven of rest and safety.
The cemetery is an oasis of peace and calm in the centre of Cork city.
That was until recently (September 2), when disrespectful people drove vans, trailers, and trucks over the grass and destroyed the wild meadow garden that we had so lovingly planted.
Congratulations to Maria and her team for the devotion she has shown.
This cemetery has its story and those who lie beneath it deserve their rest.
But in days where people show scant regard for their neighbours, we can hardly expect them to show respect for the dead.
Marie Dillon
Douglas St
Cork
Suggestion for extra bank holiday
If we are to get an extra public holiday, can I suggest that it be on the nearest Monday to St Brigid’s Day on February 1?
This day marks the beginning of spring and has always been dedicated to the patron saint of Ireland, St Brigid.
Lá Fhéile Bríde as a public holiday would give Brigid parity with our other great national saint — Patrick — and remind us of the role women in particular have played as carers throughout our history, including during the Covid pandemic in our own time.
John Glennon
Hollywood
Co Wicklow
Enough of honouring saints
I’m not entirely convinced of the wisdom of adding another bank holiday to our calendar but, if we must have one, can we please avoid naming it after a saint?
Every week it becomes more clear that a complete separation of Church and State is needed as this country stands up and shakes off the yoke of religious domination, especially in the areas of education and healthcare. Let’s not kneel back down.
Bernie Linnane
Dromahair
Co Leitrim
It’s time to reward our HSE nurses
The recent rumours of a bank holiday for everyone in the country is a slap in the face to the nurses.
Not everyone suffered like the frontline workers, especially the nurses.
If the government wants a bank holiday for everyone, give them one.
All HSE nurses should be given some tax free cash — €1,000 seems good to me.
Let the private companies do their own thing and let them write it off on their taxes.
Kevin Devitte
Westport
Co Mayo
