Even though my children are long since past primary school age and I donât have any grandchildren, I feel compelled to write on the issue of masking primary school children aged nine and over.
We are told that this is to âprotect the health of the entire school communityâ.
While a child in this age category runs a very minor statistical risk of a bad outcome from a Covid infection the damage that this measure will cause in terms of education, development, self-esteem, and mental health will, I believe, greatly outweigh any risk to children from Covid.
I accept that the government has had an extraordinarily difficult job over the last 20 months in dealing with the ongoing health crisis, however, on this occasion, they have got it wrong.
It is never too late to put things right and in the best interest of the children, which is always paramount, I urge the government to revoke this measure.
Edward Timmins
Leixlip
Co Kildare
Vaccine mandate offers hope for all
Reading your editorial on the vaccine mandate â Irish Examiner view: A dangerous moment for European freedoms (December 4) , which our European administration urges us to consider, filled me with great hope. I believe that in the times we find ourselves in every opinion which is formed through critical thinking and strives for balance and objectivity must be highly applauded.
As a native German I watch the situation in my home country unfold in disbelief and terror.
In my opinion, it is indeed crucial that at this very moment we take only one small step back and thoroughly weigh up the threats to our lives which arise from this dreadful pandemic with the threats to our lives which arise from how we choose to react to it.
Not only the immediate consequences of the restrictions must be evaluated and considered but also the long-term impact of our decisions on the fundamental rights of every individual.
I chose Ireland for myself and my children because of its natural beauty and the humility, kindness, and deep-rooted compassion of its people. Traits which I believe the Irish earned through the course of history.
The Irish people fought hard for their freedom and I cannot bear to think that my own children might one day ask me the question I asked my parents â how could this have happened?
Irene Thornton
Thurles
Co Tipperary
Nphet must drop the rhetoric of fear
Would it be too much to ask that the rhetoric of fear gets dropped from governmental and Nphet pronouncements?
Itâs as if weâre dragged along in expectation of a little positive news only for our hopes to become routinely dashed with vague warnings of worse to come.
This is not the way to keep citizens alert to any supposed âextra dangersâ we are going to possibly endure on words of mere speculation and supposition.
There is a cruelty attaching to these regular blasé announcements which are always clouded in considered uncertainty.
Turn us loose on each other so that the fully vaccinated (like me) will ostracise others is a monstrous tactic to adopt, now that it is obvious the jabs are not the magic bullet, or MicheĂĄl Martinâs assured âgamechangerâ he promised it was going to be.
His own hindsight, or the continuous daily change from the HSE, does not make it any easier for people who hang onto the words of our leaders for encouragement and peace of mind, even in the midst of obvious official confusion.
We deserve better treatment.
Robert Sullivan
Bantry
Co Cork
Legislation needed to protect lobsters
A major study by the London School of Economics (LSE), commissioned by the UK government, into whether cephalopods (octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish) and decapods crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, and crayfish) are sentient, has concluded that they are indeed sentient.
The LSE report looked at 300 scientific studies to judge the sentience â the ability to feel things and experience pain â of the creatures. Researchers found that lobsters, crabs, and octopuses should be given higher priority by the government when it comes to animal welfare. The experts also recommended that, following their findings, the creatures shouldnât be boiled alive without being stunned beforehand.
The study has prompted the UK government to add the creatures to a list of those protected by a forthcoming bill. Lobsters, crabs, octopuses, crayfish, squid, and cuttlefish will be recognised as sentient beings under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which is designed to ensure future laws have high animal welfare standards.
The bill, which is being debated and not yet law, will bring about the creation of an Animal Sentience Committee, which will publish reports on how well government decisions have taken account of the welfare of sentient animals.
Meanwhile, here in Ireland, the placing of live lobsters into pots of boiling water continues apace, and this despite the fact that the governmentâs own Animal Welfare Strategy 2021-25, published earlier this year, states in its introduction: âOur starting point in developing this strategy is that animals are sentient beings who can perceive their environment and experience sensations such as pain and suffering or pleasure and comfort, and can give expression to these sensations â sometimes in ways that are easy for people to perceive and understand, and at other times not.â
If the governmentâs own Animal Welfare Strategy acknowledges that animals are sentient, and if the LSE study has concluded that lobsters and crabs are sentient, would legislating the practice out of existence not be the logical thing to do?
Or am I missing something?
Gerry Boland
Keadue
Co Roscommon
No vaccine cert check in restaurant
Last Saturday, a party of four of us dined in, what I would consider to be, one of the top 10 restaurants in Cork. The food was superb and the service was excellent.
The four of us arrived separately yet not one of us was asked for certification of vacation. I know we should have walked out. Regrettably, hunger and the fact that we hadnât dined out for some time, got the better of our moral fortitude.
I was appalled at this lack of adherence to basic Covid protocol.
Don Harte Barry
Model Farm Road
Cork
Moral cowardice of the Orange Order
The failure by the Orange Order to openly admit that it welcomed back Davy Tweed after 2016 is typical of its moral cowardice. Instead of issuing a statement, Martin McCauley of BBC radioâs Talkback revealed an anonymous source who confirmed Tweedâs readmission. This was a man twice, in 2009 and 2012, accused of sexual abuse of children. His victims included all of his daughters and a niece who died by suicide aged 20.
The Order appears to be relying on the fact that Tweed was found not guilty in 2009 and had his 2012 conviction quashed in 2016 on the basis of a small technicality. Though Tweedâs culpability was clear to all who looked, this was sufficient for the Order to readmit him.
If the Orange Order cannot come out and account for itself, are there ordinary members not afraid to openly protest this cancerous scandal?
Tom Cooper
Templeville Road
Dublin 6
When did Santa stop being Santy?
Why has Santy almost suddenly changed his name to Santa? When I was young Patrick Street was âPanaâ and still is; Jimmy Barry Murphy was JBM and still is; Christy Ring was Ringy and still is; so why did Santy change his name?
George Harding
Blackrock
Cork
