Letters to the Editor: Medical scientists' pay inequality has fallen off the radar 

One reader highlights an aspect of pay and career inequality, while others consider topics including the recent protests outside Dáil Éireann, and approaches to mental health care

A medical scientist writes that the workplace in his field is being ignored, and points out that diagnostics is something that affects all patients. Stock picture: Jes2ufoto/Alamy

I wish to highlight the long-standing and ongoing pay and career inequality that exists in the Irish workforce and health care service.

I am a medical scientist, currently working in the haematology department of the Mercy University hospital, and I am writing to inform the Irish public about this ongoing matter as, since our two days of industrial action back in May 2022, it seems to have fallen off the radar and I am routinely asked by members of the public as to the outcome of that action and the current situation.

I feel strongly that there is a huge workplace inequality that is being ignored and allowed to fester and that the Irish public has a right to be informed adequately and at the very least kept abreast of the matter. 

After all, diagnostics is something that affects us all and no health care service could function without it.

Patrick Naughton, Bishopstown, Cork

My conservative views are not 'far right' 

The violent protests outside Dáil Éireann on Wednesday, which must be condemned, were an inevitable result of the denial of democratic access and free discussion by the legacy media and political establishment on hugely worrying issues being foisted on the Irish people by stealth methods by the liberal political and media establishment.

The so-called independent media are most complicit in censoring discussions that need to be had for our own good.

Labelling conservative Irish people as far right by the far left political establishment is preposterous.

One example in my case, a reasoned letter on the need for a referendum on the open door immigration asylum system, sent in on numerous occasions, is verboten and not for discussion.

Is this not complete censorship of free speech in a so-called democracy?

Peter Monahan, Drogheda, Co Meath

Policing violent thugs

The protests outside Leinster House were shocking but not surprising.

The same language, vocabulary, themes, and circular logic of the people involved have been seen time and again, including at Grand Parade in Cork City against migrants, including in March 2023, and then again throughout the summer against public libraries.

Hopefully the Government parties’ eyes will be well and truly opened by the images of Michael Healy-Rae being shoved around in the heart of Dublin.

I remember not too long ago when Micheál Martin criticised the language used to describe far-right protestors as being nasty name-calling.

Now that it’s come to Leinster House — rather than beating up migrants in tents — maybe the Government and the gardaí might do something.

There’s more gardaí at evictions than there were policing these violent thugs.

Fachtna O’Raftery, Clonakilty, Co Cork

Emboldened thugs don't act in my name

Such emboldened thuggery that we witnessed outside the Dáil (Irish Examiner, September 20 ) is reminiscent of the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s.

Such aggressive action is designed to provoke the State to legislate for the withdrawal of long-cherished civic rights and to create a Leviathan state.

These disparate groups, united in their hatred of progress and immigration, bring the right of protest into disrepute as their real intention is to forcefully impose their distorted views on the rest of the Irish people.

I have been involved in protests on various issues since 1979. These peaceful protests were designed to highlight injustice and to invite passersby to join in but never to alienate them by acting in a thuggish and threatening manner.

The community is caught on the horns of a dilemma — whether to react to them or ignore them.

The State should not be provoked to react in a repressive manner by bring in any sort of emergency legislation to delimit civic rights, as any such a move would play into their hands.

Yet the activity of these fascist groups cannot be ignored as they threaten the rest of society.

Groups dedicated to the promotion of human rights should not allow themselves to be browbeaten into silence by these insidious groups.

It is time to stand up and tell them: “Not in my name.”

Brendan Butler, Drumcondra, Dublin 9

Mental health epidemic

I find it difficult to comprehend the mental health epidemic I feel we are dealing with in Ireland today.

Children are not getting the basic human right to health. I will remind you that we did sign up to a treaty in 1994 with the UN where the Irish Government agreed to uphold the promise of human rights to children. 

I do not accept that approximately 600 people under the age of 18 were refused the right to mental health services because they did not meet the criteria to be accepted into the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs).

Now, the taxpayer was left with the bill to bail out the banks. The same government was able to provide hundreds of millions to manage the emergency of the covid pandemic. Is this not an emergency?

From working as a tax adviser, I do understand the allocation of money to different areas. I also know that I pay my taxes and I, for one, would like to see a chunk of this money go towards saving children from the risk of going homeless as a result of mental health difficulty or vice versa.

I have been at both ends — working in tax compliance as well as experiencing mental health issues leading to becoming homeless.

I don’t welcome the €100m being invested in foster care services this year. Not when people are screaming for mental health funding which, again, is particularly needed in Camhs.

We are talking about life-threatening illnesses leading to the loss of life in many cases.

The economic evaluation of QALYs examines which people need more funding than others taking income and education into account. I do not accept this. Children should be placed as priority of this measurement.

I don’t accept education or income as an acceptable means to test where we should be driving our tax. Shall we find another method of economic measure perhaps when making decisions on investment? Perhaps.

But my optimism is thrown out and fast. Basic human rights... well, we are well used to broken promises in this country. There is nothing positive to take away from the refusal of children to health — physical or mental. To do so, would be an insult to the lives lost to mental health and homelessness in a country that has a long long way to go. I don’t accept that 'we have come a long way with mental health'. 

Justifications such as comparing ourselves to where we were 10 years ago are complete avoidance and a serious refusal to take responsibility.

We may as well throw the new term, “generational trauma”, into the mix and see where it lands. That would probably get people through difficult conversations that come in the community too.

However, aimlessly shooting in the dark is something our ancestors had to do to stay alive in this country. Over 100 years on, can we do better? Michael Collins comes to mind. He didn’t fight for our freedom for this. Nor those who left Ireland to seek refuge. Nor the people who spilled blood for a belief in Ireland.

This is 2023. This is an Ireland of inclusion, diversity, enterprise, and the growth in socialism. Can we put our money where our mouth is please? Health is wealth. Without it, there is no quality of life.

I know I am not alone when I say my door is open but the door is well and truly shut when it comes to mental health. Save the percentages and the “millions” increase in the budget each year. Throwing money at this and hoping it goes away is not the solution. These are not banks, these are people’s lives.

Accountability and transparency are two words that need to be carved into the walls of the Dáil chamber when mental health comes up in conversation.

Cathal O’Reilly, Clonmel, Co Tipperary

Response on Taiwan

Further to the Letter to the Editor ('Ireland must back Taiwan in their bid for seat in UN', Irish Examiner, Monday, September 18), several historical facts need to be clarified.

When discussing the post-World War II international order, we must notice the Potsdam Proclamation issued after the Potsdam Conference in 1945 reaffirmed the terms of the Cairo Declaration, which states that all the territories Japan has stolen from China, such as Taiwan, shall be restored to China.

This is a major outcome of the World Anti-Fascist War after 35m Chinese soldiers and civilians were either killed or wounded during that war.

In 1945, the then Republic of China, which represented the whole Chinese territory, including both the mainland and Taiwan, became a member of the UN. In 1949, after defeat in the civil war, Chiang Kai-shek and some of his followers fled to Taiwan, which led to the confrontation and separation between the mainland and Taiwan.

Despite that, Chiang Kai-shek’s regime always insisted that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belonged to one and the same China, and never gave up his ambition to achieve reunification of China. With the support of the US and some other countries, the Chiang Kai-shek regime held the seat of China in the UN until 1971.

On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 with an overwhelming majority, which “decides to restore all its rights to the People’s Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations”, and to expel forthwith the representatives of the Taiwan authorities “from the place which they unlawfully occupy”.

Henceforth, the “dual representation” proposal put forth by the US and a few other countries to keep Taiwan’s seat in the UN became a piece of waste paper.

If China’s representation does not include Taiwan, why expel representatives of the Taiwan authorities? The resolution does not need to mention part of a country, which just shows that the government of the People’s Republic of China represents all of China, including Taiwan. The one-China principle is a prevailing consensus among the international community, a basic norm in international relations, and the political foundation for the establishment and development of diplomatic relations between China and other countries, including Ireland.

Zhao Mengtao, Spokesperson, Chinese Embassy in Ireland, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4