Letters to the Editor: Difficulty securing school spot
One school in Midleton states that last year it had six applications for two available ASD spaces. A reader asks: Where did the children go in the meantime? Picture: Larry Cummins
Regarding Mick Cliffordâs âWhy isnât the minister making schools open new special classes?â (December 14): I am facing the same problem for my son, in Midleton.
He is the youngest of three children, but his sisters go to St Maryâs High School, which is a girls-only school. As a result, in the priority rankings for the schools he would be eligible for, he is next to last; only those from outside the catchment area are lower.
There are only two secondary schools in the catchment. The applications to St Colmanâs College had him placed at #196 on the waiting list, CBS Secondary had him at #80. The inevitable and pointless appeals that I am required to engage with, has of course seen the schools confirm they followed the process correctly, of which I have no doubt. Last waiting list advice was he was at #175 (St Colmanâs) and #20 (CBS), the latter of which are now past its âaccept off byâ date, but which, it seems, is still letting people accept or reject offers.
That is for the mainstream classes though, he needs to be in an ASD class, of which there were all of two in St Colmanâs, and six in CBS, most of which were (you guessed it) also reserved for higher categories. There is also the unmet need, CBS states that last year it had six applicants for two places; where did those children go in the meantime?
So, Iâve now started the battle with the Department of Education , that will undoubtedly be highly frustrating and exhausting, as the department does its best to avoid responsibility for the problem, because those who are in a position to see what is coming down the line, and plan accordingly, either fail to do so, or do it so badly they canât see years in advance that there is not enough places in mainstream, let alone the ASD units, for the students currently in primary school.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is struggling to catch up. The âEU has lost credibilityâ, he says, for having failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. This, 49 days after declaring himself âsatisfiedâ with the EUâs call for âpausesâ rather than a ceasefire. How many lives have been lost in those 49 days?
Alarmingly, the Taoiseach fails to make the connection between Israelâs continued onslaught and the US financial and military support that sustains it. At yesterdayâs Brussels summit, Mr Varadkar proclaimed âboth the EU and USâ to be âtwo towers of freedom and democracy in the worldâ.
How is this credible?
Tesla has concerns about its autopilots or at least the safeguards and have issued owners a recall notice, but why not skip the middle person and do an auto recall? The autopilot should be able to âgo homeâ, or is that the problem, they might really go âoff roadâ?
A possible worry, although I am sure it has solved it, is that Tesla could be hacked. I can see some benefits to that: Clearing the road ahead of me, moving a car out of a parking space outside my favourite coffee shop. I could also use it to respond to that driver who cut me off or the one who waved at me but only used one finger. Fortunately, I am a good person rather than a good hacker.
There was an article recently headlined âministers urged to splurge âŹ2.5bn before electionâ. Before any money is wasted on vote-gathering schemes, any money available should be spent on our wonderful nurses and junior doctors who have been disgracefully treated by successive governments over many years.Â
If voters have any respect for these life-saving angels, they should have a one-way conversation with their TDs and senators and force them to look after the nurses and junior doctors. It is they, and not our useless politicians, who save our lives every day.Â
Once our wonderful medics have been brought up to a recent wage level, there are enough clever people in the Central Statistics Office who can come up with a simple proper formula to keep these wages at a proper level, they should not have to battle every year to get a proper wage rise.
I feel that Eamon Ryan should amend his regulations in SI 529/2022 air pollution act to include a maximum level for ash the same as for sulphur and smoke and moisture in wood.
I recently was delivered smokeless coal for burning in an open grate. For every three coal buckets of fuel burned in the grate I had to remove one same size bucket of ash. This equates to 33% ash in the fuel. Therefore my 40kg of smokeless fuel only had 66% of combustible material. Surely this is dishonest. The markings on the bag says 40kg of smokeless fuel but this is a lie as the bag only contains 27kg of combustible material.
When Green minister Eamon Ryan banned smokey coal he introduced SI 529/2022 Air Pollution Act 1987 (Solid Fuels) Regulations 2022 with regulations for smoke, sulphur, and moisture content in wood. He totally forgot to introduce a regulation for ash content.
I am paying for 13kg of non-combustible material which ends up in landfill and contributing to our waste problem.
The assault on Israel by Hamas gunmen killing 1,200 people and resulting in 240 hostages being taken was an act of barbarism against innocent civilians which rightly continues to be condemned almost unilaterally around the world with all right-thinking people demanding the immediate release of all innocent hostages.
The right to self defence and to protect oneâs citizens is not in question in terms of the Israeli response, however, what is unfolding is the most indiscriminate killing of civilians during a 20th century conflict with the slaughter of over 13,000 innocent women and children.
The collective punishment of the entire civilian population in Gaza and the ongoing displacement of the Palestinian people equates to clear and consistent violations of international humanitarian law.Â
The ongoing and completely indiscriminate slaughter of the Palestinian people and the civilian death toll reflects a total disregard for human life by the Israeli Defense Forces. The Israeli response to this or any criticism is to silence and intimidate those who oppose its measures by labelling them as anti-semitic.
Israel, led by a government that has continuously hindered any progress towards a two-state solution, this time finds itself on the wrong side of history with the blood of thousands of innocent men, women, and children on its hands. The war crimes being committed on a daily basis will do nothing to secure future peace for Israel. Israeli history has entered a dark new chapter in which its collective historical pain and desire for revenge is being inflicted on the civilian population of Gaza. History is repeating itself, but in this case those who were once persecuted are now firmly acting as the persecutors.
Peace will only be secured once both sides recognise that all human life has the same value and right to exist with a two-state solution.
Nick Folley (letters, , December 16 ) is correct if one believes everything written in the gospels is a record of historical events.Â
However, the Jesus childhood accounts as narrated by the Evangelists have a different purpose altogether. Even though Herod the Great was an historical figure and accounts of his brutality are well recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus, there is no mention of such a large scale âMassacre of the Innocentsâ as recorded in the Gospel, as having taken place.
Modern biblical scholarship takes the view that Matthew was portraying Jesus as a future Moses escaping from Egypt with the account of the Pharaohâs killing of the Jewish children as background. Also, most scholars agree that Jesus was actually born in Nazareth as he was recorded as being called Jesus of Nazareth.Â
Again the gospel narrator wanted to portray Jesus as the new King David who was born in Bethlehem. It is about placing the gospels in their social, religious, and historical context.
None of this historical critique is designed to deny the existence of Jesus and his prophetic life and death. It means readers of the gospels must be reminded that the gospels were written up to 100 years after the death of Christ and were written not as a historical record of his life, but to convince Greeks and Romans that Jesus was the Messianic son of David, the new Moses and the son of God.
