Letters to the Editor: Michael Healy Rae should be commended for his chairing
One reader gave evidence to the Oireachtas joint committee on assisted dying and was impressed by the way chairman Michael Healy Rae ensured that witnesses were both questioned rigorously and treated fairly and respectfully. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins
Michael Healy Rae should not be criticised for chairing a committee and then voting against the majority report (‘Committee rows as members are split on assisted dying report recommendations’, Irish Examiner, March 19).
The highly respected academic Dr Edmund Pellegrino, who chaired the President’s Council on Bioethics in the US from 2005 to 2009, was once in the same position.
He stated that: “The chairman’s first obligation concerning any council report is to ensure that it fairly and accurately reflects the opinions of the council members and that the evidence and research supporting those opinions is complete and reliably presented.”
Nevertheless, “like any council member, the chairman is free to express his personal views on the debated issues”. I gave evidence to the Oireachtas joint committee on assisted dying and was impressed by the way the chair ensured that witnesses were both questioned rigorously and treated fairly and respectfully. Mr Healy Rae is not to be faulted for his chairing.
The fact that the committee could not reach a consensus was not down to the chair. It was simply that not all members agreed that the case for change had been made. There was a difference of opinion as to whether legalising some form of “assisted dying” would, in practice, bring clear benefits or whether it would endanger the lives of vulnerable people.
The media coverage of the majority and minority reports will no doubt focus simply on the recommendations. However, the real value of the reports will be in the reasons and evidence given for these recommendations. People should look at the evidence provided and come to their own judgement as to which is the stronger case.
David A Jones, Director, Anscombe Bioethics Centre; Professor of Bioethics, St Mary’s University, Twickenham London, England
Exhaustive struggle to get home care supports
I have spent eight years caring for my mum, who has advanced dementia.
In those eight years, my mum has been given zero respite. Also, I had to fight extremely hard to get her original 2.5 hours home help per week implemented.
At this point, my mum was doubly incontinent, non-verbal, and her walk and mobility were starting to fail.
Furthermore, after mammy received a letter from the Roscommon home help department stating she was entitled to 2.5 hours home help, it took me well over a year to get those hours started.
After many letters, emails, appeals, doctors’ letters, and politicians’ letters (including from Denis Naughten TD), her case eventually ended up getting to the ombudsman. Only with his intervention could I get my mum’s home help to start.
The supports are not there for carers. It’s a very grave situation for our country with an aging population and old age homes closing down at a dramatic rate nationwide and when someone like myself is willing to give up my own job and life to keep my mum in her own home, I get very little support.
James Sammon, Roscommon
Internal election of new taoiseach undemocratic
The shock resignation of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the subsequent appointment of a new taoiseach from the Fine Gael parliamentary party have raised concerns about the democratic process in Ireland. As a proud citizen of this nation, I have always cherished our hard-fought democracy and the right to self-rule, which many sacrificed their lives for.
However, it is both disheartening and alarming to witness Fine Gael adopting the same undemocratic practices as the English Conservatives. The now tradition of coronating a new leader within the party, rather than allowing the people to have their say through a general election, undermines the very essence of democracy.
Ireland’s democracy is not a mere spectacle for party elites to perform coronations; it is a solemn commitment to the will of the people. Therefore, it is imperative that we call for change. It is time for a general election, where every citizen has the opportunity to cast their vote and shape the future of our nation.
Let us not forget the sacrifices made by those who fought for our democratic rights. Let us honour their memory by upholding the principles of democracy and ensuring that the voice of the people is heard.
Allowing the Fine Gael parliamentary party to appoint the next leader of our nation must simply be not an option when you consider one-third of those members are not standing in the next general election. It is time for change.
Killian Brennan, Malahide Rd, Dublin 17
Varadkar deserves acclaim for his great legacy
It’s with shock that I write at the sudden stepping down of our Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. He served our country well and has left a great legacy. I hope his predecessor will carry on the great job of directing this country into the next few months, until the time comes for the next general election.
Listening to people being interviewed for comments, I find it galling when I hear Mary Lou McDonald’s rhetoric, harping on about calling an election and doing the right thing for the country, when her party, Sinn Féin, knows nothing about the right thing. They are not a normal democratic party, they are a secretive cult.
Úna Heaton, Limerick
Social Democrats ‘gloating’ at Varadkar’s end
A message to the Social Democrats: We are told how politics has coarsened and become more personal. We are told how traumatising the job can be for those who do it. Your leader has told us herself.
So when a Taoiseach suddenly resigns, for whatever reason, it is well to consider how difficult that must be on a personal level.
Sinn Féin did their thing. People Before Profit did their thing. There are many serious criticisms to be made against the Government and the people affected on the ground deserve insistent advocates.
But I would urge the Soc Dems to replay your leader’s performance at leader’s questions on the floor of Dáil Éireann this week. Doctors differ, patients die. But I watched her in action. Smiling from ear to ear. And it put me right off your party. It looked like gloating. Revelling in a Taoiseach’s political end.
Who knows why our Taoiseach has decided to finish up? I don’t know. You don’t know. But it must be difficult for the person concerned.
The Social Democrats. Not so touchy-feely or delicate, after all.
Politics is a tough business. And you’re no angels, i mo thuairim. Gloating. Now THAT is something Irish people do not like.
Michael Deasy, Bandon, Co Cork
Light a candle for child victims of Gaza genocide
Conservative figures from credible sources show that, to date, more than 14,000 children have been killed, 30,000 maimed, and 17,000 are left orphaned by the US-aided Israeli campaign of genocide in Gaza. Disturbing reports from psychologists working with Doctors Without Borders say that children as young as five years of age there are expressing intentions of suicide.
‘Gaeil ar son Gaza’ is a small group of young parents and grandparents based in the Waterford Gaeltacht. Horrified by what we are witnessing, we have responded by launching the campaign, Solas Do Pháistí Gaza/Light For Children Of Gaza.
We are asking people throughout Ireland to light a candle on May 1 at 9.30pm in memory of the children of Gaza, both living and dead. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund is just one of those charitable organisations who will be faced with the monumental task of supporting the traumatised children who manage to survive this massacre and, through our initiative and our GoFundMe page, we are collecting funds to support their work.
We would like to invite your readers to light their candles on the night, either at home with family or at their local playground, as a symbolic gesture. Then take a photograph or short video and post it on social media and share it with us on our social media accounts, which are now live.
Our aim is to light up Ireland on the night of May 1 in a gesture of hope and solidarity with the shattered children of Gaza and their devastated families.
Áine Uí Fhoghlú, Rinn Ó gCuanach, Co Phort Láirge
Prevention best cure in National Spring Clean
An Taisce’s National Spring Clean day is being advertised. I notice that it comes around shortly after the end of the hedge-cutting and verge-trimming season, which both have the tendency to expose all manner of rubbish concealed in the undergrowth. Perhaps we ought to have a ‘prevention is better than cure’ day, or a national ‘stop pitching your rubbish out of the car window’ day, to alleviate the endemic habit of dumping rubbish?
Peter Declan O’Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan
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