Letters to the Editor: Hotel provides shining example of kindness to retired citizens
The Rochestown Park Hotel exemplifies 'how you would want your elderly parents treated'.
I wanted to comment on my recent visit to Cork to see my dad. I live in the US and don’t get home as often as I should/would like. He is in his mid-80s and, since my mother died in 2016, lives alone in Douglas.
He goes every day to the Rochestown Park Hotel for his lunch, he and about a dozen or so other regulars. I went several times with him and I was blown away by the kindness of the hotel staff to this group of retirees.
All the young staff know the regulars by name, take amazing care of them, and are so kind and thoughtful. They invite them to the hotel for special occasions and treat them all like celebrities, reserving their regular tables and bringing them tea or coffee as a treat whenever they want some.
In an age where the elderly can be considered a burden and so poorly treated, the Rochestown Park and its staff are a shining example of how you would want your elderly parents treated, creating a little community of people who easily could otherwise become isolated and alone.
I feel like this should be highlighted and celebrated.
Most neutral observers are noticing the familiar paradigms of democracies being destabilised by extremists. It could be argued that the threat of such interferences may now be starting to influence Government policy. A recent proposal to cut the Ukrainian welfare benefit could now be posited as back-tracking by a Government due to the possible bullying and terror tactics of fanatics.
The big question that arises for me is whether a EU democratic, law-based political community of 27 very different countries, without a single hegemon, can actually hang together and deliver?
The question of reforming the EU so it can’t be subverted by rogue actors such as Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, is generally posed in the context of a possible enlargement to create a union of more than 35 states, but the dilemma is already there.
As European party politics fragment, this means wrestling not just with 27 different national interests, but with the added complexities of multiple coalition governments. And let’s be clear, this kind and scale of non-hegemonic union by consent has never been done before in European history and has no counterpart anywhere else in today’s world.
I am left wondering as to which of the two Europes will prevail. It’s the question that has not been answered. However, I have come to the conclusion that the answer has to lie within ourselves. In the final analysis, it’s up to us.
I read in this week’s of “non-stop” lobbying to water down proposed new gambling laws. The proposed new bill is essential to clamp down on one of the greatest scourges on so many families all over our country.
All one has to do is to look at the proliferation of betting offices in our towns and villages. Many families have been decimated by the effect on members being dragged deeper and deeper into debt and I have little doubt, resulting in the loss of life of individuals or their parents, unable to cope with the incessant pressure.
I believe that all those lobbying to water down the proposed new law should be widely publicised.
I am very disappointed to read that many charities are among those lobbying to water down the bill and I will certainly ensure that I will not support such charities.
It can be a bit despairing and baffling to live in this European community of ours. There truly isn’t a consensus of beliefs, opinions, and attitudes across the continent.
It can lead to frustrating discrepancies and double standards. Ireland as a state is certainly guilty of that, but when it comes to our more powerful neighbours, their actions make their words a little hard to trust.
Things like the UK acknowledging the Holodomor as a genocide last year, but still failing to even apologise for their genocide of An Gorta Mór. Or Germany saying “never again” to genocide, but only for certain peoples.
The most recent clear example of not practising what one preaches is France sending plane-loads of armed forces to Kanaky (New Caledonia) to put down protests for independence by the Kanak people. New Caledonia (17,000km from France) is officially considered a colony by the United Nations.
These European “leaders” make it hard to swallow their fine words of democracy and freedom, and even the “Western world”. It is then more revealing about themselves whom they choose to point their fingers at as being “unfree”.
The lesson still remains that big fish are not always the ones to follow. I certainly don’t want to be associated with a Western world that has colonies, while talking of freedom.
An open letter to Benjamin Netanyahu.
You have involved the armed forces of your country in a military campaign to “destroy Hamas”.
I would like to draw your attention to an oration by Patrick H Pearse (himself a signatory to Irish Proclamation of Independence 1916 — and executed after 1916 insurrection) at the graveside of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, August 1915.
His oration ended as follows: “They think they have pacified Ireland. They think they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools — they have left us our Fenian dead; and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
I suggest, prime minister, this oration is worth consideration in your situation.
At the historic moment when the people of Limerick city and county are due to elect a mayor on June 7, I suggest that now is the time to affix the title ‘Méara Luimnigh’ on this new office, just as we instinctively refer to our Taoiseach — never as prime minister!
And of course we use the terms Tánaiste, Dáil Éireann, Garda Síochána, without having to be an Irish speaker. Through usage, they become part of the vernacular. And already within the council, the office of cathaoirleach is referred to rather than ‘chair’, so I feel now is the time to adopt the term ‘Méara Luimnigh’.
Agus táimid ag súil go mbeidh gach rath ar Méara Luimnigh sna cúig bliana amach romhainn agus gach rath ar an gcontae is ar an gcathair.
Regarding the fuss over the €1bn Light Rail Transit (LRT) and tight turns at Finn’s Corner, the simple solution is plain to see.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can be built for 20% to 25% of the LRT cost.
There would be no problems with tight turns, no digging up streets for rails and overhead catenary cables and, more importantly, massive savings of at least €750m. It’s time to get realistic.
LRT for Cork is not economically feasible and the proposed passenger numbers do not stand up to scrutiny. Simply put, LRT in Cork is a waste of money. BRT is the only solution.
