Letters to the Editor: We need to frame care not as charity but as justice
'What was exposed [on 'RTĂ Investigates: Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes'] confirms our worst fears. In some of Irelandâs nursing homes, our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly, are enduring neglect, understaffing, and indignity that should shame us all.' Picture: RTĂ
With a heavy heart and a conscience deeply stirred, I write in response to the recent RTĂ Investigates documentary. What was exposed confirms our worst fears: In some of Irelandâs nursing homes, our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly, are enduring neglect, understaffing, and indignity that should shame us all.
These scenes are not merely distressing; they are unacceptable. We cannot, and must not, turn away.
How have we allowed this to happen in a country that prides itself on family, community, and reverence for those who came before us? These men and women helped build the Ireland we know today. They carried us through hardship with strength, generosity, and hope. And yet now, too many of them face their final years in silence, behind closed doors, abandoned and unseen. This is not just a social failure, it is a moral crisis.
Thereâs a parable, âThe Wooden Bowlâ, that has never left me: A frail grandfather is made to eat separately from the family using a rough crude wooden bowl. When the grandchild begins carving one for his own parents, the lesson is clearâ how we treat our elders today is the legacy we leave for our children. That story is not about the past. It is about us, right now.
Iâve seen glimpses of who we truly are. When my mother fell, my young daughters instinctively rushed to help her, moved by nothing but love and compassion. No one told them what to do, it came naturally. That is the spirit we need to nurture in every corner of our society. But today, too many elderly people suffer alone, without a hand to hold or a voice to advocate for them. Their loneliness should haunt us into action.
As Mother Teresa said: âThe most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.â That poverty exists here, in our homes and institutions, growing quietly while we look the other way.
This is not a time for polite outrage. It is a time for action that is urgent, sustained, and rooted in justice. We must demand real reform: Significantly increased funding for nursing homes and home care; adequate staffing and fair wages for carers; mandatory, unannounced inspections; and a cultural shift that sees older people not as burdens, but as full human beings deserving of all human dignity and human rights.
Compassion is not an extra. It is the foundation of a just and humane society.
Let us reimagine care not as charity but as justice. Picture an Ireland where no one dies alone, where every elder is honoured, protected, and cherished. A country where the end of life is met with presence, not abandonment. We can build that Ireland, but only if we choose to.
Because if we lose our care for the elderly, we lose more than them. We lose a part of ourselves. We lose our humanity.
Let this be the moment we refuse to stay silent. Let us stand together, for those who once stood tall for us. Our elders deserve nothing less. It is not too late to choose dignity, to choose compassion, and to remember who we are.
Ronan Scully, Knocknacarra, Galway
I sometimes regret that the Irish Government didnât nominate former president Mary McAleese as secretary general of the United Nations. Her interpersonal skills, her courage in confronting difficult issues, and her ability to deliver workable solutions makes her a woman of substance.
If Mary McAleese was sitting in the hot seat at UN headquarters in New York, there would be a lot less self-serving tactical manoeuvring and far more direct action taken to put manners on the Trumps, Putins, and Netanyahus of this world.
What she has achieved as chairperson of the steering group on integration of the GAA, the Camogie Association, and the Ladiesâ Gaelic Football Association, is remarkable. The steering group has come up with a definitive pathway for Gaelic games to operate under one umbrella from 2027.
There is now an unstoppable momentum behind the process. Grassroots members are excited about the integrated GAA, which will be based on equality, inclusion, respect and togetherness. In one association, Gaelic games will grow from strength to strength under a single administration with a common bond between all members.
Of added value in the integrated GAA is that members of both sexes can mix freely with like-minded people in a healthy environment.
The training, playing, and social dimensions will allow boys and girls to get to know each other in a realistic and meaningful way. Hopefully, many enduring friendships, relationships, and marriages will have their origins in a progressive unisex association. Who needs online dating agencies when the real deal will be available on the playing fields of the new GAA? Well done Mary McAleese.
Billy Ryle, Tralee, Co Kerry
Neil Michaelâs big news spread on ownership and accessibility to lands earmarked for the mooted South Kerry Greenway (Irish Examiner, June 6) â unfortunately makes for familiar reading.
The 10km North Kerry Greenway, which runs officially from just outside Abbeyfeale to a roundabout on the north side of Listowel, opened almost three years ago. Given that the roundabout is effectively in the middle of nowhere, approximately 2km outside the town centre, Kerry County Council tried unsuccessfully to acquire lands along the River Feale to bring the greenway into town via a spur.
They then raised a Part 8 planning application (where local authorities apply for permission to themselves) during covid to extend the greenway through the local town park on a circuitous route around a beautifully-maintained and manicured pitch & putt course.
Submissions to the county council by this writer and others were met with an official response that this extension âdoes not form part of the Greenway and will not be marketed as suchâ.
The council then changed their minds and ran the greenway into the town park through an existing internal road and â lo and behold â started advertising and marketing the extension as part of the greenway, effectively making fools of me and others.
If you treat people with disdain and utter contempt what do you expect? Whatever about the South Kerry Greenway, I would worry that the much more strategic bypass of Killarney will be met with similar objections and delays if those with power and authority continue to trespass over the legitimate rights of farmers, landowners, and concerned citizens through the courts system.
As for the North Kerry Greenway, it remains largely empty and underutilised.
Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry
The Irish Government has taken many positive actions in support of peace in the Holy Land. I thank them sincerely for this. However, more must be done to help end the conflict and protect our neutrality.
Concerns over war bonds and planes carrying weapons of war through Irish airspace must be addressed. If the Central Bank is unwittingly facilitating bonds used to directly support foreign conflict, effective measures must be taken to stop this so our neutrality and peaceful principles are upheld.
The Government must also ensure that weapons of war are not being flown through Irish airspace which could also compromise our military neutrality. The reports from The Ditch website regarding weapons/munition flights are concerning and must seriously considered. We must not be a party to any conflict, particularly the conflict in Palestine and Israel where so much suffering has occurred.
The situation in The Holy Land is dire. We urgently need a ceasefire, release of hostages and full humanitarian access. There must also be progress on a just, peaceful solution for both sides after so many decades of terrible conflict.
The people of Israel and Palestine deserve peace and a hopeful future. I know our Government works hard on this issue and I urge them to do more to make this a reality.
Tadhg Mulvey, Trim, Co Meath
