Get spending on cystic fibrosis

Sir — Cystic fibrosis sufferers need proper representation, better than what’s been presently offered such as, “We can’t afford it”, along with Simon Harris with his rat-tat-tat machine gun-type speech of, “it’s a rip-off ”.

The parties involved might do well to remember that Ireland has the highest proportion of cystic fibrosis sufferers in the world. Remember also that the people of Ireland are still in recovery mode from the payback of €64bn, of which we didn’t owe a penny, plus the refusal of €13bn the EEC says is due to us — and which this Government refuses to accept in case it might discommode our American friends, who would crawl across the road if they could have their work done cheaper elsewhere.

What is most annoying is that the money, if spent on this drug, would increase so much the quality of life for the sufferers and perhaps increase their longevity, plus it would mean not having to be hospitalised and so saving not alone money but freeing up valuable bed space as well.

Do we have to wait for another blood scandal-type saga where lives were lost and many others ruined. Has money become the Government’s god, where the balance sheet is all that matters? Fred Molloy,

Dublin 15 Rocket was recovered safe and well last week.

And they will no doubt take some comfort from the fact that, as a highly valuable asset, Clares Rocket stands some chance of having a half-decent life.

But let’s spare a thought for the thousands of healthy dogs who are discarded annually by the greyhound racing and coursing industries. Those who can no longer run fast enough, and those who never made the grade in the first place.

The luckier ones will end up in the country’s already overflowing animal shelters and dog pounds. The remainder (excepting those exported to meet their miserable fate in China) will end up in a hole in the ground. Nuala Donlon, Lanesborough,

Co Longford