No cash for hospitals… but plenty for junkets
IT SEEMS some of our globetrotting parliamentarians are indifferent to the plight of the homeless and those lying on hospital trolleys (‘€120k travel bill run up by politicians in just seven months’, MoS, April 29).
The cost of deputations of Oireachtas members jetting off on junkets around the world is morally wrong.
Why is it that State funding and services are being withdrawn or reduced for some of the most vulnerable and sickest in our society due to lack of money, yet some of our public representatives seem to have no problem accessing funds to travel around the globe, staying at the best hotels and enjoying lavish expenses?
May I ask to what degree these trips benefit the taxpayer? I suggest that whatever expertise these TDs and senators possess, they should kindly apply it to the situation here in Ireland on behalf of those who elected them.
Tony Corrigan, Dublin 6w.
HSE in turmoil
THE HSE pays out multimillions every single year in compensation awards because of mistakes, incompetence and ineptitude. Now another scandal – this time involving cervical screening – has been brought to light.
I wonder whether those responsible for this awful, lifethreatening fiasco will be brought to book, dismissed and not just pensioned off or moved to another very well paid position?
Vincent O’Connell, New Ross, Co. Wexford.
…THE cervical smear scandal shows this country is still the same as it was back in the past. When children were put into orphanages and single mothers into homes against their will. When nobody in authority was responsible.
Now we have the HSE – manager-laden with nobody taking responsibility for the cervical smear scandal. A book can be judged by its cover but open the book and the story remains the same.
Tommy Deenihan, by email.
…SAM SMYTH stated that he is ashamed to be a citizen of the State that allowed Vicky Phelan’s illness to move from potentially 90% curable to 100% fatal (MoS, April 29).
He stated that a Government we elected had failed the Phelan family so comprehensively that it was both disgraceful and alarming but not surprising.
I just wonder who he refers to when he says ‘we’. I for one didn’t vote for this Government – and never will. Brendan O’Brien, Tallaght, Dublin 24.
Orwellian language
THE composers of the slogans invoking compassion and care as reasons to vote for abortion on demand deserve first prize for Orwellian doublespeak.
However, once the Irish people get to see the truth behind this misleading doublespeak – that there is nothing caring or compassionate about killing a baby in her or his mother’s womb for no reason at all – I am confident they will vote No on May 25 to the Government’s plans to bring in abortion on demand in Irish hospitals and GP practices.
Nicola Daveron, Galway.
Typical Kilclooney
GIVEN his robust defence of his second tweeted reference to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as a ‘typical Indian’, can we now expect the former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and current member of the British House of Lords, John Taylor/Lord Kilclooney, to refer to the newly appointed British home secretary, Sajid Javid MP, as a ‘typical Pakistani’? Tom Cooper, Templeogue, Dublin 6w.
Sports imbalance
WHILE browsing through the sports magazines section in my local Eason store the other day, I could not but notice the glut of soccer publications on display, with not one devoted to Gaelic games.
This is a great pity and a sad imbalance in what is on offer to consumers.
With the inter-county championships about to get into full swing, the colourful collection of literature featuring the overhyped cross-channel stars could be countered with fanzines highlighting some of the top GAA players from the ranks of football, hurling and camogie.
Soccer players from Britain and further afield are in the faces of young sports enthusiasts far too much and it would surely be a positive promotional exercise if the GAA brought out a monthly magazine with profiles and colour pictures of players from different teams.
Such a venture would hardly break the bank and would give readers an option to purchase something local.
Bill McMahon, Navan, Co. Meath.