Plenty of work on home front
SIR, Over St. Patrick’s weekend, four online media headlines alerted my attention:
“Coveney says human rights situation in Crimea is ‘deeply concerning’.”
“Cork three-year-old waiting for wheelchair forced to spend time on the ground on all fours”
“Man found dead in Cork City centre doorway”
“Coveney in Brussels to discuss nerve-agent attack in Salisbury”
Reading the body of the articles wasn’t necessary in order to conclude that Minister Coveney should shift his attention to dealing with the HSE crises, the repeal of legislation that gifted the wealth of the nation to multinational entities, the housing crises and the plight of the homeless dying on the streets in the constituency he represents.
Sincerely,
Joe Terry,
Tower,
Blarney. SIR, The Spring Equinox has long been celebrated as a time of rebirth and fertility in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the sun crossing the equator from south to north. During the equinox the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal – 12 hours of light, 12 hours of darkness. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Spring Equinox marks the first day of astronomical spring, usually around the 21st March. On the other hand, meteorologists, who base their findings on climatology rather than astronomy, maintain that spring begins on 1st March.
Whether the seasons have their origins in the movement of planets or in weather conditions, the more seasonable weather of recent weeks has certainly put a spring in our steps. Summer time begins next Sunday, 25th March so the days will be noticeably longer. The trees are sweetly blooming while warmth, growth and greenery are returning. Birds are singing and building nests while animals are mating and producing offspring. How wonderful it is to listen to the bleating of lambs in the fields and to marvel at “a host of golden daffodils, beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
The Spring Equinox renews our energy levels after the cold and darkness of winter. It makes us appreciate how good it is to be alive and living in a beautiful country. It whets the appetite for exercise, sport and outdoor life. While Alfred Lord Tennyson maintains that in the spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love, mine turns to sea swimming in Fenit, walking in Banna Strand, days at the races and the mouth-watering anticipation of a successful season for the Austin Stacks and Kerry football teams. Sincerely,
Billy Ryle,
Spa, Tralee. A chara, I agree with Mary Lou McDonald that the term ‘abortion on demand’ is an offensive one. However, the term tells us more about its user than the fictional women they hope to conjure in people’s minds. It is a sexist term and belongs to the same rhetoric that put women in laundries in the not so distant past and puts women on planes to access healthcare today.
A ‘yes’ in the referendum is a yes to trusting and respecting women. Repeal the Eighth Amendment.
Is mise le meas, Clare Daly,
London (formerly Wexford).