Children’s Hospital fiasco setting a poor precedent for our next generation

SIR,

I can only think what a terrible example we are setting, as adults, to the young people of Ireland what with the “Big Skate” recently given to any and all responsible for the egregious and irresponsible cost over-runs associated with the planned Children’s Hospital.

On the heels of Ireland’s historic financial meltdown, for which apparently no bankers were either called to task or simply put in jail, we now have another unbelievable loss of public money that no one will be asked to answer for.

It’s beginning to look like this is OK in Ireland at the highest professional and political levels.

What must the kids be thinking? How can we call them to order when the moral ground and civil imperative has been trampled beneath our own adult feet?

What advice can we give them that we could reasonably expect them to listen to?

“Don’t do this” and “Don’t do that” is now being replaced by “Look at how easy it is to get away with things”.

Adults are supposed to set the good example for children to follow, so please tell me what sort of example is this Children’s Hospital fiasco setting? Being a parent is difficult enough, but with this latest swirl of hypocrisy from Leo Varadkar and his FG cronies, the bar for justice and accountability has disappeared.

We are showing the children how easy it is to be a loser. How sorry we will be when they become adults, Sincerely,

Tom Cahill, Ballinskelligs