The elderly are left to fend for themselves in times of need
I READ with interest your article (‘Retirement groups have been patient... they must now be let meet indoors’) about older people being ignored.
I am the treasurer of Active Age in Carrick-on-Shannon and our hall is being used by a school as an extra classroom. I am certainly not complaining about that. The children need more space, but it is the only suitable hall that is big enough for us to do our exercises.
Carrick has no community hall. The school want this hall for the rest of this year and all of next, which leaves us with nowhere.
We were told to isolate and we would be looked after, but 18 months later nothing has changed and we are still being left to fend for ourselves.
LORRAINE McNAMARA, Treasurer, Active Age Carrick.
Stand up for truth
THERE are suggestions the Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystina Tsimanouskaya faces the prospect of being sent to a psychiatric ward on returning to home. Since when has criticising a sports coach been a sign of mental illness?
History is filled with stories where a person stood up and their voice changed the world, even though the cost may have been great. Keep standing up, or kneeling down, for what is right. DENNIS FITZGERALD,
Melbourne, Australia.
Keep on Rolling...
IT’S sad that 80-year-old Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has had to drop out of the band’s forthcoming North American tour on medical advice. He’s been told that he needs rest and recuperation after having a procedure.
The Stones are the world’s greatest ever touring band. I first saw them in 1963 and for them to be still relevant in 2021 is amazing. Their shows are a great rock and blues circus while their stage presence is outstanding. However, with Charlie ill, Bill Wyman retired and Brian Jones long dead, only Mick and Keith are still going strong from the original line-up. Ronnie Wood will always be the ‘add on’ to my mind.
Though they look addled, they are as fit as fleas. Keith plays more bum chords than ever and, of course, Mick still leaps to the edge of the stage to entertain the audience, defying his advanced years. The announcement, ‘Ladies and gentleman, the Rolling Stones’ before they walk onto the stage still sends a shiver down the spine. But are they in danger of becoming their own tribute band?
Perhaps with Charlie’s illness, ‘this could be the last time’.
The Stones have had a great innings and their fans will miss them, but, ‘Hey, you, get off of my cloud’ before it’s your ‘19th nervous breakdown’.
PETER T. SMITH, by email.
Housing hopes
THE Government’s latest plan to solve the housing crisis, Housing For All, is due to be published shortly. On it rests the hopes of a generation and probably the reelection prospects of the current administration. We can only hope that they get it right this time.
TONY WALSH, Co. Dublin.
Church versus State
IT WOULD appear the Association Of Catholic Priests (ACP) can always be depended upon to give cover to the Government against the Catholic bishops.
This is not to suggest the bishops are above criticism. Sometimes it’s necessary. However, in the context of Our Lord’s admonition – ‘render to God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar’ – it would appear the ACP is most disposed to placating Caesar, i.e. the State.
If my parish is representative, the local clergy and vast majority of parishioners are anxious to proceed with First Communion and Confirmation ceremonies as soon and as responsibly as possible. No one can legislate for the irresponsible, least of all the State, as we have seen from recent events.
ERIC CONWAY, by email.