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:: Letters to the Editor
I reject school league tables 08.12.11
Dear Editor,
SCHOOLS that send 100% of their Leaving Certificate cohort to
university are given the highest ranking in recently published
league tables. This presumes that schools who managed to send all of
their students to university are the best schools. I reject this
assumption and consider its implication a disservice to education.
Schools which cater for their community have within their student
cohort a range of abilities and aptitudes. Only some of these
abilities and aptitudes are suitable for progression to university.
In any community there are children with special needs. Current
policy and best practice is that these children should be educated
in their local school. Schools are expected to set up facilities to
include these students in mainstream education as much as possible.
Some go further and provide a Special Class for certain categories
of Special Needs.
Within any community there are children whose aptitudes are
unsuitable for academic study. Many of these students prepare
directly for the world of work through programmes such as the
Leaving Certificate Applied Programme. This programme and the
traditional Leaving Certificate programme also provide vocational
education leading to career paths in apprenticeships, post leaving
certificate courses and the world of work itself.
The location of the nearest third level college is a significant
factor in the student’s choice of further education. Schools along
the border will consider colleges in Northern Ireland. The North
West Regional College in Derry has over 20,000 pupils who have never
been counted in any of these league tables. Schools in Donegal send
many pupils to this college.
There is a strong tradition among Donegal people of emigration to
Scotland for work. A similar tradition has developed in education
with many Leaving Certificate pupils applying to universities in
Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Welsh universities send
representatives to advertise their facilities to my school. These
students are not accounted for in these tables.
League tables do not reflect the needs of the communities which
schools serve. All of the students must be served; not just those
with the academic ability to attend university. Quality career
guidance will direct students to the career path that suits them
best and ignore tables that interpret Irish university entrance as
the highest award.
As principals and teachers we are employed to educate all of the
students in our community. To send all of them to university would
be to fail many of them. A 100% transfer rate to university would be
to fail the students in my care.
Is mise, le meas,
Anthony Doogan,
Principal,
Moville Community College.
Volunteers sought for Kenya 28.11.11
Dear Editor,
Kenya Build, a voluntary organisation based in Sligo, is looking
for volunteers to work on a building project in Kenya in late June
2012.
This is an opportunity for young or old, skilled or unskilled, male
or female to have possibly a life-changing experience.
You will possibly find a side to your character that you did not
know you had.There are few opportunities for short term volunteer
work.This is an opportunity to help the marginalised,to contribute
to humanity,and to get an understanding of life in a third world
country.
The project in June will see the commencement of the re-building of
an orphanage in Ngong. The plan is to build the new orphanage over
the next couple of years (the timeframe is dependant on the funding
available)
Over the last few years Kenya Build has built a new school at St
Paul's orphanage and also re-wired the orphanage. Cheryl's Childrens
Home has been totally re-built and this year saw the completion of
the school at Cheryl's. the school now has 300 pupils.
Last year Kenya Build built two new classrooms at Riruta Shade.
Kenya Build also funded the purchasing and renovating of a house in
Machakos as an orphanage to accommodate 40 children.
Each volunteer will be expected to fundraise in order to cover
materials, flights, accommodation, insurance and meals. All the
information about past projects can be found by visiting
www.kenyabuild.com
Anyone interested can contact Basil Love on 086 8253531 for further
information and an application form or email him on
info@kenyabuild.com .
Basil Love
Kenya Build
Sligo
Knit one, help many...
27.09.11
Dear Editor,
Last year the nation got knitting for the innocent Big Knit
campaign. Your readers played a major role in helping to knit a
whopping 80,000 little hats which, in turn, raised €20,000 for Age
Action, the national charity for older people. With such a harsh
winter last year, the funds were put to great use to ensure that
older people in Ireland stayed well and warm.
This year we have been busy knitting again. However, with just weeks
to go to the October 14 deadline, we are currently well short of our
80,000 knitted (or crocheted) hat target.
The hats will sit on bottles of innocent smoothies and be sold in
shops nationwide from the start of November. For every woolly hat
wearing smoothie sold, innocent will give 25 cent to Age Action for
their “Stay well, stay warm” campaign for winter 2011.
We hope people of all ages will again get involved, from novice
knitters to champion clickers, so please spread the word within your
local community. For more information, knitting instructions and
variety of knitting patterns please visit
www.innocentdrinks.ie/thebigknit .
Please send your little hats to: The innocent Big Knit, Fruit
Towers, 120 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2 or drop them into your
local Age Action shop. Remember to include your name and address so
that we can say thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Eamon Timmins,
Head of Advocacy & Communications,
Age Action,
30-31 Lower Camden Street,
Dublin 2.
We need moratorium on petroleum licences
05.09.11
Dear Editor,
We, the members of the People's Association Watchdog, call on
Minister Rabbitte to issue a moratorium on the granting of new
petroleum licences off the west coast of Ireland until after the
Oireachtas committee is finished reviewing the State's existing
terms.
We believe that the terms as outlined in the 'Licensing terms for
offshore oil and gas exploration, developement and production 2007'
are inadequate and no longer relevant, as per the results of a 2008
study of forty five international fiscal systems by petroleum
consultant Daniel Johnston which shows that Ireland achieves the
lowest returns from its gas and oil of all the countries studied.
Ireland’s returns are half of US and UK and less that one third of
Norway.
(Johnston, D. (2008). Changing fiscal landscape. Journal of World
Energy Law and Business, 1 (1) , 31-54. )
Considering the results of this report we ask whether Minister
Rabbitte's refusal to issue a moratorium on the granting of new
petroleum licences would be in direct conflict with Article 45.2.iii
of The Irish Constitution.
Article 45.2.iii of The Irish Constitution states that the ownership
and control of the material resources of the community may be so
distributed amongst private individuals and the various classes as
"best to subserve the common good."
We believe based on (Johnston, D. (2008). Changing fiscal landscape.
Journal of World Energy Law and Business, 1 (1) , 31-54. ) that the
existing licensing terms do not subserve the common good.
We, the members of the People's Association Watchdog acknowledge
that Ireland must present an attractive prosposition for oil and gas
exploration to interested parties but believe that this must be
balanced with the commom good and must comply with Article 45.2.iii
of the Constitution.
We request that the minister allow the time afforded by a moratorium
to study this issue more in depth while we also review the current
agreements and make submissions to the Oireachtas.
Sincerely,
Sonya Oldham,
Member of The People's Association Watchdog
Ballyshannon, Co Donegal
MacLochlainn has my vote 14.02.11
Dear Editor,
As
a former Green Party candidate in local government elections in
Inishowen, I am acutely aware of the issues – then and now – that
confront the communities of the peninsula. The Celtic Tiger leaped
over Inishowen and will not be returning in the foreseeable future.
We have, nevertheless, been left to deal with the legacy of Fianna
Fáil and the other mainstream parties’ neglect.
A trail of rising unemployment, low wages, and endemic economic
insecurity for many hard working families is all that’s left to show
after the bluster and incompetence that has passed for political
representation for the best part of a generation.
Sinn Féin’s Pádraig MacLochlainn is best placed to ensure that local
communities get the representation they deserve after the election.
His party has: courageously challenged the easy consensus across all
the mainstream parties on the EU/IMF and bank rescue plan;
demonstrated leadership in developing all-Ireland approaches to
problem-solving in a way that is essential for border regions; and
prioritised job creation and job protection in a harsh economic
climate that will be exploited by others to exploit and sideline the
labour movement.
Dr Peter Doran,
Quigley’s Point,
Co Donegal
Don't raid our pensions 04.02.11
A chara,
There seems to be a sense that the national Pension Reserve Fund
is a wad of "free money" that we can raid at a time of our choosing.
In reality, every time we dip into the Pension Reserve we are
literally taking money out of the pocket of those who will retire in
5, 6 or 10 years time.
Pension liabilities of EU Member States are part of the Stability &
Growth pact and as a consequence of our totally unrealistic EU/IMF
deal, we are now committed to bringing the country back into line
with this pact by 2014, therefore any shortfall in pension
liabilities will have to be taken into consideration in this
context.
In comparison with other European countries the severity of
Ireland's pensions savings gap in monetary terms per individual
ranks in the top 3. This indicates the "black hole" of pension
provision that Ireland is facing, and any smash and grab of our
Pension Reserve Fund - even with the imprimatur of the European
Commission - is simply storing up trouble for the future.
Furthermore, in the context of the recent report from the CSO on the
contrasting lives of men and women, it is also worth noting that any
pension deficit will hit women harder due to the fact that their
incomes are approximately 30% lower than men, and they live longer,
therefore increasing the probability of a generation of poorer older
women.
It may be argued that in the short term we must use the fund, but
this is not a cost-free exercise and there will be a price to pay.
Is mise le meas,
Marian Harkin MEP
European Parliament
60, Rue Wiertz
B-1047 Brussels
Belgium
Donegal Co Council abandoned us 13.01.11
Dear Editor,
Christmas 2010 will always be remembered in Inishowen as the
year Donegal County Council abandoned the people from Quigley’s
Point to Shrove. During a long spell of heavy snow and frost, they
put a large state-of-the-art solar powered sign at Quigley’s Point
warning that the road to Shrove was not salted.
Now, had this sign been done with a black marker on an empty
cornflake box and nailed to a pole it would have been more in
keeping with our third world status. How much did it cost to put
that sign there?
Then to add insult to injury one of the latest speed camera vans was
parked at Noone’s Bridge filming vehicles spinning and sliding along
at five miles an hour. The mind boggles. Of course we will be fed
with all kinds of promises that this will never happen again and
lessons will have to be learned. Then lo and behold we will hear
about a group from the Council heading off to Miami to celebrate St
Patrick’s Day and to learn first-hand how they handle the snow and
ice problem in Miami. Now, there would be no point in them going to
such places as Helsinki or Archangel as these places have been
having snow problems for years whereas they never have snow in Miami
so they will learn how to prevent it happening. And furthermore the
golf courses are much better in Miami. However, there is one lesson
they will soon learn that promises and hot air will not melt snow
nor win votes at the forthcoming elections. On a lighter note,
welcome back InishowenNews.com. You were badly missed.
Jimmy McLaughlin
Greencastle
'Sick and tired' of Carnagarve campaign
12.01.11
A chara,
It would be advisable to try to give a wider spread of opinion in
your stories about the saga of this sewage scheme in Moville. I have
tried for many years to highlight the state of the Bredagh River,
which is the long suffering victim in this case. For councillors and
Carnagarve residents to act under the guise as protectors of the
Foyle Estuary and the beaches between Moville and Greencastle is
risable. While they claim to be stopping sewage from destroying
these beaches, can they also publicise the facts of where the sewage
is currently going. The public need to be reminded that the once
'trout filled Bredagh' is a sewer which carries a lot of Moville
sewage into Moville bay and from thence up and down along the shore
depending on whether the tide is ebbing or flooding. What the
polluted river does nor bear in its waters from Moville, ie the rest
of the sewage, flows directly into Lough Foyle at Moville pier. This
is also dispersed up and down along the shore by the tides. It is
difficult to base a campaign to prevent some pollution happening if
it is in fact already happening. I know from speaking to many
Moville people who were at the Redcastle An Bord Pleanála hearing,
like myself, that they are sick and tired of the tactics used by
some to prevent restoration of the Bredagh as our local living trout
stream. If the whole campaign was solely fought to protect the value
of their properties then the current disastrous fall in house prices
has seen to that.
Le meas,
Gerry Sóna
Moville
Rosato's well deserved recognition 09.01.11
RE: Eddie praises Rosato's
'team-work'
Dear Editor,
As a regular visitor to Inishowen I am delighted to read Rosato’s
has received this tremendous accolade and well deserved recognition.
This is great exposure for Moville and Inishowen that will surely be
a morale boast for the local tourist industry.
Well done Eddie and Margaret.
Darach O'Diochon
Dublin
We are facing a lost decade 29.10.10
Dear editor,
The arbitrary date of a 2014 compliance deadline with the EU's
Stability and Growth Pact will irreparably damage our small, open
economy, leading to the ESRI's prediction of a 'lost decade' for
Ireland.
Three weeks ago in the European Parliament I challenged EU Internal
Market Commissioner Barnier about the 'mindless austerity' being
imposed on Ireland with dire consequences for our economic future,
and the absolute requirement of an extension beyond 2014.
The initial decision by the European Council was taken at a time of
crisis when it was necessary to ensure the future stability of the
Euro and there was a well- founded fear of contagion. We are now
past that point and in this period of relative stability we must
reassess the situation.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan claimed that an extension of the
deadline was not currently feasible. However, this ignores the fact
that he has a key weapon at his disposal - the Lisbon Treaty.
According to Article 9:
"In defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union
shall take into account requirements linked to the promotion of a
high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social
protection, the fight against social exclusion, and a high level of
education, training and protection of human health."
Armed with the ESRI's chilling data, Ireland can make a compelling
case that the social cost of the 2014 deadline is in breach of both
the letter and the spirit of the Lisbon Treaty's. Just as the Irish
people said no and then
yes to Lisbon following the emergence of new
information, so too must the Council having said yes to 2014 now say
no or at least maybe in regard to the proposed date and in doing so
live up to its commitments under the Treaty.
As a sovereign state our first responsibility is to our citizens and
their welfare and the Stability and Growth Pact's 2014 deadline
cannot under any circumstances be allowed to override that. We can,
and will, live up to both of these responsibilities but we need an
extended timeframe.
Is
mise le meas,
Marian Harkin MEP
28 Emmet Place,
Union St.,
Sligo.
Tel: 086-8341758
Cheers to Rosato's 17.08.10
Dear Editor,
Just spent a few days in Donegal, and would like to pay a tribute
through your pages to the staff at Rosato's pub in Moville.
We had generally friendly and efficient customer service everywhere
in Donegal, but that team are absolutely exceptional. From the
moment you walk in, and someone nods and catches your eye, to the
efficient and effective service of food and drinks, nothing is too
much trouble.
Hope someone from Rosato's sees this - cheers! We'll be back.
Richard & Sara Clayton
Hampshire
England
Doherty should include breakwater 07.06.10
Dear editor,
I refer to your article regarding the forthcoming (tourism) Oireachtas report by Senator Pearse Doherty. I trust Senator Doherty
will bear in mind in his report the tourist implications if the
Greencastle Breakwater is completed.
Since €8.2million has already been spent on the breakwater works and
€5 million is needed for completion. This can be achieved by an EEC
tourist funding grant, which should be applied for officially and
not be left to lobbying by individual groups.

The sum of €5 million is well within the bounds of EEC funding,
and is not a huge amount by European funding grants standards.
Tourism will be increased by completion of the breakwater which will
mean tour ships will be able to add Greencastle/Moville to their
itinerary and be able to anchor off-shore and visit. Also, small
craft will have free access.
This will mean spin-offs for local shops, onshore tours and
possibilities of overnight accommodation and other employment
opportunities in tourism.
Given the unemployment situation in the area and the decline in
fisheries which adversely affects the Greencastle and Moville area,
funding for the completion of the breakwater should be of high
priority, and not be let go at this stage.
Regards,
Clara Coyle (by email)
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