:: Letters to the Editor

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)

Praise for 'determined' McGrory's 10.12.09

Dear Editor,

Well done for the good news that it is business as usual for McGrory's. They value-add the Inishowen peninsula big time. When the going gets tough, it seems that these determined souls are left to weather the storm alone. Would it not be better for local/national authorities to make it their usual business to, first and foremost, offer a life-link package to such businessmen especially in times of economic turmoil.
It is being applied on this tiny Mediterranean Island of Malta! Where it not for direct intervention by the local Finance Minister, so many jobs would have been lost and night spots closed down. Had it been so, would we get repeated tourist visits?

Sincerely,

Alex Tanti,
Sales Manager,
Michael Attard Ltd.,
Blata L-Bajda,
Malta

Swine Flu risks on polling day 29.07.09

Dear Editor,

On July 16th the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an updated briefing document in relation to the H1N1 virus infection (Swine Flu). The document stated: “The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks”.
In another document advising national authorities as to what precautions should be put in place to contain the spread of the virus, the WHO, under the heading Community Mitigation states “measures taken by communities, such as social distancing, are important to minimize disease transmission and to reduce or delay disease and death”. It also states “to reduce disease transmission, efforts to reduce crowding and close contact and to minimize gatherings of people are critical”. It continues: “To be most effective, these interventions should be implemented early, targeted to settings where high transmission is likely (e.g. schools) and layered to provide multiple levels of prevention activities...contact of adults...should be reduced as much as is feasible”.
It is clear that there are many situations where gatherings of people cannot be avoided. However, I cannot understand why the Government has set a date for a constitutional referendum on 2nd October. It is accepted that the H1N1 virus will become more widespread as we approach the autumn and winter months.
The consequences of holding a referendum on this date are two-fold. Firstly, it is quite foreseeable that many members of the public (particularly the more vulnerable) will hesitate to go out to vote to a crowded polling station. Secondly, those who do vote may be unnecessarily exposed to a potential health risk.
I believe the only responsible thing is to delay the referendum until such time as the fears in relation to this pandemic have passed.

Sincerely,

Michelle Madden,
Palmerstown,
Co Galway

Rubbish is ruining our beaches 25.06.09

Dear Editor,

As a concerned member of the community who uses the beach frequently, I am disgusted and astonished at the ignorance and irresponsibility of people. The amount of litter of all sorts that is being left on Inishowen beaches is amazing.
At a time when our local trades are practically on their knees and looking for customers, our most prized assets and tourist attractions are being destroyed. Children can't be let run free on our beaches for fear of running over bottles, dirty nappies or human waste etc.
I don’t know where these people were brought up or how they keep there own homes. I am from Tullagh, Clonmany and live right beside the beach. The other weekend, a wedding party came to the beach for photos and had to walk over bottles and rubbish to get to the beach. It’s a disgrace.
In a little defence, there are few bins on our beaches due to Donegal County Council. But if people are willing to carry their goods to the beach, surely they can take their rubbish home. Another problem is unauthorised and illegal camping on our beaches. These people are meant to use the designated camp sites in the area with facilities to cater for them instead of using our beaches as public toilets. I would be grateful if this could be highlighted to the public.

Sincerely,

Brian Kelly
Tullagh, Clonmany

Ireland needs major political reform 24.04.09

Dear Editor,

On June 5, 2009, the Irish people will elect 1,627 councillors. Each of these will receive a representational payment, a fixed annual allowance and expenses. Those who fail to get re-elected will receive a retirement gratuity.
Each of the 29 county councils, five city councils, five borough councils and 75 town councils has its own bureaucracy. Not one elected councillor has executive power. This situation is not tenable.
Councils are in a state of financial crisis, yet there is no debate about how essential local services are to be maintained. Who will be responsible for drinking water, roads, libraries, recreational facilities, and other services? How are they to be held to account by the people of this republic?
Of the councils’ 33 000 staff, will those on contracts providing front line services be sacrificed first to maintain the status quo? Are we using our increasingly scarce resources wisely by duplicating and re-duplicating management across local authority areas that no longer make any sense?
Should local government be carried out by an Assembly in Munster, Leinster and the West? Shouldn’t executive authority rest with elected representatives? Should we have directly elected mayors with executive functions in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford?
Six weeks before European elections there is no debate on European issues, just more misinformation and confusion. To date no politician has argued the Lisbon Treaty, and the European Union on their respective merits. Isn’t it time for an argument about the ideas, not the personalities and peccadillos of those involved?
Reform.ie is an internet based platform, set up as a forum for robust debate on the issues and about Ireland's place in Europe. We hope to secure the commitment of candidates, both local and European, to propose and deliver the reforms so urgently required if elected.
The oxygen of democracy in any country is accountability. If this basic tenet of democracy is forgotten in Ireland, it may have frightening repercussions in the current circumstances.

Sincerely,

Michael McNamara,
Spokesperson,
Reform.ie.
Web: www.Reform.ie
Email: info@reform.ie

Downgrading Moville’s library and internet services 13.02.09

Dear Editor,

My career was in sub-saharan development and I find it alarming that it is proposed to downgrade Moville’s library and internet services - a move that would make them inferior to the rural villages of Ethiopia and Tunisia. In Tunisia, a luxury coach brings young and old villagers internet services twice each week. As a regular visitor to Moville’s recently upgraded library - I presume at considerable expense - it is short short-sighted to economise at the expense of children, the unemployed and senior citizens who avail of the library‘s services in these recessionary times. Job seekers are on the internet seeking work; Moville’s children are denied their books and are left less proficient users of the internet than their contemporaries in Tunisia.
Eircom recently announced that Gleneely and Culdaff exchanges were not to be broadband enabled. Will there be more broken Government promises - will all townlands have broadband by end of 2010 as recently promised by Minister Ryan?
Ireland has ample funds to bail out bankrupt bankers, to facilitate friends in that golden circle. The powers-that-be, locally and nationally, are dumping the people of Moville into a fourth world economy, not even a third world economy.

Sincerely,

Joseph Ferrie,
Lecamey,
Culdaff

MacLochlainn's faith in OPW is misplaced 26.01.09

Dear Editor,

COUNCILLOR Pádraig MacLochlainn last week put a motion forward "to maximise the tourism potential of Grianan of Aileach in partnership with the OPW and Duchas and to give An Grianan its place in our national heritage".
If he is talking about Duchas - The Heritage Service and Irish State body responsible for national monuments and historic properties, then good luck to him, because this Duchas was abolished in 2003. It was seen as an obstacle in the preparations for the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004, which gave the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the power to injure and to destruct a national monument without any restriction to archaeological considerations (Section 14/2d). And because a motorway was going to be built through the world heritage site at Tara, so much praised by Councillor MacLochlainn, the construction of this road did already include the above and worse.
The responsibilities of Duchas were split between the Department of the aforesaid minister and the Department for Finance and the Office of Public Works (OPW). Staying with the OPW and in connection with Grianan of Aileach, "maximising the tourism potential” is not something which would naturally spring to mind, considering what must be the record closure for any national monument in such short amount of time - re-arranging the layout, shape-shifting and concreting a dry stone monument aside. If I had had a garden wall built by fault or design by a company with such a record of collapses, like the OPW has with Grianan of Aileach, I would only let my enemies walk on top of it.
Maybe if Councillor MacLochlainn had experienced this extent of construction failure on his own house, he would have been less trusting towards the lullaby of those responsible for it. He might even have been able to focus a little bit harder on the underlying issues.

Sincerely,

Bettina Linke,
Buncrana.

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