Letters to the editor: Sisters of Charity not involved in maternity hospital
Four The Charity Ie Vincent’s Of Board Rollingnews Picture: St Ago Group’s Of Years Religious File From Directors Sisters Healthcare Resigned
‘State must own site for maternity hospital’ (Irish Examiner Letters, November 5) states incorrectly that the Religious Sisters of Charity have been involved in recent proposals by St Vincent’s Healthcare Group in relation to the governance and other matters in relation to the new national maternity hospital and the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.
We resigned from St Vincent’s Healthcare Group’s board of directors four years ago. This ended our 186-year involvement in the management of St Vincent’s Hospital, which began in 1834, when Mary Aikenhead, foundress of the Congregation, established the first hospital in Ireland that freely admitted patients, irrespective of their race, creed, or ability to pay.
We are not involved now and have not been involved in matters relating to the new national maternity hospital or the management of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group since 2017.
Last year, we announced that we were relinquishing our shares in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and will transfer them to the new independent charity, St Vincent’s Holdings. The share transfer will also result in the new independent charity being the ultimate owner of 29 acres St Vincent’s Hospital and 3.2 acres at St Michael’s Hospital, Dún Laoghaire.
We will have no role in the future of the new independent charity, the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, or the new national maternity hospital.
Even though I was adopted by loving parents, the desire to know what I should be able to know about my background has been blocked by the privacy rights of maternal and paternal persons. I do not wish to know anything more from this, only family medical conditions that could impact myself or my children.
It is a disgrace in this day and age, when we have LBGT rights and minority race rights (and rightly so), that there are no rights for adopted persons. In fact, up until recently, we have been treated as second-class citizens.
I hold no ill will towards my natural parents, who probably had no other choice at that particular time in their lives, but to have me adopted.
However, I do blame the society at that time, and the hand-in-glove tactics of the Church and government, which caused so much pain to families, lasting decades for parents and children as a result. They were an absolute disgrace.
The sooner the legislation is ratified, the sooner we can put some happiness back into the lives of those forgotten by society, but not by those who care or more importantly matter.
Jennifer Horgan’s November 11 article, ‘Morality shouldn’t come into relationship and sex education’, rightly draws attention to the morally indefensible use of homophobic booklets by the Government’s Professional
Development Service for Teachers.
I make my statement based on a morality that tells me homophobic statements are wrong.
The article fails to mention that the Government’s National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) is conducting a review into relationship and sex education (RSE) to reflect “the inclusive standards and ethos which the education sector seeks to uphold”.
Amazingly, the NCCA group that is tasked with designing a morality-free RSE curriculum comprises 13 females and no males. The hidden non-inclusive message: Leave females alone to take responsibility in sexual matters, or “males shouldn’t come into
relationship and sex education”.
Alan Whelan
Vice president, Catholic Secondary Schools Parents’ Association
Killarney
Co Kerry
Some readers believe it is unfair to lay the blame for the 2008 economic crash on Seán FitzPatrick.
Many believe the real culprit to be former central bank governor Patrick Honohan.
It was he who stepped in front of then finance minister Brian Lenihan and announced on that taxpayers were going to foot the bill for the reckless lending by international and domestic financial institutions.
As a civil servant, he had absolutely no right to do that.
Former US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner is another villain in the pantomime that led to small businesses and ordinary workers here paying for almost half the total cost of the Europe-wide banking crash.
According to Professor Morgan Kelly, Mr Geithner intervened via a phone call to block any writedown of unsubordinated debt. This meant that many US finance houses, which had insured this crazy lending, got off scot-free and the long-suffering taxpayer had to cough up on the double.
The passing of Seán FitzPatrick should act as a salutary reminder to us all about what went fundamentally wrong at Anglo.
Banks, and other large organisations, have boards of directors, who typically meet once a month. They appoint a chief executive to manage the affairs of the company on a day-to-day basis.
When the board is not in session, the chief executive is supervised by the chairman of the board.
The fundamental mistake made by the Anglo board was to allow its chairman to become the chief executive, which meant that Mr FitzPatrick was supervising himself.
In effect, he was unsupervised and could do what he liked, which he did with disastrous effects. Lesson learned? Let us hope so.
As our eyes and ears have been focused on Covid and Cop26 over the past two weeks, a resolution was passed on the UN Security Council in relation to the other big C-word of our time: Conflict. More specifically, the need to protect education during conflict.
In recent years, conflicts have become increasingly complex, protracted, and cross-border in nature.
President Michael D Higgins addressed the Security Council in June saying: “Some children grow up knowing only war, occupation, and unresolved conflict.”
Attacks on schools and education personnel have increased as impunity prevails for attackers. According to Unicef, between 2014 and 2018, there were reported cases of attacks on education in 87 countries.
During conflict, education infrastructure and systems often break down. Girls are more at risk of violence or being out of school than boys, and child marriage increases.
The council’s Resolution 2601 recognises the specific vulnerabilities and targeting of girls, and calls on states to prioritise the protection and continuation of education during and after conflict.
The Security Council must ensure that states are held to account for failing to protect education during conflict. The futures of the 426m children in conflict zones depend on it.
I agree wholeheartedly with Fergus Finlay’s article, ‘We’ve got the fibre but have still made a meal of our connections’ (Irish Examiner, November 9).
I have been working from home as a data analyst since 2000 and I find myself constantly dropped out of Zoom/team calls, much to the amusement of my European colleagues and the incredulity of the UK ones.
I do not live up a mountain, but within a stone's throw of the main Limerick to Kerry artery. I recently received a well-presented brochure through my letterbox. “High-speed broadband is coming,” it roared. I dutifully put in my eircode and received an anticipated (not actual) availability date of 2023 to 2025. Words fail me.
People have been found guilty in the Kevin Lunney case of appalling violence against him.
While justice has been served to some degree, we can but hope he and his family will find solace in the fact the whole country, North and south, has been, and is full square behind him in his quest for resolution to the awful crimes he suffered. He has conducted himself with dignity and courage since he survived the near-death assaults and hopefully he and his family will find peace in the aftermath.
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