Your view: Refusal to change will repeat errors
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I refer to your article of October 4, 2024, regarding a ‘Family disappointed inquest into father’s death in CUH [Cork University Hospital] did not make more recommendations’, after extensive coverage over the previous two days.
The result of the inquest into the death of 34-year-old Corkman Dr Patrick Murphy at CUH was a “narrative verdict” with one recommendation regarding “urgent electronic medical records”.
The family had provided three specific (and might I add very sensible) recommendations designed to improve outcomes for patients presenting with aortic dissection at CUH, all of which were disregarded.
I understand one of the aims of an inquest is to identify gaps in care which, if not filled, might lead to further deaths.
Why then were such important recommendations by the family not endorsed by the Coroner’s Court or its jury?
These recommendations will now most likely get lost in transit.
Do we just wait for the next fatality from a misdiagnosed aortic dissection before change happens?
I think I speak on behalf of many Cork people when I say that I share the family’s sense of disappointment.
The photos you have published recently of Johnny Sexton gloating over a recumbent Ronan O’Gara, are all too sickeningly reminiscent of the photos of Roy Keane leaning over a recumbent Alf-Inge Haaland, having deliberately injured him following a perceived insult some 20 years previously.
The gestures and body positions are similar in both cases and are examples of an appalling lack of sportsmanship, justified by reference to a perceived insult many years previously, but breaking the unwritten rule of sport that you do not “hit” an opponent when he (or she) is down.
It is not an example I would want any of my grandchildren to follow.
The should be complimented on its frontline war reporting of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
While it is heartbreaking to read your reports of Lebanese villagers being indiscriminately killed and their homes destroyed, we as readers can never claim that “we didn’t know”; there can now be no escape from our moral guilt as we passively looked on while horrific war crimes were being committed.
I agree totally with Mary Robinson concerning the free pass the USA is getting with its total support for the horrors being perpetrated by the Israeli government in Gaza and more recently in Lebanon.
These actions are not self-defence by any stretch of the imagination. The only solution is a two-state solution which will guarantee peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It’s the only permanent solution.
Junior cycle exam results will be issued by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. 73,739 candidates signed on to take the exam last June.
Last year, 70,727 candidates nationwide sat the junior cycle exam.
That was the first time ever that a junior cycle exam exceeded 70,000, clearly indicative of population growth in Ireland and higher retention rates in post-primary education.
The old Junior Certificate exam and its predecessor, the Intermediate Cert, served their purpose back in the day, but the reformed junior cycle programme is far more suitable for the current student body.
When you combine the positive impact of the junior cycle with the reforms that are currently in train at Leaving Cert level, there is little doubt that post-primary education in Ireland is as good as you’ll get in any country in the world.
The junior cycle exam is often overshadowed by the more public Leaving Cert exam but it’s a very important exam in its own right.
It’s a prestigious exam of the State Examinations Commission and it’s the first opportunity for second level students to engage with a public exam of this nature.
With fewer students now leaving school after this exam, the junior cycle is proving to be a significant safeguard against early drop out of at-risk students and a major force in the reduction of inequality in Irish education.
Congratulations to all candidates, who are getting junior cycle exam results this week.
Be proud of your achievement and good luck in senior cycle.
Life offers few reality checks as sobering as the age profile at a folk festival concert. Tempus fugit and all...
Cormac O’Keeffe’s article (October 4) stating that the Department of Defence returned more than €18m to the central exchequer made for very depressing reading for anyone who has even a passing interest in our Defence Forces or our national defence.
However, there was a further more startling revelation near the end of the article when the staffing levels of the Department of Defence and Defence Forces were quantified.
Breaking these numbers down, it appears that, in 2022, we had one civil servant for every 21 members of the Defence Forces.
And in 2023 we had one civil servant for every 19 members of the Defence Forces.
The Defence Forces has continued to lose members over the past years, but the department managed to increase its numbers in 22/23.
In conclusion, I think it apt to paraphrase Winston Churchill: “Never in the history of the Irish State have some many civil servants in the Department of Defence owed their positions to so few members of the Defence Forces.”
The only logical response to the Government’s decision to spend 9,000,000 on pouches for mobile phones in schools is an emphatic ouch!
Regarding the article ‘ How the R&A is driving a wedge through Irish golf industry’ (September 26), I agree with the sentiment that this will have a major financial impact on the vast majority of smaller golf clubs in the country.
I believe its primary target is the resort golf clubs who host open championships themselves. They will be delighted with this now bottomless income stream and it will probably result in a reduction of members’ time in due course.
Shelbourne Park Greyhound Track has just spent a cool €4.3m on refurbishments and not a bike shed in sight.
An industry that hasn’t paid a dividend to the State in over 25 years but gets a yearly handout of €20m.
I’m off for a coffee while my local cafe struggling with the Vat rate is still open.