Letters to the Editor: Fergus Finlay spelled out reality facing people with disabilities in Ireland
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Fergus Finlay writes of the stark reality of citizens in Ireland living with a disability ( , November 12). I embrace the worlds of disability and old age and it is unrealistically tough.
You have to be tough to reach old age with a disability. It is far too grim and I don’t believe it has to be. I also do not believe it’s just because most able-bodied individuals have a fair chance to be equal, whereas we do not.
It has been 10 years since I was told my wheelchair would be sorted within three weeks. It still is not.
An independent assessment of need was approved two years ago yet nothing happened once it was done and recommendations made and now the HSE claim it’s out of date.
Now the new way is to do another assessment of need ‘to get a good picture of your needs’, they claim. If they don’t know that after over 25 years under HSE care and especially in last 15, is there hope they ever will? I doubt it.
Two years ago, I was left with no support care to provide a special diet for my chronic disease for a full year — with very conflicting evidence of why this happened.
Year after year I am requested to do another assessment and go through another process as if it’s a game to them. It causes severe trauma for us.
So what is equal about my life with able-bodied equal citizens of this state? Nothing.
Regarding the Cork International Film Festival: From the opening gala of at The Everyman to a touching coming of age story from Belgium called — which boasts Lukas Dhont from the 2022 hit as a story consultant — to , a weird one of Andy Warhol’s grave, to a powerful Scottish documentary called , this writer had a ball.
However, it was the 600 people queuing 100m down MacCurtain St on a beautiful Saturday night waiting patiently to see the Irish premiere of Cork’s own John Crowley’s latest work, , with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, that totally blew me away.
What a film.
Cinema will never die from the singular experience of sitting among hundreds of strangers and collectively sharing every emotional reaction with our protagonists on the big screen. And the enlightening Q&A with Hilary White and Crowley, the director of and , on Sunday morning at the Triskel was the icing on a wonderful weekend of storytelling.
Director of programming Aurélie Godet, who hails from France but knows a thing or two about Cork hurling, has put together an astounding mix of films that is befitting one of Europe’s oldest film festivals. Cork is indeed the centre of the universe until Sunday November 17.
The subject of infrastructure has to play a big part in the policies of our next government, As a country, it seems that we are not alone in suffering from the massive cost overruns and delays in building big projects.
Germany is beset and plagued by infrastructure problems too as their major building projects flounder. It appears that Germany is now looking to Spain for lessons on how to deliver on these projects. The key lessons from Spain are most intriguing, We are now learning that the Spanish planning system puts much more emphasis on the public good over private interests. It seems that they keep the same infrastructure building team together.
Spain has built new metro and high-speed rail lines efficiently, while Dublin’s metro has been in the planning stage for 20 years with no action yet. It certainly gives us all a lot of food for thought.
In Colin Sheridan’s recent piece on sympathy regarding previous US presidents (‘Little sympathy for our reliance on the US dollar’, , November 9), he declared that Obama had little “substance”. His piece must have been written to bash, revise, or simply ignore history and Obama’s actual achievements which, if he had researched, he would have been able to actually acknowledge.
For starters, Obama was the first black American president, one who Mike Flynn now threatens with retribution.
He delivered health insurance to 20m Americans who never had it before. He rescued the economy with a $858bn stimulus package. He signed the Paris climate agreement. He saved 2.5m jobs in the auto industry, that’s real workers. He established policy to help LGBT people serve openly in the military. He reduced the threat from nuclear weapons. He protected thousands of miles of rivers and wilderness; more than any other president.
Maybe none of that is good enough.
There is much more but while it is evidently easy to revise or ignore and hurl from the ditch, one of the many problems we face is there too much talk and little action from those who would then easily dismiss those who came before them.
I write to congratulate your columnist Colin Sheridan on his article on November 9 (‘Little sympathy for our reliance on the US dollar’) regarding the result of the US election. It absolutely sums up perfectly how I feel about the genocide been carried out in Gaza and the involvement of the Biden-Harris administration.
They have as much Palestinian blood on their hands as the Israeli cabinet and IDF do. Again I cannot congratulate Colin enough for putting into print how I — and, I am sure, the vast majority of the Irish people — feel on this issue.
That Fine Gael seems to get marginally more favourable election coverage than other political parties is probably the only remaining aspects of Civil War politics in Ireland. However, even allowing for this, the excessive media coverage Simon Harris has been getting since he was made leader of Fine Gael and appointed Taoiseach is extremely difficult to understand.
To his credit, Mr Harris has at an early age achieved an enormous amount. Having entered politics in his teens, he was elected to Dáil Éireann at the age of 24 and was appointed a minister at 27.
On April 9, this year he became the youngest taoiseach ever elected by Dáil Éireann.
The fact that Mr Harris studied journalism as part of his third-level education may be an important factor in his success at garnering media publicity. In addition, he is very successful in presenting a favourable message, even about ongoing serious issues he and his party have neglected since entering government in 2011.