Villagers: Letters to the Editor 2005-10-27
Monaghan hospital
Government backing private health over public
The tragic death of Patrick Walsh highlights the ongoing abuse of the people of Monaghan by a discredited Government who are pressing through a discredited report, the Hanly report, by the back door.
The HSE chief, Brendan Drumm, says that there is no justification for a fifth hospital in the North East region. How is it then, that a fifth hospital in the County Galway area, the Galway Clinic, was launched in September 2004? This for-profit hospital, backed by millionaire investors Larry Goodman and James Sheehan, was given over €20 million in public funding through tax-breaks. 'Cut public, fund private' is clearly the tactic.
If the Monaghan Community Alliance are bulldozed into submission by the FF/PD Government then which local public hospital will be next? Portlaoise? Ballinasloe? Nenagh? Ennis? Mallow?
Everyone interested in having a good standard public health service in their local area should back the people of Monaghan in what is increasingly a life-or-death struggle.
Dr Peadar O'Grady
Consultant Child Psychiatrist
Dolphins Barn, Dublin 12
Village reporting
NTPF replies to criticism
I refer to your article entitled "How they wasted €billions" (Thursday 13-20 October 2005) which deals with the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report (C&AG). Your section on the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) created a misleading picture of the C&AG's Report and thereby the NTPF's work and practices.
Your article states that "80 per cent of patients treated were treated in public hospitals in the State, with over third (36 per cent) being treated in the same hospitals that referred them to the fund". This statement is incorrect. It has always been the case, that under its remit, the NTPF, while primarily purchasing treatment in private hospitals, can utilise public capacity in public hospitals, operating under strict criteria for doing so. This was publicly known in the media and political system and was a means of facilitating the transition from the old waiting lists initiative, operated by public hospitals to a new system administered by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. The percentage of cases treated in public hospitals in 2004 was approximately 40 per cent. One of the alternatives at that time was not to treat these patients so utilising spare capacity was in patients best interest.
Your article also states that "how is it that the State is paying twice for the treatment of these people?". It is not stated anywhere in the C&AG's Report that the Fund is "paying twice" for treatments and the NTPF wishes to state categorically that public hospitals or consultants are not being paid twice by "the state" through the treatment of NTPF patients. NTPF treatments carried out in the public hospital are over and above core funded activity.
The NTPF has treated over 35,000 patients to date and waiting times for surgical operations have reduced substantially. It operates within a small budget (0.4 per cent of the entire health budget) and performs an effective, value-for-money role to the taxpayer and patient, while ensuring patients are treated to the highest standard of care. Under the NTPF system, we know exactly how many patients have been treated, where they were treated, what the operations were and how much it cost for these operations. We believe that provides substantial transparency and accountability in the public interest. In addition, the NTPF is now in a position in most cases to offer treatment to patients who are on public hospital in-patient waiting lists for surgery for three months. Accordingly waiting times for surgery have been substantially reduced. Patients can contact the NTPF on its lo-call number of 1890-720820.
Pat O'Byrne
Chief Executive
The National Treatment Purchase Fund
Ashford House, Tara Street, Dublin 2
Salmon fishing
Stop drift nets now
Writing in Village last week Eoin Ó Murchú informed us that Fianna Fáil was going into 'listening mode' for its ard-fheis in Killarney. I hope that's true. Last Saturday over 4,000 anglers and other supporters held a rally outside the ard-fheis. We had one clear message for the ears of delegates and dignatories: stop the drift net fishing of salmon now before this magnificent fish disappears from Irish rivers.
The Irish salmon is facing extinction in most of our rivers. If we don't take positive action now it will be too late. One of the greatest threats to Irish salmon is the continued use of drift nets off our coast. Despite the overwhelming domestic and international evidence of the damage drift netting causes to salmon stocks the Government continues to licence this practice. We are now the only country in the EU that stubbornly clings to this failed policy.
The damage being caused is there for everyone to see. Salmon stocks in Irish rivers are at a critical point. Many rivers are, for all intents and purposes, "dead" as far as salmon are concerned. Angling tourism has declined by 50 per cent in six years and the situation deteriorates with each passing season.
Ending drift netting will enable salmon return to rivers to spawn. In other countries where drift netting has been eliminated salmon stocks have recovered significantly. The removal of drift nets is just one element of national strategy that must be put in place to save the Irish salmon, but it is a vital element.
Anglers, conservationists and tourism interests have campaigned for an end to drift netting. Members of the drift netting community also want the Government to wake up to the current crisis and provide them with a viable way to exit the industry. In short, there is now a consensus among many of the key stakeholders on the way forward.
A unique opportunity exists for the Government to take a positive decision and end the drift net fishing of salmon. It is a move that will be good for salmon, good for conservation and good for the economy of rural Ireland. To date, the minister responsible, Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher, has shirked from a decision which he knows is inevitable if the future of the Irish salmon is to be secured. In Killarney he got a stark reminder of the anger his prevarication has caused among the angling community and beyond. We want the Government to listen. What's more important is that we want the Government to act and move now to end drift net fishing, to compensate those who want to exit the industry and give Irish salmon a future.
Niall Greene
Stop Salmon Drift Nets Now
? More: www.stopnow.ie
Village reporting
Free fees system beneficial
Out of all the 55 issues of Village I have read, I must say I was appalled by Fergal Keane's article entitled "University fees fiasco" (issue 56). I am totally frustrated with his reasons as to why to attend fee-paying schools and found the "more peer pressure to do well" the most sickening of all. This was a disgraceful comment and should be withdrawn as there is just as much peer pressure to do well in public schools.
Coming from a working class background, I am currently studying sociology at Trinity College Dublin having attended a fantastic public school (Presentation College Bray). Our results and facilities are just as good as one of Ireland's most expensive fee-paying schools ("Private vs Public: How they compare", Irish Independent, 5 October).
During my time in public education I had many encounters with private schools and they weren't pleasant ones. The worst of all was when a private school cheated in a debating competition to get a motion changed. (The team successfully and secretly contacted the organisers of the competition to get a motion changed).
As for Fergal Keane's comments on "better discipline", just where is Fergal Keane getting this skewed information from? The most amusing comments of all and indeed the most ridiculous were those that stated young students won't meet anyone from outside their own socio-economic group before they enter the workplace. I know that if Fergal Keane was to come to a sociology lecture in Trinity he would see people from all backgrounds successfully integrating.
In relation to what Fergal says about re-introducing the college fees, this would exclude people like me from education. For those of us who, say, live with grandparents, we aren't able to get a college grant as they are only made available if you provide information on your parent's income. By proxy, you may not receive a grant unless you are a member of a "standard" family that includes a parent and not just a legal guardian.
The one thing I do agree with Fergal is his suggestion that subsidies should not be given to private schools. The €80 million this costs the state should be used for "Access Programmes" to allow the less well off to get into third level education.
I believe that it doesn't matter where you go to school and that most things boil down to the individual. I was very lucky to go to Presentation College Bray where I was proud to represent the pupils (as Head Boy) and will always remember how we supported each other in activities from rugby to debating.
While I'm sure private schools are adequate too, more and more ambitious working class people like me are getting into Universities due to the free fees system.
Wayne Toibin
Bray, Co Wicklow
Hurricane Stan
Guatemala will be slow to recover
It will take a long time for Guatemala to recover from the massive damage caused by Hurricane Stan that destroyed the livelihoods of ten of thousands of families.
Carlos Aldana, an aid worker for Oxfam International in Guatemala, explained the scope of the destruction his organisation has found during assessment work over the past week:
"In Guatemala, especially in the Western part of the country, it will take a long time to recover from the tremendous blow Hurricane Stan dealt to small family economies. Adding to the suffering caused by the death of relatives, families have also lost their means of getting even the smallest daily income. Peasants lost their crops, the fishing communities lost their boats and nets, livestock farmers lost their cattle and even woodcutters lost their axes and have no trees to cut. It looks like a disaster movie, but it is reality."
Oxfam's humanitarian teams carried out an evaluation of damage in the most affected areas, including San Marcos, Sololá, Suchitepéquez and Quetzaltenango.
"Given what we saw and heard from those who survived the hurricane, the floods and the mudslides, one of our main priorities from now on will have to be reviving family economies", added Aldana.
Carlos Cornejo is a fisherman from Churirin, a community living on the Pacific coast: "We lost our boats, nets and even our GPS, so it is very difficult for us to catch anything", he said. Hundreds of kilometers away, peasants from Nahuala are living the same situation, after losing their tools and almost their entire corn crop just before the harvest.
Antonia Garcia, a weaver from the village of Panajab – totally destroyed by a landslide and declared by the authorities to be a mass grave – managed to save her life and those of her nine children, but lost her livelihood.
"I used to sell my fabrics to a shop for tourists, and I used to get a good price for them. Now I no longer have my textile mill, thread or even a place where I could work. If only I could get some money I'll be able to rebuild my life and get out of this sad situation," Garcia said.
Lack of clean water is another major threat to the communities affected by Hurricane Stan. Oxfam International is already supplying drinking water to the families that sought refuge in Santiago Atitlan. More than 6,000 people are currently living in forty temporary shelters in the city. Oxfam has also established a water distribution system in a new temporary shelter, in Tzanchaj, that will soon host another 3,000 people who survived the Panajab landslide.
In El Salvador, regions such as La Libertad have lost fifty per cent of their corn crop. Oxfam is distributing food and essential goods in coordination with local NGOs.
Paul Dunphy
Media and Communications Officer
Oxfam Ireland
Women in politics
Fianna Fáil and gender quotas
The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) welcomes the Fianna Fáil party's intorduction of mandatory gender quotas, which will be put to its members at this weekend's ard fheis in Co Kerry. The NWCI has been calling for the introduction of mechanisms, including quotas that would ensure balanced representation of the diversity of men and women in decision-making structures. As a representative democracy, the credibility of Ireland's political system rests on the basis of whether or not the interests of the people of Ireland are properly represented by elected representatives. This is particularly relevant since women constitute 51 per cent of the Irish population, yet only hold 13 per cent of seats in the Dáil.
Women have a right to more gender-balanced public representation and must have the right to participate equally in all aspects of political, social and economic life and to be actively involved in the planning and decision-making that affects their lives.
The use of electoral quotas is widespread in the world today and increasing numbers of countries are introducing some kind of gender quota for public elections.
National Women's Council of Ireland
9 Marlborough Court, Dublin 1
? More: www.nwci.ie
Ardaun Corridor
Galway Development Strategy
Recent media speculation indicates that there are some county counillors in Galway wishing to delay the planned development of the Ardaun Corridor, which forms the backbone of the "adopted" settlement strategy in the Galway Transportation and Planning Study (GTPS) (in effect Galway's Adamstown – projected population estimate 18,000 by 2016). Their attack of "cold feet" will take us back a few steps – resurrecting the spectre of a continuation of the divisive one-off housing row of recent years.
They (councillors) have failed to recognise that Galway's economic success has benefited not only the city, but also the county. This pernicious inter-authority row has been simmering for the past six years since the publication of the Colin Buchanan and Partners GTPS (in September 1999). Are we now about to see this development strategy (which cost almost £1 million to put together) and was thought had been "bought into" by both Galway Council's – pushed off the rails?
Councillors should note the comments of John O'Connor – Chairman of An Bord Pleanála, who noted in his annual report that "Shoddy apartment and house design is the new blot on the landscape". Settlement strategy's around the country need to be looked at seriously, if we are to avoid the problems O'Connor refers to!
"An Taisce in Galway have serious concerns over any weakening of the adopted development strategy. It is becoming obvious that the whole row about how Galway City, and the 30km region within which the city sits, develops, needs to be sorted. As one city official recently put it "We have run into a brick wall on this".
Just in case anybody would think that An Taisce are softening their opposition to a "roads" based strategy. We should remind them that it is a strong, effective, high quality "public transport" based policy we seek to advocate. How we get people from their homes, into work, school or leisure without using so many cars, is what we should all be about. A sustainable public transport policy is about devising/building future settlement patterns in such a way that it is economic to invest in transport services, which will attract greater public usage."
The development of the Ardaun corridor, which was to be designed with a central transport corridor (both road and perhaps light-rail) would be following such a strategy. Without it, it becomes much more difficult to continue to attract the kind of multi-national industries which have been so beneficial to Galway city and county over the past few decades – and may also see the development of the Western Rail Corridor put back for many years yet?
Derrick Hambleton
Derrick Hambleton, An Taisce's Galway Association; Member of Galway City Council's Economic and Development SPC
Docklands
Praise for Docklands misplaced
Paul Doran, (Village Letters 13-20 October) was eloquent in his praise for Government regarding the newly opened walks along Dublin's quays.
His praise however is misplaced. The work along the quays is a direct result of the cultural, social and economic mandate given to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority as established by Brendan Howlin TD, Minister for the Environment and Ruairi Quinn TD Minister for Finance, in the last Rainbow Government.
In many respects the contrast between the sole financial mandate given to the Custom House Docks Authority established by Fianna Fáil and the broader people centred mandate of the DDDA, not withstanding its mistakes, is a good example of the different approaches of these two parties.
Dublin clearly needs more of the latter.
Cllr Dermot Lacey
Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Irish democracy
Mansergh contradicts himself
In your edition of Village 6-12 October Martin Mansergh makes some bizarre and deficient claims concerning the democratic status of the dual referenda held to endorse the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). The contradictions inherent in his position merely confirms the desperate ideological struggle of an organisation having to accept a constitutional arrangement on the island identical to the one for which his party's opposition to formed the cornerstone of its very foundation. Nebulous nationalism epitomised.
What the "living Irish nation", as he selectively calls it, voted on in the dual referenda, were the terms demanded by the British government concerning its sovereignty in Ireland. That government, democratically unaccountable to any Irish constituency, and constituting the foremost military strength on the island, determined the parameters of the negotiations which led to the signing of the GFA. Those parameters stipulated that partition was a legitimate state of affairs, that Articles 2 and 3 were illegal Irish claims of sovereignty over part of the United Kingdom and that the right of the Irish people as represented by the 32 counties to self determination without external impediment is non existent. This is why the option of Irish unity was not presented to the Irish people in the dual referenda. The "act of concurrent self determination" much lauded by Mansergh, was nothing more than a rubber stamping of British demands conceded to by the Government which Mansergh represented. Just because there's a vote doesn't mean its democratic.
Having conveniently prioritised the "living Irish nation" over its historical and future facets he then invokes historical figures in order to justify it in a manner befitting the McDowell mechanism for historical revisionism; don't address the problem for what it is, redefine it to what you opportunistically want it to be and set about addressing that. This is what democrats should be most disturbed by.
Colm MacAonghusa
Lucan, Dublin
Irish Economy
Educating for the future
In order for Ireland to remain a competitive player in the international market and maintain our economic success we must attract an international work force. Last December the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published labour force forecasts showing a need for an annual net flow of 30,000 immigrants over the period of 2036 if current rates of economic growth continue. Ireland needs skilled workers in areas such as science and technology, IT, health services and engineering. Demographic changes need public investment, appropriate social services including housing and multi-denominational schools if we are to prepare constructively for a diverse and populous nation.
The provision of an educational system where all children's social, cultural and religious backgrounds are equally welcomed into the school community is vital for this new and progressive labour force. Social cohesion and preparing our future generation to live together is key. Over the past three years, Educate Together has been consistently making the case that there is an urgent need to put the provision of multi-denominational education in Ireland on a firm financial footing. Parents all over the country are seeking this form of education. It is a violation of the Irish Constitution and numerous international human rights treaties to which Ireland is a signatory to effectively compel families to send their children to schools that conflict with their conscience. In most democratic nations, the provision of such schools is properly a function of the State. Exceptionally in Ireland, this can only be achieved by huge levels of voluntary work and fund-raising ventures such as packing shopping bags in local markets and cake sales.
Educate Together works with voluntary community groups nationwide setting up and managing schools on less then €45,000 per annum, 0.0000058 per cent of the Department of Education's annual budget, less than 6 one millionths of the total! This type of figure usually disappears in the "rounding errors" of Government budgets. Despite being made aware of the realistic funding since 2002, no significant change of policy has been forthcoming. Educate Together is shocked that €500 million has been returned unspent to the Department of Finance from the Department of Education and Science over the last eight years. A staggering €95 million was returned last year. It is unacceptable that these levels of available funds are not being made work hard for the benefit and integration of all children living in Ireland. Educate Together is the fastest growing sector in Irish education and is now facing demand in 30 new areas across the country.
The current lack of State funding will result in Educate Together being forced to start reducing its services to schools and dismantling the small team of experienced professionals who have served the whole primary education sector and the Department of Education well over the past number of years. Such teams take years to train and build. It will be to the lasting historic shame of this Government if this is allowed to happen due to lack of foresight, planning or timely decision making by a Government whose exchequer is awash with unspent funds.
Kate Morris
Educate Together, Dublin 12
Road Deaths
Driver
education in schools
The announcement in The Irish Times on 27 September 2000 that a "driver awareness module" would be offered in second-level schools nationally by 2001 was widely welcomed. The article "Finding out how cars can kill", by Mary Minihan, stated that "a driver awareness programme has been running in Donegal, which has the highest rate of road deaths in the country. Next year, it is going nationwide".
Detailed proposals for a "three-tier" driver licensing system backed up by driver training in all second level schools were reported in the Irish Independent on 23 December 2002, in the article "Learn to drive on the school's curriculum", by John Walshe, Education Editor.
The proposed modules never materialised.
The Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, John Ellis, was reported in The Irish Times as being in favour of driver education in schools as recently as 21 October ("Put driver education on school curriculum, meeting told", by Tim O'Brien). There are tried and tested models of driver education operating in other countries, most notably in the United States, where a substantial amount of public money is dedicated to a programme of learner driver certification in every American high school.
In the five years since the driver awareness module was promised, hundreds more young people have died on Irish roads. It is long past time for talking about it – further delay in implementing driver education in Irish schools will only result in the loss of more young lives.
Debra James
Gorey, Co Wexford
Schengen agreement
ID only needed on
arrival from Great Britain
As one arrives into Dublin airport from the Schengen area and waits in a queue of up to 100 people to go through the Checkpoint Charlie-style huts, it is amazing to watch immigration officers reduced to shouting at illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who naively attempt to walk past the look-out boxes.
It is equally astonishing to see travellers arriving from Great Britain producing passports to these same officers who do not have any authority to seek proof of identity from these people as their authority is no more than the ordinary garda on the street who can only ask for a person's name and address.
Yet Britain and Ireland have not changed their free travel area arrangements.
In the ports the Department of Justice has introduced formal identity checks using a system that separates all EU passport holders from all others and only in one of them, Rosslare, when a ship arrives from the Schengen area, can this be deemed as legal.
While very few journalists know what Schengen is. Every garda knows exactly what it is and can even spell the word.
Noel Canty
County Dublin
Statement: NGOs call for medical unions to respect human rights of involuntarily detained
In an unprecedented move, Amnesty International, Grow, the Irish Advocacy Network, the Irish Patients' Association, Schizophrenia Ireland and National Association for People with an Intellectual Disability have issued a joint statement expressing their deep concern at the current impasse between the Mental Health Commission and Health Services Executive, and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and Irish Medical Organisation over the establishment of Mental Health Tribunals under the Mental Health Act, 2001. The blockage would now appear to lie in the refusal of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and the Irish Medical Organisation to authorise consultant psychiatrists to join these tribunals.
The negotiation process has dragged on for 18 months, and a number of deadlines for the two representative organisations to respond favourably to cooperating with the process have come and gone. Until this stand-off is resolved, the continued operation of procedures for involuntary admission under the Mental Treatment Act, 1945 is in flagrant breach of international human rights standards in relation to the deprivation of liberty. The UN Human Rights Committee and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment have expressed their concern at the 1945 Act.
The six organisations believe that the tensions underlying this impasse are essentially industrial relations difficulties, and should be dealt with in an entirely separate forum. The human rights of mental health service users should be the paramount concern for all parties, they said. They are urging the IHCA and IMO to cooperate with the MHC and HSE in authorising their members to apply for positions on the review tribunals.
Part 2 of the 2001 Act cannot come into force until tribunals to review involuntary detentions are established – it is an essential safeguard for the thousands of people involuntarily admitted to and detained in mental health facilities every year. Some have been involuntarily detained for thirty years and more in a system that lacks proper structures to review their loss of liberty. The effective blocking of Part 2 means that the many other protections provided under the Act cannot come into operation. The Act's implementation in full would go along way towards respecting the human rights of the most vulnerable group of mental health service users. The recent Manweiller case heralds the potential cost of continued inaction. So long as the 1945 Act continues to operate, there can be no certainty that the rights of people involuntarily admitted and detained every day are not being similarly breached.
The IHCA and IMO may believe that commitments given by the HSE for increased resources and consultant psychiatrist posts do not go far enough. However, the six organisations ask them to recognise that the human rights of this vulnerable group of mental health service users must be the number one priority, by resolving this impasse as a matter of urgency and cooperating with the establishment of the tribunals.
? More: Contact Fiona Crowley, Amnesty International Ireland, 48 Fleet St, Dublin 2 Tel 01-6776361 www.amnesty.ie