Forum

I write into you again in sheer frustration at the waste of money being spent in Clondalkin lately. Over the last couple of years we have seen the so-called 'Towers' on New Road outside Dunnes Stores and the mess near Tully's Castle. These were built to highlight the entrances to the old village and then they were all taken down again except the one at Tully's Castle. The council, I am led to believe, had to spend this money or it would go back into general funds. Now this weekend they are tearing up Tower Road, which was re-surfaced lately.

We are still discussing and trying to deal with sexual abuse of children going back 50 years in institutions run by church and state. It appears, in light of the Leas Cross nursing home scandal, that we now have further abuse to deal with – physical abuse of our elderly. Shame on the Health Executive: they buried their heads in the sand in spite of prior warnings.

Bertie Ahern, Michael McDowell and Martin Mansergh have cultivated a neo-populist image concerning the foundation history of this state based upon a nemine contradicente certainty of the morality of republican murder, and the patriotic myth, involved in the so-called fight for Irish freedom.

The recent announcement that the HSE (government by default) is going to refuse subvention for private nursing homes for an older person living alone in a house worth more than ?500,000 in Dublin and ?300,000 outside Dublin is to be condemned by all right thinking people.

Recently there has been a lot of media coverage regarding the financial and other costs of marriage breakdown for one high-profile father. However, the consequences are even more serious for men of more limited resources.

I am absolutely delighted to hear that the UEFA Cup Final will be held in the newly refurbished Lansdowne Road stadium in 2010 and that the UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson has suggested that the Under-21 European Championship could also be staged in Ireland with a final in Lansdowne Road.

It is truly amazing that the Minister for Justice should propose to abolish the stamp duty provision. But then, what would one expect from the leader of a party whose sole aim is to enrich the well-heeled in our society? If the Minister feels the State does not need this money, could I respectively suggest that it be put to good use in the elimination of poverty, which is all too prevalent in our society?

I refer to the 'Thinking Anew' column in the Irish Times on Saturday 9 September. I am a regularly mass-attendee in Clondalkin, where we have a wonderful mass as gaeilge each Sunday morning. The answer to the above question – whether the Church is really on the side of the poor – is a resounding NO. The Church didn't back the worker lock-out in 1913 and it has demonised workers' representatives ever since. The Church has tried hide the scandal of child sexual abuse for so many years.

I refer to the Taoiseach's comments as reported in the media on 6 September: "Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of a fire." Can I respectively suggest to the Taoiseach that to enable young children to be creative, they should have the possibility of doing this in surroundings that they are comfortable in. Here in Gaelscoil Na Camogie in Clondalkin, we have way above the national average child-teacher ratio and sub-standard classrooms (pre-fabs). Put your money were your mouth is, Taoiseach.

I hope it won't seem immodest to point out that my play, Allegiance, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, merits inclusion in your report by Jessie Collins: 'Irish success at Edinburgh' (Village, 31 August).