A chara, - The imminent nurses' strike is much more about pay. It's also about the crisis within the health service itself, which affects the most vulnerable in our society, the sick. If we don't give the nurses a fair wage, the future of the nursing profession is very bleak indeed.
It is vital that the fight for a better health service is successful, for all our sakes. Here in my community the Eastern Health Board has sold off over 100 acres of one of the largest land-banks in public hands in Dublin 15 to private developers whose only motive is profit.
It tells us that this was necessary for the upgrading of James Connolly Hospital, yet with a youth population as large as Dublin 15's, we will still have to bring our sick children into Temple Street if they are unfortunate enough to need hospital treatment. This is clearly unacceptable.
I am a parent of three young children who has had to take that journey to Temple Street with a child whose head was split open after a fall. It is very upsetting to have to drive past a hospital less than five minutes from my home, then battle through the traffic nightmare which Blanchardstown is fast becoming all the way to Temple Street.
Everyone who supports the nurses in their fight for a better health service should contact their local Fianna Fail TD or councillor to urge them to tell their party where the people stand. - Yours, etc.,
Paul Donnelly, Lohunda Court, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.