Over to you

Are you interested in one week's work placement in The Irish Times? Transition Year students can learn first-hand about the workings of this newspaper if their submission is published in Media Scope's weekly Over to You column. Just send us 200-word piece on a media-related topic.

John McCarthy, St. Brendan's College, Bray, Co Wicklow

As the ASTI agreed to suspend its campaign of one-day strikes this week, albeit after a peace offering from the Taoiseach, I am left pondering as to why on earth this action was allowed to drag on for as long as it has.

When the strikes began last year, I admit I was overjoyed and readily joked with teachers that I totally supported their action. Also, with the political scandals going on, I joked with friends that perhaps the Celtic Tiger was keeping politicians in shirts while keeping students out of them.

It was only when I heard that a friend's brother was paying to repeat the Leaving Cert that I stopped to think. Due to the Government's reluctance to give a pay rise to the people who played a big part in "unleashing" the Celtic Tiger, possible future taoisigh and presidents could have had their futures ruined because of their forced exodus from important exam preparation.

If a small portion of "Tiger money" had been given to the people who have taught and nurtured the leaders of Ireland today, perhaps this farce could have been avoided.

Stephen O'Shea, Colaiste Lorcain, Castledermot, Co Kildare.

Every night in front of the TV I am bombarded with a constant strand of Government-funded advertisements with the same message blinding me in tacky red writing at the end - "Speed Kills". While I accept that speed is a dominant factor in the alarming number of deaths on Irish roads, I do not think this statement is true. In my opinion, by far the biggest killer on the roads are in fact the roads themselves. Irish roads are of a poor standard and cannot cope with the traffic thrown at them. Most roads are only a fraction of the standard acceptable and are booby-trapped with hills and bends.

If "speed kills", why on earth does a jumbo jet fly around at 500mph? impose a 30mph speed limit on a 300seater plane and that's where the slaughter begins. If "speed kills", maybe someone could explain why a very low percentage of the carnage on Irish roads on motorways, where the limit is 10mph above normal. It just does not make sense.

Irish roads are as unreliable as Israeli politics - one minute you're travelling on an open smooth motorway and, before you know it, you're cascading down a death trap. Next time the Government is asked to fund a tacky advert, it should instead put the money towards improving the roads.

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