Sir, – We’re told that “ineffective” human resource (HR) systems at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals have caused “considerable distress” among doctors, some of whom went months without being paid, according to a new inspection report from the Medical Council in Ireland (“Medical Council urges ‘immediate’ fix to HR problems at Children’s Health Ireland,” January 21st).
To this – in many other hospitals in Ireland – you can add delays of days or even weeks being told where and when they are actually working in a new hospital, and (as well as pleading to be paid) often having to beg for car parking permits, identity cards to enable movement about a hospital, and passwords for access to email and IT systems (vital for requesting blood tests and radiology, obtaining results and efficient communication).
Other traditional sources of frustration and humiliation include being placed on emergency tax every time a medical trainee moves from hospital to hospital (within a well-flagged specialist training scheme), the lack of hot food and drink in many hospitals during evening and overnight shifts, and cold and filthy “on-call” rooms.
As a former director of postgraduate medical education at teaching hospitals in the UK and Ireland (and someone who spent an inordinate amount of time trying to recruit doctors to work in emergency departments on both sides of the Irish Sea), it grieves me that the terms and conditions for so many medical trainees seem to be no better now than they were four-and-a-half decades ago when I qualified in Dublin.
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These sources of endless exasperation demonstrate perfectly how – instead of being regarded as the most precious “human resource’” in the medical ecosystem – these young professionals are treated in practice with contempt by other hospital staff.
We’ve had a crisis in recruitment and retention of doctors in this country for years, and many medics of my generation (and those before and after) have toiled to improve the training and prospects of our wonderful doctors, whose enthusiasm – when properly nurtured – can and should be the most inspiring source of renewable energy in all our hospitals and GP surgeries.
The first step in addressing the problem is to recognise the consistently appalling treatment of medical (and indeed nursing and other) trainees and its disastrous consequences for staffing and thus patient care.
The second step is to identify one suitably qualified person (ideally with intimate knowledge and experience of the medical environment) to ensure trainees receive a basic minimum of care. (I would give such a person a working title of “staff care czar”.)
And the third step is for both the Minister for Health and the president of the Medical Council to bring their own impressive levels of energy and concern urgently to curtailing the mistreatment of so many of our future GPs and consultants. – Yours, etc,
Dr CHRIS LUKE,
Ballintemple,
Cork.
Disappearing buses
Sir, – I am supportive of the idea of using public transport when possible, particularly as a beneficiary of a free travel card, and am glad to do my bit for the environment and traffic flow.
When, however, my number 47 from Belarmine is rescheduled without warning to run 50 minutes later than the timetable suggests (which has happened more than once and without explanation), then I have no option but to go by car.
Reliability is a prerequisite for public transport users. – Yours, etc,
DON BRIGG,
Stepaside,
Dublin 18.
Cycling and cycle lanes
Sir, – I am a driver and a cyclist. Cycle paths have made my cycling journey to and from work a lot safer. Every morning, however, I see cyclists break red lights and shoot through junctions. In the dark evenings there are those cyclists who make themselves unseen to other road users with not a single light on their bikes.
I am reminded of the sobering data on cyclists from the Road Safety Authority that 78 per cent of serious injuries are male and 87 per cent of fatalities are male. Do not be a statistic, guys. – Yours, etc,
SANDY HAZEL,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Surely something can be done about the epidemic of motorists driving illegally in bus lanes, at considerable danger to cyclists and with completely unjustifiable, queue-jumping, free-loading rudeness; it’s not like they’re cleverer than all those stuck in traffic. Could bus drivers refer offenders to An Garda using their onboard cameras as evidence? – Yours, etc,
JACK HICKEY,
Glenageary,
Dublin.
Arms race should be avoided
Sir, –There has been a call for more investment in weapons in Europe and elsewhere due to an increasingly unstable world. The increasing global arms race is resulting in many more critical minerals being used in the manufacture of weapons.
This runs the danger of reducing the minerals available for a range of technologies needed to deal with climate change, such as solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage and electric vehicles.
Arms races may not increase security and may even lead to wars. Meanwhile the biggest threats to security are the destruction of the biosphere, climate change, chemical pollution, ocean acidification and plastics and chemicals.
Russia is a threat to its neighbours but is not a major threat to Europe now and for the foreseeable future. They have spent four years failing to defeat Ukraine and the threat of them attacking the rest of Europe is unlikely. The rest of Europe needs to coordinate their military activities and develop a good unified military command and control system.
Some Nato speakers have been exaggerating the threat and insisting on major increases in arms purchases. I suspect that integrated planning and harmonisation of equipment and training could increase the effectiveness of European countries to defeat any Russian incursion.
It would be disastrous to start reducing efforts to deal with the existential threat of climate change and other environmental issues and instead get into a destabilising arms race. – Yours, etc,
NICK ARMSTRONG,
Dundrum,
Dublin 16.
Little changes
Sir, – Fintan O’ Toole rightly points the finger at our flawed political system to conclude that we are badly governed. It might also be appropriate to place some responsibility at the door of the electorate, many of whom believe they must “get on to your TD” to solve their problems (“Why is Ireland so badly governed? Here’s why,” January 20th).
Former esteemed columnists with your newspaper, John Healy and Dick Walsh, wrote extensively on the clientelism of the Irish political system.
Plus ça change . . . – Yours, etc,
MIKE MORAN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
Data centres and energy supply
Sir, – Una Kealy highlights that data centres account for 22 per cent of electricity demand (seven times the European average) and asks the question: if the rest of Europe can manage to balance economic growth with carbon budgets, why can’t we? (Letters, January 19th).
Other countries that better balance carbon emissions and economic growth benefit from a combination of favourable geography and sensible political choices. Eighty-three per cent of Ireland’s energy still comes from fossil fuels. Countries with a lot of hydro and nuclear power have a much lower dependency: Sweden 29 per cent, Finland 35 per cent and France 37 per cent.
Ireland can never have a lot of hydro and continues to wilfully ignore nuclear. Instead, we are pursuing the impossible objective of net-zero by 2050 – from a disadvantageous starting position – based, primarily, on an abundance of wind.
Whatever wind can do to meet Ireland’s energy needs is continually exaggerated and misrepresented, and energy and climate policies are therefore founded on a delusion.
Ireland is an island with no indigenous energy resources that can adequately and reliably meet the country’s energy needs and there is no alternative but to continue with a dependence – albeit a declining one – on fossil fuels to meet the energy demand which renewables are not capable of meeting.
This reality applies irrespective of the level of energy demand from data centres.
In 2024, data centres accounted for 5 per cent of Ireland’s overall energy consumption and wind energy met 7 per cent of total demand.
It is entirely possible for Ireland to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but the focus on data centres as a decisive problem, or on wind as a decisive solution, are distractions from the more important challenges for Irish citizens and industry of high energy prices and parlous energy security.
Energy policy needs to move beyond wishful thinking and address these realities. – Yours, etc,
EAMONN O’REILLY,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Inclusion in education
Sir, – The National Conversation on Education is a rare opportunity to redefine inclusion in education (“Ireland has a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to change the State’s education system,” January 14th).
When we say some children need an “appropriate setting”, we quietly accept that the system doesn’t have to change.
That expectation shifts the burden on to children who have to adapt, move, or disappear from their own communities.
Inclusion isn’t about finding children an “appropriate setting”. It’s about reforming and resourcing schools that are inappropriate for children.
As this national conversation unfolds, let’s start from a stronger position: every school should be an appropriate setting and every child belongs. – Yours, etc,
DERVAL McDONAGH,
CEO, Inclusion Ireland,
Dublin 1.
A possible time bomb
Sir, – Reading a report on homelessness in yesterday’s edition (January 19th), one can only be concerned about the potential time bomb that could await many tenants.
In recent times thousands have found homes in the build-to-rent sector.
Long-term apartment leases, particularly 99-year or 100-year terms are common in specific European markets, notably the UK, while other parts of Europe often operate on perpetual or shorter, renewable and heavily regulated rental contracts.
However, many tenancy agreements in Ireland run for a very short period.
The Government must plan for a future when pension payments for some, if not a lot of the “build-to-rent” tenants are insufficient to cover rising rents: forcing many to seek non-existent local council accommodation for seniors. – Yours, etc,
TOM RYAN,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Post-Christmas blues continue
Sir, – We posted a Christmas card in Munich on December 13th to Tallaght. It arrived today, January 20th. Can anyone beat that record? – Yours, etc,
SIMON BLAKE,
Munich,
Germany.
Sir, – Today, January 20th, I received a Christmas card posted in Dublin on December 22nd.
Is this a record? – Yours, etc,
EVAN SALHOLM,
Drumcondra.
Dublin 9.
Sir, – Some 10 or so letters have recently been published bemoaning the late arrival of Christmas cards. Nevertheless, An Post tells us that some six million items were dealt with each week of the Christmas rush. That is a failure rate of 0.000167 per cent.
I was a postman for a few years and each Christmas the number of cards and parcels that were misaddressed, sometimes with just a name and postal district, were legion.
The inspector called these out until identified and delivered. Numerous cards were posted without stamps, all were delivered on the supposition that this was an oversight unworthy of cavilling. Redirected mail, past its allotted time, was redirected regardless.
I could go on but I hear the letterbox. And the joy felt when I receive a late card will, hopefully, dissipate my sense of entitlement. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse.
Dublin 24.
League of Ireland coverage
Sir, – There was excellent coverage in Monday’s sports supplement (January 19th) of the GAA All-Ireland club hurling and football finals in Croke Park, attended by over 25,000 fans of the four clubs involved.
With the League of Ireland season kicking off next month, I look forward to equivalent coverage of all of the weekend fixtures rather than the single match report of whatever game was televised which appeared to be the norm for last season. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN LEAKE,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.
Drinking and driving
Sir, – Philip Reid, in his report on the conclusion of the Dubai Invitational Golf tournament, refers to a “drams-filled final round” (Sports Monday, January 19th). That may explain a few wayward approach shots to the 18th green. – Yours, etc,
RONAN McDERMOTT,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
Speaking Frankly
Sir, – Creasing of the sports page doesn’t normally worry me. But when Frank McNally gets creased, as he did today, January 21st, now that’s another matter. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS McGOWAN,
Blanchardstown,
Dublin 15.
Another medal offer
Sir, Further to Eamonn O’Reilly’s excellent suggestion that we offer Ronnie Delany’s gold medal to that man in the White House (Letters, January 21st), I would be willing to throw in my hard-won, under-8, slip-jig medal from the Feis in Donegal town in 1978. – Yours, etc,
BRÍD MILLER,
Roscommon.
