Letters to the Editor: Public service over self-service
Elaine Loughlin is not wrong when she quotes Cathal O’Donoghue as saying: “Rural Ireland is full of sophisticated, articulate people, highly connected both to the local place and globally, and with a multi-layered cultural richness” [Forum, ‘Rural party cannot be all things to all country people’, June 10].
It’s easy to be against something. It’s much more difficult to propose answers or policies and articulate them to a wider audience. With the possible exception of Michael Fitzmaurice, many TDs that claim to have “rural Ireland” at heart are just a pot-pourri of different characters eager to see which way the wind is blowing and making lots of noise in the process.
Whether it’s Listowel or Bantry, the problems are similar — small country towns being hollowed out at an alarming rate, with charities of all descriptions, coffee shops, and bookmakers usually filling the void.
Last week, it was reported that An Post is looking at closing its brand-new delivery service unit (DSU) in Listowel and merging it along with four district sorting offices (DSOs) at a new site in Tralee 25km away.
All this is seemingly being discussed with the Communications Workers Union in return for pay and pension increases of up to 10.4% for An Post employees.
Yet Michael Healy-Rae, who is also a postmaster as well as running a DSO in South Kerry with 13 people employed, proclaims himself to being largely in the dark about the An Post consolidation plans.
It might be a cheap shot, but having 17 properties to run and manage is unlikely to leave much time for proactively preventing what An Post is now proposing in Kerry and no doubt other parts of rural Ireland as well.
Public service before self-service should be the guiding principle for anyone running for high office irrespective of where they live and who they want to represent.
Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry
My encounter with Moise Tshombe
It’s 60 years since I met Moise Tshombe on a dirt track between Dilolo and Kolwezi. Tshombe (1919-1969) served as the president of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the Congo from 1964 to 1965. He died in suspicious circumstances in Algeria, where he was taken to, when the plane he was travelling in was hijacked over France.
Michael Terry with Moise Tshombe.To his credit, Tshombe spared the lives of 155 Irish soldiers who repelled attacks by his 3,000-man force during the Siege of Jadotville in September 1961.
The Irish forces inflicted approximately 1,300 casualties, including up to 300 killed. After five days, they ran out of supplies, surrendered, and were held as prisoners of war for one month. It is alleged that Tshombe was responsible for the deaths of Patrice Lumumba, Congolese prime minister, on January 17, 1961, and Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the UN, on September 18, 1961, one day after the Jadotville surrender.
On May 16, 1963, the 39th Infantry Battalion A Company was deployed from Kolwezi to establish a base in Dilolo to cut off from Katanga Tshombe’s French and Belgian officered troops who had fled to Angola after their defeat in February.
It was believed that they were in training for an invasion of Katanga. During our three-week stay in Dilolo, we camped on a primitive airstrip. My duties included the maintenance of wireless communications equipment and showing a few films a week on a bed sheet draped on the side of a truck using a Bell & Howell 16mm projector powered with a petrol generator.
Invariably the generator would overheat after an hour, backfire, and shut down, prompting unwelcome jeers from the audience, putting the projectionist under pressure to restore operations and avoid a repeat occurrence.
After accomplishing our mission and during our three-day return journey, one of our vehicles broke down, causing a road blockage. Word filtered up through the convoy that Tshombe pulled up behind us. A small inquisitive number of us moved to the end of the convoy to see Tshombe on the rear seat of a car nursing what appeared to be a glass of whiskey. He enquired whether we were French, got out of the car for a group photo and signed his autograph for me. Glad to be here to tell the story.
Michael Terry, Lucan, Co Dublin
Raise the roof over other housing issues
I wonder if the organisers of the Raise The Roof protest in Cork considered having Robbie Keane and his wife Claudine lead such a protest.
After all, Robbie and Claudine couldn’t access their own property for three years because there was a tenant in situ, who not only refused to move, but wouldn’t pay any rent either.
Failing that, they could always request the attendance of those house owners in a salubrious area of south Dublin who were allegedly demanding eye-watering amounts of money so they wouldn’t object to a planning application in their locale.
It’s a wonder that more people don’t “raise the roof” over the shenanigans, handwringing, virtue signalling, verbal diarrhoea, et al associated with housing.
Aileen Hooper, Stoneybatter, Co Dublin
Unfair maths exam
As an experienced maths teacher, I believe Maths Paper 1 Higher Level in this year’s Leaving Cert was far too difficult for the majority of students and would have totally upset the confidence of students facing into their remaining subjects.
While one expects the paper to be challenging, the level of difficulty far exceeded even college maths exams and would not have rewarded high-achieving students who diligently put in the work and practiced several years past papers. Adjusting the marking scheme to align with the bell curve will not allay the fears of students and balance out what was a grossly unfair paper. Many of those students never even sat a State Exam previously and also had to contend with limited tuition and higher teacher absenteeism during covid times.
We need to encourage more students studying at higher-level maths in order to increase the shortage of students in Stem subjects such as engineering, computer science etc.
May I suggest students are given a second Maths Paper 1 to re-sit (assuming Paper 2 is “normal”) before the end of June 2023 and their best result from both Paper 1s awarded.
Carmel O’Donoghue, Roscrea, Co Tipperary
