Dear Editor
Wednesday, 19th September 2012
I am writing to you in response to your article in this week's paper regarding the recent cuts to gluten free foods. I found the article somewhat misleading. The article mentions all those who have to be on gluten free diets leading the reader to believe that everyone on a gluten free diet who is also on a medical card can get financial help towards the costs of their food. That is untrue.
There are a large amount of people out there like me who were put on gluten free diets many years before their GP even thought to test for coeliac disease. Until I complete a gluten trial (eat gluten making myself ill to then be tested) to get a definitive diagnosis I fall under the non-coeliac gluten-intolerant category. What this means is even though the symptoms, long term health
A Shameful Episode
Tuesday, 11th September 2012
The recent sight of handicapped people demonstrating overnight at the Dail has undoubtedly have to be one of the most shameful episodes that this present Government has witnessed. While the difficulties of the people involved were eventually resolved and they were given the money so that they would be able to keep their personal assistants it was also made clear that now that money would have to be taken elsewhere from the Disability budget. In other words the Government by acting in the short term is only storing up more hurt for someone else further down the line. The fact is that there are going to be huge cuts in the Health budget in the coming months and the demonstration that we saw last week is only the tip of a very big iceberg. Where previously there were no go
The cheap and easy option
Tuesday, 4th September 2012
The recent coverage of the Republican National Congress in America begs a certain number of questions. First and most important of these is why there was so much in depth coverage of the event here in Ireland? Why was it deemed necessary that the Irish public needed to know so much about a meeting of politicians and their attendants in a country 3,000 miles away as if it was of as much interest as politicians 100 miles away in Dublin? Of course we all understand that America is the number one superpower in the world but that doesn't mean to say that we necessarily need to know every single detail about their political process. Yes we do need to know about what is going on in that country but why do we need to know about it in such detail?
The price of Freedom
Wednesday, 29th August 2012
In any discussion about Julian Assange and Wikileaks very little, if any, mention is ever made of the one person that has truly paid any price for their involvement in letting the general public know about secret emails from several western powers. Bradley Manning is that person who is being kept in solitary confinement by the U.S. army for passing on all the secret communiques to Assange. You might have sympathy for Assange holed up in the Ecudorean Embassy in London but the conditions under which he is living are a breeze compared to what Bradley Manning has had to endure so far. And he still hasn't been brought to trial yet. The only person that he is allowed to see is his mother, other than that he is allowed no contact with the outside world. Only for Bradley Manning
A light on education
Wednesday, 22nd August 2012
It seem like only yesterday that school children were starting out on their summer holidays but very soon they will be heading back through the school gates for the beginning of a new school year. While for some it will involve moving on to third level and for many others the start of a year that will show them how they might begin to plan out their lives it is perhaps to their parents that we should really turn our attention. Apart from all the angst associated with a child moving up a year in school for many parents its the financial implications of school that are uppermost in their minds. Now not only do the majority of parents have to come up with the money for new uniforms and books the overwhelming number of schools will be looking for
Sugar quotas must end
Wednesday, 22nd August 2012
Sugar quotas must end in 2015 despite intensive lobbying from large producers
Labour MEP for Munster, Phil Prendergast, has voiced her continued support for the European Commission proposal to end the quota regime for sugar in 2015. Her comments came as a response to reports of heavy lobbying from sugar producers in favour of MEP Michel Dantin's proposal to retain the current system until September 2020.
"Mr Dantin's proposal to continue with sugar quotas is designed to serve the interests of the three big sugar producing countries- France, Spain and Germany- and takes no account of whether there is any need for such a system. It also completely disregards the need to revive the sugar industry in countries such as Ireland where quotas led to the ruination of the sector"- the Tipperary-based MEP said.
"The system was designed to protect the price of
A moment to savour
Wednesday, 15th August 2012
When Katie Taylor stepped on the podium to accept her Olympic gold medal in Women's boxing there wasn't a person in Ireland who didn't feel a swell of emotion at the sight. It had been such a long time coming that we thought we would never see the day. In the end it was a gripping and hard fought match that saw her attain her dream of one day winning an Olympic gold medal. While perhaps many of us here in Ireland thought all she had to do was to turn up on the day to secure the gold it wasn't such a foregone conclusion. The Russian woman she was fighting was not going to let it be such an easy thing. She fought really well and Katie really had to call on all her strength and skill to win
Garda Siochana - vote
Wednesday, 8th August 2012
What would happen if the Garda Siochana took a vote to publically criticise another part of the Garda Siochana? Sounds kind of ridiculous doesn't it? Well that is exactly what has happened when the United Nations recently took a vote to criticise the actions, or more precisely the inactions of the United Nations Security Council. Although it does make sense as to why the United Nations did this if you stand back you can't help but wonder what planet these people are on. What is the warped logic that is in operation here? It sounds like the kind of thing that Kafka would think up. But then again we all know why this has happened. It is because Russia and China has yet again used their vetoes so that sanctions cannot be imposed on the Syrian Government which is currently
Point Scoring
Wednesday, 8th August 2012
It's no wonder that these two countries don't want a spotlight turned on any country's internal politics when it can ill afford it done to them. There seems also be another element at play here, the two countries flexing their political muscle on the world stage. Russia in particular is very concious of its reputation. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia has keenly felt its drop in status on the world stage. It is something that you constantly hear from Russian people, particularly those of the older generation. They were used to having their opinion heard, for it to mean something. Now that is not so much the case. Russia, while strong, is no longer the power that it once was and for a lot of people, not just politicians that is not a comfortable thing to adapt
Time Out
Wednesday, 1st August 2012
With all the doom and gloom going about and not even the weather giving some sort of respite, it’s good that we are having a period of time where the emphasis is not, for once, on the bad or the negative but on the good and the positive. Summer is always a time when normal rules don't really apply. Schools and colleges are out and most people are thinking of what they will do with the couple of weeks free that they will have from work. Now is one of those times when you can take a break from the usual run of things. Also, one good thing about the Dail being in recess is that there are no politicians running about like Baby Jane's mugging to every available camera panting at the thought of dropping their pearls of wisdom
Letters to the Editor
- A Government Successread more »
Once in a blue moon. As rare as hen's teeth. A Government success. Each of those three sentences are as unusual and as rare as each other. But the last one seems to be about to take place. The Government has announced that it plans to give each child in the State a second year of free pre-school. It might not sound like earth shattering news but if it does happen then it could be one of the most significant things that this Government has done since it took office. Any money that is given over to education is a …
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