LOOKING FORWARD

Dear Editor,

As we begin this New Year, it’s not a bad idea to recall that ten years ago we were all excited to celebrate the millennium.

Granted, a lot has happened in that span of time, not all of it pleasant. We’ve seen terrible things like 9/11 and war, personal travails like job loss, loss of friends or family, and the human folly of mistakes, and natural disasters that have impacted those who share our world.

But we have also seen a lot of good. Babies were born, people fell in love, we may have found new jobs or home, people married, graduated from school, enjoyed a special concert or performance, or maybe just sat and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. It’s the babies, the love, and the sunsets that we live for. So, look for them over the next year.

Happy New Year to you all including family members at Croughmore, Mitchelstown where my origins are.

Paix,
Jim Moher Norwood (Boston),
Massachusetts.

STANDING TOGETHER

Dear Editor,

While in the position as mayor of Fermoy, one of the threats to face our community was the Government decision to remove the town weir.

Despite the weir being in the ownership of the Town Council and designated as a protected structure, the Government were more than willing to ride roughshod by removing the weir, contrary to the wishes of the people of Fermoy who were left with no option but to manifest itself as a community to prevent the removal of a structure that has been synonymous with Fermoy for hundreds of years.

Initially, it is incumbent of me to acknowledge the pivotal role of the Fermoy Rowing Club in the campaign by the entire community in Fermoy to fight what would have disastrous consequences for our town if the Government plan had been implemented.

As mayor of the town, I was privileged at that time to lead a deputation to the Dail where no doubt was left in the Government minister’s mind and the minds of his officials as to the revulsion experienced by the local population that was the threat to remove the town weir, when the only legitimate step to be taken was the refurbishment of the existing weir which had fallen into disrepair - in the main, due to a lack of maintenance over the years.

I am delighted to learn that the Government have finally indicated a willingness to accept common sense and will give preference to the repair of the weir as against its removal.

Lessons must be learnt from what was an intimidating exercise with one very positive feature to emerge – that is – we as a community in Fermoy, stand together; no negative decision, irrsespective of where it derives from, can be forced upon us as a community.

That in itself, demonstrates a resilience that is called for now more than at any time in the recent past, considering that we are now in the post Celtic Tiger period.

I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Tadhg O’Donovan,
Fermoy.

INACTION ON ROADS

Dear Sir,

The inadequacy of the reaction to the inclement weather conditions is negligent. It is my understanding that it all started on the weekend of December 18.

I had been in London that week working, and I returned on Monday, December 21 on the early Stanstead flight arriving in Cork at 07.30. I drove from the airport to Goleen in West Cork, via Bantry.

I could see that conditions were very bad and travelled at less than 20 mph the whole way, sometimes 10mph. What however shocked me was the lack of warnings in place, both at the airport and along the long road in front of me.

There was no announcement at the airport, and there was not one council worker on the road, apart from in the town of Dunmanway where two workers were shovelling salt from the front bucket of a JCB. Nor was there a member of the gardai in sight. The only warning was the scattered crashed cars at the roadside.

Whilst I do not blame the individual council workers for this appalling lack of effort and cohesion, I blame those in charge, and the responsible minister that they are accountable to.

There is a total lack of leadership in West Cork, and obviously elsewhere, and a culture of passing the buck where the managers can either not exercise their discretion properly, or do not have the liberty to do so.

Similarly the politicians, for the most part, are nowhere to be seen in West Cork on policy issues as usual across the political divide. It was a similar scenario when the ESB opened the Inniscarra Dam a few weeks earlier.

The council decided that the best mode of communication to let thousands of people know that their businesses and homes were about to be flooded was via their website. What a ridiculous, lazy, and negligent thing to do.

Get some workers out on loud speakers or at the very least, onto every phone number they can find. No urgency - lethargy, symptomatic of why our county is in a mess as we end the boom decade.

It is pertinent that the Irish American citizen that wrote about the weather conditions and the shocking state of play in his letter published in Friday’s Irish Examiner should raise the death of Flor Crowley. His death is unacceptable, and avoidable making it even more devastating for his young family.

His brother, Brian is a party colleague of mine, and I have the greatest sympathy for his family. I could not attend the funeral due to ill health this week.

However, it is my opinion that it is the lack of direction in political circles, mirrored by the lethargy of the council, the lack of resources, and in particular, visible warnings and salt in what is an emergency, that caused Flor Crowley’s death.

Had the ice thawed on the morning Flor and his family went on their journey to Mass?

Obviously not, but a lot of people thought it had because of the rain on Christmas Day. There were no visible warnings. I do not know the full details, but I do know that my mother had a very narrow escape on Christmas Eve in Goleen when her jeep slid off the road and overturned into a drain. It is a miracle that she is still here.

I see this as a systematic failure. Why did the Government not order shipments of salt from abroad, not a difficult thing to do, to be delivered to our ports around the country in a matter of a few days.

Why did they not order/ hire extra salt lorries that are manufactured here for the British market? Why did Mr Riordan, or whoever is responsible (NRA) not close asphalt roads that are clearly susceptible to ice and frost in low temperatures and are particularly dangerous.

Not to close such roads is negligent, as it is unreasonable to allow people to travel on these roads without a safety presence, and in circumstances where the council /NRA/responsible minister know that such surfaces are unsafe where they cannot be gritted and salted.

What about the lady who died on the road in Gorey? That road should have been either gritted and salted, or closed. It is my opinion that those responsible are negligent in that case.

I am lucky my mother is still here, and so is the council /NRA/Government. It is not the first systematic failure to affect my family. My father died as a result of such a catastrophic safety failure in the Betelgeuse disaster in 1979, 31 years ago, which was allowed to exist until such a fate occurred.

I was going to write after the appalling experience driving from the airport on Monday, December 21, then after my mother’s incident on December 24. I have now done so but wish I had done so sooner.

I was stopped because I suppose I feel that the structures of power that operate in this country means that what I have to say will fall on deaf ears. My election experience showed me that.

However, Mr Fitzsimons from Connecticut reminded me of my duty as an Irishman who wants to see my country operating properly. So I ask, when are we going to learn to avoid avoidable tragedy in this country?

Hindsight is a great thing, but there is continually a total lack of foresight. As we enter a new decade, let’s fix the ‘twill be grand culture’ that exists in dangerous circumstances.

Let’s get off our arses Mr Riordan and responsible government officials, and politicians across the political divide and get our house in order once and for all, and stop using money and lack of resources as an excuse in emergency situations.

If necessary close a road if it is known to be dangerously unroadworthy, order salt lorries and shipments of salt and show leadership. The whole lot is worth one life saved.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Kingston FF Candidate Bantry Electoral Area June 2009,
Goleen,
Co Cork.