Sir, – Michael McDowell argues that the abolition of bedsits was folly (“Folly of abolishing bedsits only to promote co-living is now becoming clear,“ July 2nd).
While he justly highlights an obvious policy contradiction with the recent introduction, and subsequent abandonment, of the co-living accommodation format, what is consistently overlooked in the bedsit discussion is the actual number of bedsits that were never abolished at all.
In fact, has there been any retrospective analysis by the Department of Housing of exactly how the estimated 8,750 bedsits in Ireland have transitioned to their new status as, in many cases, even smaller housing units?
Evidence from Dublin city centre demonstrates that kitchens and bathrooms were prescribed by environmental health officers for insertion into existing bedsits, thus reducing their habitable area even further, in addition to a host of other mandated alterations that skirted the planning system.
RM Block
Given so many of these units were hosted in protected structures, was Dublin City Council’s planning department overwhelmed with an avalanche of planning applications for material works to protected structures to create best practice apartment homes in historic buildings, complying with development plan apartment standards?
When I posited this to a council planner at the time, their face collapsed. In many cases, the “bedsit ban” was simply a licence to authorise hundreds of substandard urban apartment homes in some of the most marginalised parts of our city – while dismembering protected structures in the process.
McDowell’s article is accompanied with a stock photograph of Belvedere Place, off Mountjoy Square (I can tell it is a stock photo, as all the historic timber sash windows in one of the “former” bedsit Georgian houses have since been skipped and replaced with PVC frames).
This street, like most in the North Georgian core, is at the epicentre of new “bedsit-land”, where accommodation has reached such a nadir of dysfunction that some owners now pack these tiny, State-validated “units” with multiple bunk beds on licence agreements.
While one may have sympathy for the polite Rathgar bedsits owner (Letters, July 1st), I fear this is not the end of the wedge that we should be focusing our energies on. It is vital that the new management agency proposed for Dublin gets to grips with upholding housing standards in our capital’s centre. It’s fast becoming the wild west out there. – Yours, etc,
GRAHAM HICKEY,
CEO, Dublin Civic Trust,
Dublin 7.
The wonders of Wimbledon
Sir, – It is that time of year again, and Wimbledon is upon us. And this is the first year there will be no line judges at the tennis tournament.
Years ago, I was lucky enough to attend Wimbledon, and while enjoying my strawberries and cream under a green, leafy pergola, I saw a line judge perched on a low wall looking at her mobile phone.
I had always wondered: how does one become a line judge? I approached, introduced myself, and asked the woman how she became a line judge and what the training was like. She told me she applied to an ad she saw in a programme one year when she attended Wimbledon. She went on to say she had been a line judge for 30 years, and in that time, she had even been on centre court.
The most fascinating part of her story was the first training session. Trainees were brought on court and asked to make calls on a game. Those who didn’t shout loud enough didn’t make the cut and were sent home.
The thinking was that if you were on a show court, you had to be loud enough to be heard, and you had to have the confidence to stand by your call and to withstand any subsequent glares from disgruntled players.
As we embrace this new automated era, I will miss the line judges, the drama that comes with challenging a call, and the collective clapping of the crowd while waiting for the result to appear on the scoreboard.
There will be no more “You cannot be serious!” moments.
Having said that, there will still be plenty of on-court drama to enjoy. – Yours, etc,
Dr OLIVER JOYCE,
Strandhill Road,
Co Sligo.
Sir, – Laura O’Mara bemoans the absence of lines people calling fault (Letters, July 2nd), even, presumably, when the ball is clearly on the line. She’ll just have to chalk it down to moving with the times. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KEEGAN,
Co Dublin.
Voting and the diaspora
Sir, – As an Irish citizen living in Ireland, I am compelled to voice my frustration over the denial of my fundamental right to vote for our president (“Irish presidential election must be the last to exclude voters in North, Dáil hears,” June 25th).
This situation not only undermines my democratic rights but also makes me feel like a second-class citizen.
Living in Ireland, many of us obviously maintain strong ties to our culture, family, heritage and our interests are intertwined with the future of a New Ireland.
Yet, when it comes to the time to participate in the selection of our president, we are excluded from the process that shapes our nation’s future.
This exclusion is not just a deficit in democracy, but it is a significant gap in the recognition of our diaspora’s contributions and voices as citizens.
Voting is the cornerstone of democracy. It is not just a right, but a profound responsibility that connects citizens to their government and Ireland, regardless of where they reside.
The issues that affect Ireland – be it economic policy, social justice, or healthcare – also resonate deeply with those living abroad.
We deserve the opportunity to have our voices heard and influence who gets to represent the entire Irish nation, including our diaspora.
I urge the Government to plan for the referendum and to reconsider this exclusion and ensure that all Irish citizens, no matter where they reside, have the right to vote in presidential elections.
It is time to recognise that our global community has a stake in and will play a huge role in Ireland’s future on the world’s stage. – Yours, etc,
CONOR QUINN,
Co Antrim.
Standing for president
Sir, – Am I alone in this country in believing that any individual who was a member of the government that brought this country to financial ruin in 2008, should not even consider themselves eligible to run for the office of president.
They cannot be stripped of their TD or ministerial pensions, but surely we can endeavour to keep them out of our Áras? – Yours, etc,
MAEVE WRIGHT,
Co Kildare.
McGregor’s energy drink
Sir, – Dave Hannigan’s article on McGregor’s new fizzy drink was on the nail, as usual, but Mr Hannigan is perhaps too much of a gentleman. He asks: what were the executives in Utah thinking when they licensed this venture (“Conor McGregor’s latest energy drink stunt shows more tone-deaf crassness,” July 3rd).
Well, they were thinking of their man somehow getting to smarm with US president Donald Trump in the Oval Office, and the fact that he is Irish. However, as one might expect, they were tone deaf to the nuances of Bucked Up.
Apart from the obvious closeness to another word ending in –cked, the verb “buck” was, in the Northern Ireland of my youth, a synonym /euphemism for said other word.
No-one in the room to spell this out to them, I suppose. – Yours, etc,
TERRY WALSH,
Murcia,
Spain.
Nice photo
Sir, –The photo of Ronan O’Gara and Leo Cullen in the sports pages of The Irish Times on July 2nd should be displayed in every sports clubhouse as an example of true sportsmanship. – Yours, etc,
ED MELBOURNE,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow,
Hpat and all that
Sir, – In September 2004 when then minister for education Noel Dempsey proposed that aptitude tests would be introduced for applicants to medical schools, I pointed out that international research showed that aptitude tests were not a good predictor of university performance and that coaching for such tests would result in enhanced performance on the part of students.
I stated that: “If aptitude tests are introduced for entry to medical courses in Ireland, the one thing we can predict with a high degree of accuracy, is that there will be a burgeoning of the grind-school industry.
“In that event, as a nation, we will have to seriously consider how equity and social justice can be maintained in relation to university entrance for those students whose families are not in a position to pay for the necessary coaching or grind-school preparation”.
Twenty years later, my prediction has been proved accurate. – Yours, etc,
ÁINE HYLAND,
Emeritus Professor of Education,
University College Cork.
Sir, – Brian O’Brien (Letters, July 2nd) is to be commended. He highlights the added strain and expense that the Hpat aptitude test puts on parents and students alike and more importantly, that there seems to be little if any correlation with performance in the (medical) job.
Putting it bluntly, he says the benefits of this compulsory exam seem to be very questionable. To add to this, the stress and the financial burden is enormous, with “an outlay somewhere between €4,000-€5,000 on preparing for it”.
Mr O’Brien writes as a medical consultant, but I would like to add that writing as a principal teacher who has interviewed many teaching applicants, I would hold neat writing, minus spelling errors, and an affable nature higher than any extra test such as the Hpat on top of the existing Leaving Certificate points requirements.
The current undergraduate entry marks for subjects are high enough without adding to the already existing mental and financial stress that is part of second-level education today. – Yours, etc,
BRENDA MORGAN,
Howth,
Dublin.
Nurses and injecting Botox
Sir, – The article “I have women in their 60s and 70s watching TikTok fads: Skin doctors warn over damaging beauty trends” (April 14th, 2024), included the quotation: “Only doctors and dentists can administer Botox.”
Nurses in Ireland are authorised to administer botulinum toxin (Botox) in accordance with the directions of a registered medical practitioner. The law has not changed.
There has never been any rationale, clinical or otherwise, to restrict nurses from injecting Botox, provided all professional, legal and governance requirements are fulfilled.
Nurses have long been recognised as healthcare professionals who are key to delivering essential care and treatment.
Administering (and prescribing) high-risk medications is regular nursing practice in the public-health system, with local governance and specific protocols in place to promote patient safety.
Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen the attempted obstruction of professional development for nurses seeking to advance their practice in the private sector.
There is no valid reason to restrict nursing practice in only one area of clinical practice at a time when the role and scope of the nurse is otherwise expanding to help meet the needs of our patients and in accordance with our nursing regulator.
A nurse can be trusted to make clinical decisions by the ICU bed of a critically ill child, to lead the palliative team in complex end-of-life care, to develop local and national health policy – yet it is suggested that nurses best keep their hands off Botox needles. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTINA O’ROURKE,
Chairperson, Dermatology Aesthetic Nurses Association of Ireland (DANAI),
Secretary, Irish Nurses and
Midwives Organisation (INMO),
Dermatology Aesthetic Section,
Marino,
Dublin 3.
Powerful suggestion
Sir, – I refer to your article “Consumers to face higher electricity costs amid network investment” (July 3rd).
When there are billions of euro knocking around in government coffers, surely a few strategic, State- owned, renewable energy projects (wind or solar) would be a better use of public money at this time?
Now that we are connected to the EU and UK grids, such State-owned projects could generate significant revenue selling excess energy abroad.
The profits from such projects could then be used not only to upgrade our electricity network, but to maintain it to a high standard for decades to come.
Why is something like this not even being considered? Must be that it flies in the face of the prevailing neoliberal policies being peddled by the United States and European Union and which Ireland is expected – nay obliged – to follow at all costs?
This includes privatisation of profits in the good times and socialisation of debt when the wheels come off as happened in the aftermath of the financial crash in 2008.
Have we learned nothing from recent history? – Yours, etc,
PADDY SHARKEY,
Hollywood,
Co Wicklow.
God bless Galway
Sir, – Thirty years ago I left the lovely dampness of rural Galway to live in California. Quelle surprise, the glorious weather, blue skies, constant sunshine.
I soon got acclimatised (pun intended) to moving from air-conditioned bubble to air-conditioned bubble.
Then one July day my lipstick melted in my handbag and I remember saying to my husband: “This isn’t going to end well.”
Grateful to be back in rural Galway. – Yours, etc,
ANNE MARIE KENNEDY,
Craughwell,
Co Galway.
Third-level contributions
Sir, – It seems that the callers to RTÉ’s Liveline programme are the main influencers of Government policy on third-level student contributions rather than the democratically elected Ministers (“Coalition sharply divided over third-level fees,” July 3rd). – Yours, etc,
ANNETTE MOLONEY CONNOLLY,
Ennis,
Co Clare.
Sir. – As students and parents are faced with paying ¤1,000 more than expected for university registration in the coming academic year, it brings me back to the days when very good nurses learned their skills while working and being paid on hospital wards.
We also had very good primary teachers who trained for two years in a residential college making for efficient financial management. – Yours, etc,
MARY DALY,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin.
