Sir, – It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good. How wise that proverb of a lifetime ago. The dreadful pandemic has ensured that we will have more bins and more public toilets in our capital city (“Dublin to get 150 temporary toilets and more bins”, News, June 3rd). It might be time that our politicians and planners reflected on the wisdom of the proverbs of old. – Yours, etc,
ALICE LEAHY,
Director of Services,
Alice Leahy Trust,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Breda O’Brien’s “Older people’s lives are being wasted too” (Opinion & Analysis, May 8th) was a thought-provoking column that should be digested by anyone interested in how we treat our fellow human beings.
Ageism is alive and well.
Covid has shone a bright light on the fallout from cutbacks over recent years.
All of us now, whatever the age, are just ticks in boxes designed by someone from the comfort of a cold bureaucratic setting. This is particularly the case for people over 65.
Many of us are blessed with good health and energy due to the circumstances of our birth and how our lives have panned out, but so many other people are not so lucky.
We should not be afraid to speak out and let our views be heard.
This would support and encourage younger people to see that we are all in this together and that they too, with luck, will reach the ripe old of 65 before not too long. One in six of our population will be aged over 65 by 2030.
Today older people can see themselves portrayed as victims opportunistically or as the new 30 year olds. We should be accepted for what we are, with the rights and opportunities we are entitled to. We should make our presence felt at local and national level to ensure we are not consigned to the scrap-heap before our time.
“Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven’t committed.”
These words were written by novelist Anthony Powell in 1973.
How prophetic was that statement? – Yours, etc,
ALICE LEAHY,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Sir,
If the amount of used masks and gloves discarded on our footpaths is an indication of how concerned we are for one another, we have a long way to go!
Yours, etc,
ALICE LEAHY,
Dublin 6.
It’s quieter in our reception area these days. We have reopened the doors of the Alice Leahy Trust on Dublin’s Bride Road with new practices for Covid times. We take temperatures, wear visors and ask everyone to wash their hands after they come in our basement door.
The first person back to us when we reopened hadn’t had a shower since we closed in March. He said he had been washing in streams or public toilets whenever he could. We were the only place where he felt he could have a shower or soak his feet. So he went without. Read the full article here
