Letters to the Editor, June 7th: on nursing home revelations, Trump versus Musk and bird droppings

Irish Times

13 hours ago

Sir, – It is 20 years, almost to the day, since RTÉ broadcast the Prime Time Investigates documentary which revealed the horrors of Leas Cross nursing home in Dublin.
On Wednesday, further outstanding investigative journalism by RTÉ revealed yet more horror stories in Ireland's private nursing home sector.
I have no words to adequately describe the anger, profound sadness and deep frustration I felt as I watched frail, vulnerable, elderly people being denied the most basic care.
As I listened to frightened residents begging and pleading for help, I also felt an overwhelming sense of the deepest fear.
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My mother lived with dementia for 20 years. She has a strong family history of dementia and all her siblings have either succumbed to, or are living with, Alzheimer's disease.
I cared for my mother at home for many years. I am forever thankful that she received excellent quality care, and extended care, in both our acute and voluntary hospitals.
Developing dementia is one of my greatest fears. I have no family. There will be nobody to fight for good care for me, or to advocate for me, should I also succumb to dementia.
When I watched frail elderly residents with dementia being treated so horrifically on the RTÉ Investigates documentary this week, I despaired.
Those residents were the victims of blatant abuse. Residents with advanced dementia would most likely be unable to accurately explain their experiences to anybody, or to identify their abusers. That also makes them easy targets for such abuse.
I concluded that, should I ever be diagnosed with dementia and reach that stage of illness and dependency, I would rather not be alive than be at the mercy of such so-called 'care providers'.
Twenty years after Leas Cross such horrors are still happening. What does it take to make this stop? Or will this latest horror simply result in more transient outrage, more eloquent statements and yet more empty promises, until the next time? Is there always going to be a next time? – Yours, etc,
BERNADETTE BRADY (PHD),
Rathfarnham,
Dublin.
Sir, – The RTÉ Investigates programme, Inside Ireland's Nursing Homes, was truly disturbing. RTÉ and all who contributed to the making of the programme, both to camera and undercover, deserve our thanks. It does however raise some important questions which a follow-on programme might wish to address.
Twenty-five years after the Leas Cross scandal, and the follow-on establishment of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), how come care in congregated settings is increasingly provided in large for profit facilities (a worrying trend to which Hiqa has drawn attention) and what difference would it make if the Health Service Executive (HSE) were to build and run more such facilities?
How come private and voluntary (non-HSE) nursing homes are not part of the overall planning process for integrated services in the six new regional HSE organisations, despite a clearly identified need to improve clinical governance across the sector as suggested by the expert group on nursing homes which reported during the Covid pandemic?
Where is the evidence of follow through on all the recommendations for the development of a wider range of alternatives to nursing homes, including the development of small scale 'Household / Teaghleach'models of nursing home and congregated care? Why is the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), essentially a medical procedures agency, still involved in 'purchasing' care for older people through a nursing home support scheme (Fair Deal) administered by the HSE across all nursing homes (most of which it does not control) while the regulator, Hiqa, has no role in regulating the payment levels to those nursing homes?
Why is the Law Reform Commission report on adult safeguarding, published in April 2024, not being progressed with urgency by the Oireachtas given that the report included draft legislation?
The RTÉ programme concerned two nursing homes owned by Emeis, formerly Orpea. There is plenty of information available concerning Orpea, particularly in France (where it was partially nationalised), to have at least raised concerns.
There must have been some awareness of this and consideration of the possible consequences for older people in Ireland when they were allowed operate in the Irish market.
It is interesting to note that the group's facility in Portlaoise is described as a nursing home but with a capacity for 101 residents it is not far off the size of Portlaoise hospital.
To describe such a facility as a 'home from home' is seriously mistaken. The images of abusive and cruel behaviour and of residents corralled into one room are more suggestive of a human warehouse than a home.
Finally, for all those many staff currently providing care in nursing homes to the highest standard they possibly can, in the often difficult circumstances in which they find themselves, it would be helpful if they could rely on a public system of support and guidance, including clinical support and governance, to deal with issues and concerns at short notice rather than having to await an occasional inspection from the regulator followed by a report some while later.
Regulation and inspection are important but they are no longer enough. Practical supports to encourage quality care are far more likely to pick up on issues and have them addressed as they arise. – Yours ,etc.
MERVYN TAYLOR,
Stillorgan,
Dublin.
Sir, – The RTÉ Investigates programme laid bare the inhumane treatment of vulnerable residents in private nursing homes – many of whom are paying exorbitant fees of €1,400 per week.
At such a staggering cost, these individuals could instead receive dignified, high-quality home care in the comfort of their own communities. That these abuses persist is a damning indictment of systemic failure.
Hiqa, tasked with safeguarding standards, has clearly failed residents, families, and the State. Paper-based inspections and sporadic visits are not enough to prevent cruelty behind closed doors.
If we are serious about accountability, Hiqa must have a permanent, on-the-ground presence in every facility, with 24/7 monitoring via live video feeds covering all areas – excluding only private bathrooms for dignity. Modern technology makes this feasible; what's lacking is political will.
Why not implement this? If prisons and childcare centres can adopt stringent oversight, why not nursing homes, where our most fragile citizens reside?
Until real-time transparency is enforced, families will never trust that their loved ones are safe.
This isn't just about regulation – it's about basic humanity. – Yours, etc,
PETER MALBASHA,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – This nursing care scandal has scared many people. My 80-year-old mother has just told me how, as she was lighting her candles for her grandchildren sitting their Leaving Certificate, she also lit one for herself.
Her prayer is that she doesn't fall, break her hip and end up in a nursing home like that. Calling for help, with no one answering. I hope our Minister for Older People is listening, because this is a loud voting issue. – Yours, etc,
CARMEL DOYLE,
Beaumont Woods,
Dublin 9.
Trade union dues
Sir, – Do I get a hint of disdain in Barry Walsh's letter (June 5th) about unions suggesting all should pay dues whether a union member or not ?
He wonders why the general secretary of Fórsa earns three times the average pay. Does he suggest they earn the same as a shop-floor worker?
I have been lucky to have been a union member most of my working life especially having been made redundant once. I do think it unfair that some colleagues refuse to join a union but at the same time are more than happy to accept the pay and benefits that a union has negotiated or earned, often by its members having to strike. – Yours, etc,
ENDA SCANLON,
Ennis,
Co Clare.
Trinity College and Israel
Sir, – In deciding to boycott and divest from Israel, Trinity College Dublin has, in my view, abandoned the key principle of institutional neutrality which should underpin the actions of a serious university.
In 1967, the University of Chicago led the way on this fundamental issue during the white heat of the campus riots across America during the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa. The faculty debated how a university should respond to the burning political and social issues of the day. When passions are running high, what should a university say or do when activists demand it choose sides and take action?
Chicago's conclusion was straightforward: the university must remain neutral in order to meet its long-term core mission of the 'discovery, improvement, and dissemination of knowledge'.
This did not mean ignoring difficult issues. Faculty and students must have full freedom of criticism, dissent and open inquiry, but the university itself 'is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic'.
Bizarrely, the board's chairman noted explicitly in a message to the college community that while Trinity is engaged in a number of EU-funded research consortia which include Israeli partners 'here is no evidence to associate any of these with breaches of international humanitarian law or human rights violations.'
So what is Trinity's problem with individual Israeli academics and universities who are often eloquent critics of their governments' actions and policies? Is it not overreach to insist that the 'college should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel's participation in such collaborations?'
So many questions remain unanswered. Can Trinity's decades long partnerships with Intel continue when the tech firm is thought to be Ireland's biggest importer of Israeli goods, most from its sister factory in Kiryat Gat?
Are Trinity's teaching hospitals, St James's and Tallaght, now prohibited from accessing Israeli medical products and pharmaceuticals?
Can Trinity's partnerships with American universities and companies continue given stringent US anti-boycott legislation?
What now for Trinity's Herzog Centre, the only institution in Ireland offering Jewish studies, when your university has decided to boycott the world's only Jewish state?
In singling out Israel alone for boycott and divestment while maintaining ties with other countries with well-documented human rights violations, Trinity has opened itself to the charge of institutional anti-Semitism and racism. I am ashamed of my alma mater. – Yours, etc,
DR JANE MAHONY,
BA (Mod), PhD,
Trinity College,
Dublin.
Birds dropping
Sir, – Reading Frank McNally's column on the provenance of
James 'Skin the Goat' Fitzharris's reflection on informers
, I wonder if it may come from the belief held in many places that being shat on by a bird is a sign of good luck?
Personally I have never held much store in this, having been the victim many years ago on Brighton seafront of a seagull who had had a very large lunch, resulting in my repair to the nearest boutique to purchase a fresh T-shirt. That said, perhaps the informer never overflown will never again have the gift of good luck? – Yours, etc.
JOHN F MCELHONE,
Co Donegal.
Critical climate omission
Sir, – That there is a report by the Environmental Protection Agency about global warming´s effect on Ireland is welcome. (
'Communications, transport and health of older people at increased risk from global warming, says EPA,' June 3rd).
Frightening as it is in its current form, the report has a critical omission. It is has not addressed the dramatic effects of the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc).
In lay man's terms, this ocean current keeps Ireland habitable. Otherwise it would have the climatic conditions of southern Alaska and Canada's Hudson Bay. The weakening or ending of the Amoc is probable. It is certainly an existential threat to Ireland.
Ireland is not geared for an average winter temperature of –18 degrees. It is presently comfortably above 0 degrees.
It is very surprising that the EPA has decided not to include this essential element. Policymakers need all the information to get to comprehend the scale of the challenge. The Irish Government, regardless of its political hue, needs to understand the new business as usual will involve planning and action to protect the State and its citizens.
I don't believe that the timescale is as long as many politicians assume. One of the stand-out facts from my Earth Science education (1992) was the speed of climate change.
The Younger Dryas climatic period ended over less than 50 years, so starting our current phase.
Climate systems are stable until they are not. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD HERRIOTT,
Aarhus,
Denmark.
Trumping Trump v Musk
Sir, – We can all now relax and enjoy watching the world's two biggest egos burn themselves out in front of a potential audience of billions. Could this be the template for settling all global disputes in the future?
Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY,
Killester,
Dublin.
Sir, – The very serious online and very public spat between the world's most powerful man and the world's richest man is a 'big beautiful example' of how reciprocity works in real time. – Yours, etc,
NOIRIN HEALY,
Goatstown,
Dublin.
Sir, – In the very public, very dirty divorce between Trump and Musk who will get custody of JD Vance? – Yours, etc,
BRID MILLER,
Athlone Road,
Roscommon.
Sir, – I wonder did Elon Musk realise how his social media platform X would become really so apt! – Yours, etc,
AIDAN RODDY,
Cabinteely,
Dublin 18.
Funding and the arts
Sir, – The tenor of Yvonne O'Reilly's letter about funding the arts in yesterday's letters page chimed with the findings of a research project I recently undertook with colleagues from Queen's University, Belfast, and Liverpool University into a wide range of 'Arts for Peace' projects in Northern Ireland.
Too often what passes for evaluation is really about accountability with funded organisations wanting to assure funders they have achieved their set goals.
Funders for their part tend to see it as a purely administrative process, with vasts amount of data going largely unanalysed. But the value of this data must be questionable given the limited scope for acknowledging what is learnt from unsuccessful aspects of funded projects and outcomes that were not envisaged at the time of application.
I can reassure your correspondent, however, that there are examples of good practice out there that will hopefully in due course inform a more productive evaluation culture. – Yours, etc.
DAVID GRANT,
School of Arts, English,
and Languages,
Queen's University,
Belfast.