A chara, – Are all those who have been saying that we must look after “our own first” during the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis now climbing over each other to reach out and help find temporary accommodation for the Travellers left homeless in the Carrickmines tragedy? I think not. Empathy and solidarity know no borders but maybe the toughest lessons of charity and compassion are in fact learned at home. – Is mise,
BILLY Ó hANLUAIN,
Kimmage,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – Nuala Doherty (October 15th) is sure that she is "not alone in being truly sickened by the actions of some protesters at Rockville Drive".
I am sure that she is not alone in that view but I am equally sure that she would have very little support if she suggested that a halting site, even a “temporary” one, should be imposed on her own neighbourhood.
The residents of Rockville Drive are to be applauded and supported for standing up so quickly to the disgraceful actions of their local authority. The vast majority of your readers understand their actions and would do the same if faced with the prospect of a halting site near their homes.
However, a very disturbing level of political correctness, along with some genuine sympathy for the survivors of an appalling tragedy, ensures that very few people will publicly support the residents of Rockville Drive.
Instead it is open season on these obviously decent people who are open to attack from all sides, including most disturbingly by a Government Minister, when they are simply protecting their homes and their neighbourhoods.
Halting sites are not nice places to live in and are not nice places to live near, and it is not racist or discriminatory to say so. – Yours, etc,
PAUL CARROLL,
Clane,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – While the country mourns the sad loss of our citizens in last weekend’s tragic fire in Carrickmines, the local council stubbornly refuses to provide suitable alternative accommodation for surviving relatives. It is wholly inappropriate that the council should hide behind the genuine fears of residents in Glenamuck and should now seek an alternative site in the area to progress the “temporary” housing plan.
It is interesting to note that, in a similar manner to other councils countrywide, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has failed to provide a real housing solution to Traveller needs, notwithstanding significant central government grants being available. – Yours, etc,
PAWEL RYDZEWSKI,
Newbridge,
Co Kildare.