Sir, - Siobhan McGee (November 11th) suggests that those of us who resent the imposition of an extra school holiday, at short notice, "view school as a sort of (unpaid) childcare." The working parents of this country have had this spat at us pretty well any time the shortness of our school year is mentioned. I, for one, am getting tired of it.
Working parents must inevitably organise their working lives around their children's school time. Any unexpected day off, given at short notice, causes a crisis in homes where both parents are out during the day. Teachers are among the few exceptions to this rule, which perhaps explains why they seem unable to understand the fury they arouse in parents when they dismiss our concerns. - Yours, etc.,
Royal Terrace West, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.