Madam, - Joe Quirke (January 4th) berates public servants for having a Christmas holiday like everyone else.
Had he been sick at Christmas he would have found thousands of public servants staffing hospitals and ambulance services. Had he or a relative needed residential care or homelessness services, staff were providing them. Had his house caught fire or been burgled, fire-fighters and gardaí were on hand.
Had he been living in a war-torn region of the world, he might have seen Irish blue berets risking their lives. Had he been at sea, public servants would have been tracking his movements and calling assistance if necessary. Air-traffic controllers would have guided his flight if he took to the air. Mr Quirke himself points out that public transport ran normally until 9pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Sewage, electricity, water and gas services were uninterrupted, as were prisons.
I could go on, or list the hundreds of private sector services that were, quite understandably, unavailable on Christmas Eve (a Sunday), Christmas Day and New Year's Eve (also a Sunday).
Oh, and taxi drivers aren't public servants; they're self-employed private sector workers. - Yours, etc,
BERNARD HARBOR, Information Officer, Impact trade union, Dublin 1.
Madam, - Joe Quirke rightly complains about the lack of public services over the festive period, but goes on to say he is thankful that the ESB didn't turn the lights off on Christmas Eve. Maybe so in Dalkey, but not here in Rush, where the lights did indeed go out - not on Christmas Eve, but for most of Christmas Day.
There was neither forewarning nor apology from the ESB. - Yours, etc,
PAUL O' DONOHOE, Rush, Co Dublin.