Madam, - After the wonderful and uplifting spirit with which the people of Ireland have embraced the Special Olympics, I was alarmed to read Carl O'Brien's report in your edition of June 26th highlighting the fact that the Government has spent at least €9 million contesting court claims regarding services for people with disabilities over the past five years. Alarmed, but not surprised.
Before last year's general election I worked with Frances Fitzgerald, TD on amending a draconian piece of proposed legislation, the Disability Bill.
This Bill was an affront to disabled people, circumventing any commitments to enshrine basic rights in the legislation, failing to include a timeframe for implementation and actually denying a right of enforcement to individuals under the proposals. It was ultimately withdrawn by the Government under immense pressure from committed voluntary organisations, Opposition parties and concerned individuals. The Government's subsequent commitment to introduce a rights-based proposal after the general election has not been honoured, more than a year later.
Then, in May this year, we learned of the Department of Justice's posturing in Europe, where the Minister for Justice opposed any Irish involvement in finding an EU consensus on the proposed UN Convention for People with Disabilities, and opposed Irish participation in drafting the treaty on the rights of people with disabilities.
What a shame that the Government's priority appears to be cheap PR stunts and opportunistic photo calls, rather than making a meaningful, long-lasting difference to the lives of people such as the brave Special Olympics athletes. - Yours, etc.,
LUCINDA CREIGHTON, Vice-president, Young Fine Gael, Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Diarmuid Torney (June 25th) offers a view of Ireland in which 30,000 volunteers work selflessly to make the Special Olympics a success while suffering the inequities of an unrepresentative Government. If only this wasn't childish naïveté.
We live in a parliamentary democracy where a government is elected to disburse public funds. The present administration has been in government since 1997 and managed to increase its mandate last year. This is the Government the voters chose.
In 1997 the less fortunate suffered as they do now. They suffered before 1997. No party has yet to promise Utopia if elected. So I can safely predict that in 10 years' time, regardless of which party is in charge, the less fortunate will still be suffering. This is a fact because the majority of voters are not - and will not - be prepared to pay for the services that they now complain about as failing.
So while the Special Olympics may induce a mild dose of patronising positivism towards those with intellectual difficulties, come election time, whichever party promises to spend less, will win. I think that can safely be described as collective hypocrisy and not excused as bad governance. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL BOWLER, Grosvenor Park, Rathmines, Dublin 6.