CHRISTMAS DOES HAVE ITS DOWNSIDE

Dear Sir,

As well as being a joyful time of the year especially for children, Christmas has a downside when the bills for exuberant spending have to be paid. Apart from families trying not to be out done by their neighbours when providing toys for their children they also spend enormous amounts on decorating their homes.

Shops and other types of businesses compete with one another, but economy often forces them to use the same decorations year after year. Christmas decorations in public places falls under the jurisdiction of local councils and are often the subject of torrid debate as to their affordability. This gives the impression of prudence “we do not waste taxpayers money”.

The water board replaced about 400 metres of water pipes on the road where I live about 3 months ago. The road was festooned with dozens of cones and warning signs of men at work, unbelievable! Despite the work being completed, now 3 months later we have Dickensian panorama of council thrift and waste as surface water cascades along the road surface unable to enter neglected side drains, enhanced by tumbling cones and leaning warning signs.

In my opinion they are salvageable and could be collected by an enterprising person and sold back to the council - waste not want not.

Yours sincerely,
Richard Prendergast, Mondaniel, Rathcormac

M.E.P.S - MAKING THEMSELVES HEARD

Dear Editor,

I am writing to you in response to the recent letter which you published from Patrick O’Donnell entitled “Our local MEPs should make themselves heard”. As the newest of the Irish MEPs, having taken up my seat last June, I have been very impressed at the way most of the Irish MEPs cooperate on issues of importance to this country.

I believe that Ireland South, in particular, is well served by its three MEPs. The Ireland South constituency has a population of just over 1 million people and while, at some stages in the past the MEPs have been located in different parts of the constituency, the fact that all three are at present based in Cork, should not impact on the service being provided by them.

All parts of the constituency are easily accessible from Cork, with most of the major centres being within a two hour drive. For my part I spend my weekends meeting people from across the various parts of the constituency and have held numerous meetings with various groups throughout every county in my area since last summer.

The Fine Gael MEPs are part of the EPP-ED Group which is the largest political grouping within the European Parliament. This gives the five Fine Gael MEPs considerable influence within the Parliament itself and is often of major assistance to the Irish Government when it come to lobbying on key issues.

However, much of the work of the Irish MEPs goes unnoticed back at home and this is in spite of the fact that as much as 80% of the legislation which goes through the Dail has its origins in Europe. It would be easy to blame the media for not reporting what goes on in Europe, but the press and broadcast media have excellent people in Europe covering the activities of the European Commission and the European Parliament. However, the actual coverage back in Ireland seldom reflects the effort of those reporters.

The regular coverage which RTE television gives to the sessions of the European Parliament is shown so late at night that only the very committed followers stay up to watch it. Coverage therefore of events in the European Parliament is usually confined to the more controversial issues that arise from time to time.

Unlike the Dail where political debate tends to be confrontational, in Europe much is achieved by consensus and is therefore perhaps seen as less exciting from a media viewpoint. Even the emergency resolution which I introduced in the European Parliament last week in relation to the Irish led peacekeeping mission to Eastern Chad, was barely reported in the Irish media.

In spite of the limited reporting that our work gets, my MEP colleagues and I will continue to work in the best interests of our constituency and country. While my main constituency office is in Cork, I also work out of other locations across Ireland South.

However anyone wishing to contact me can do so for the price of a local call by phoning me at 1850 228753 or by e-mailing me at cburke@colmburke.eu

Yours sincerely,
Colm Burke MEP

PUTTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Dear Editor,

I wish to set the record straight following misleading remarks that appeared in last week’s edition of The Avondhu. For the public record, at the November meeting of the town council I sought and secured the unanimous support of my council colleagues when I requested that the council write to extend our good wishes to our colleague Cllr Hanley on learning of his hospitalisation.

It is misfortunate in the extreme if there is doubt in the public mind as to the high esteem in which Cllr Michael Hanley is held in by his fellow council members.

Cllr Tadhg O’Donovan,
Fermoy Labour Party town councillor