Letters to the Editor: Primary schools must have libraries
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is at an impasse with frontline staff.
I am a huge bookworm and it stemmed from my childhood but imagine how much easier it would be to encourage children to read if there was a library in their primary school.
Children’s Books Ireland requested that the Department of Education invests another €20m in books for children and young people as part of the 2024 budget.
Children’s Books Ireland shared data that they collected from their book gifting application scheme. Seventy-five per cent of applicants said that the source of new books is donations from their students’ parents and guardians.
Why must schools rely on kind and generous donations from parents and guardians?
Education is an important part of life and primary school is an integral part of that.
Without books at school how can children learn to read and develop an interest in books? How will they expand their vocabulary?
How will they comprehend periods of history or math questions without exposing themselves to the wonderful world of words that books offer them?
A worrying statistic from the Children’s Books Ireland book gifting application is that 87% of applicants said that their selection of books at their school lacked diversity.
Children, like adults, need to experience diversity. Having a school library with a diverse range of books can expose children to a variety of cultures and identities and minority groups from a young age. It can increase their awareness and respect for their peers.
The morals of book characters and how they overcome challenges can teach children valuable life lessons about the world and the people in it. To reiterate the words of Children’s Books Ireland “every child has the right to be a reader”.
Every child deserves the opportunity to be a reader and have reading as one of their hobbies.
How can classes fully participate in Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R) time without at least one book per child available at their school library? It is highly unlikely, maybe even impossible, that everyone will like the same book.
However, it is most likely that everyone will find at least one book that they will enjoy. Truly enjoying a book can be a healthy form of escapism for children. It can help their imagination grow and develop.
Every child deserves free and equal access to books and library services.
It was almost comical to hear the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris declare to the Policing Authority last week, that far from causing any distress and anxiety to the force since his appointment five years ago, quite the opposite is the case in fact.
What he was saying de facto, was that the recent no-confidence vote by the frontline members of the force was just basically dreamt up by those members willy nilly and without any reason for doing so.
Whether intentional or not, what he was saying was that they had no reason (or right) whatsoever for acting as they did.
Plainly, the commissioner is now in the height of a major ‘sulk’ at the indignity and personal hurt of of the so-called ‘kick in the teeth’ which he apparently feels that he has unjustly received. He should realise that those who expressed their views per the recent vote did so after much consideration of their plight.
Now once again, Mr Harris is refusing to engage with the Garda Representative Association, without agreeing to defer the proposed new roster due on November 6.
What in God’s name has he to gain by adopting such a stance other than trying to save face after recent events.
He should grow up and put his more than obvious ‘personal’ hurt (and present sulk) aside, and act in a professional manner and defer the roster deadline, and get down to meaningful negotiations with the various representatives and solve the present impasse.
In conclusion, isn’t it rather glaringly obvious, that apparently no one in the Policing Authority to whom he addressed his comments, asked him that if, as he said, he had done all in his power to bring the frontline members with him since his appointment, then why are those very people so adamant that he is not the person in whom they are willing to place their professional confidence in?
It is perplexing to see inaccurate parallels drawn between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Palestinian conflict (‘FAI should boycott Israel’, Letters, September 30).
Following Ukrainian independence in 1994, Ukraine and Russia signed the Budapest Convention which contained written reassurances that Russia would not threaten or use military force against Ukraine.
Despite this agreement, Ukraine has been defending itself from Russian agression since 2014.
Similarly, in 1993 and 1994, Israel accepted the Oslo Accords, which provided a plan for peace, Palestinian self-determination and Israeli withdrawal from the so-called “Palestinian territories”.
Israel’s reward for signing the Oslo Accords was the Second Intifada and hundreds of civilian deaths at the hands of Palestinian terrorists.
Palestinian terror attacks on civilians remain a daily threat to Israeli life and Palestinians continue to reject the simple existence of the State of Israel. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign is just one element of attempts to destroy Israel.
The current Israeli national soccer team includes Jewish Israelis born in Israel and Ethiopia, and Arab Israelis. As such it demonstrates a commitment to equality and diversity that should be praised rather than boycotted.
I’m delighted to see Mick Clifford highlighting the authoritarian rule which gender activists have over our public bodies and politicians.
As someone who attended the “let women speak” event this month I’ve seen first hand the abuse and fear activists deployed to attempt to silence women speaking up on this issue.
Many of us contacted the gardaí in advance due to the threats of violence and thankfully they did a fantastic job keeping us safe.
People speaking up on this topic are risking their careers and their personal safety.
It’s high time the activists are held to account for their underhand tactics.
America has gutted its own civil service while Russia is allowed to sit on the UN Security Council.
Throwing billions at the Ukraine is pointless when Russia is allowed to block decisions not in its favour.
Neither Russia, nor the former USSR, ever signed the UN’s founding charter in 1945.
Russia has still been able to use its veto more frequently than any other member. It’s getting good value for its contribution of $54.5m this year. America’s capped contributions are in arrears.
Like the former League of Nations, the UN has proven itself unfit to prevent war.
Since 1945, the world has seen 285 armed conflicts. The UN has done little but observe instead of taking action, even though its annual peacekeeping budget is $6.5bn.
I note on Tuesday last our naval personnel had to give a “shot across the bow” to the MV Matthew.
On Wednesday, for the emergency services country wide, it was a situation of all hands on deck for Storm Agnes.
Now, with the results of this Sunday’s political poll, could we say that it’s a case of “plain sailing from here on in” for Mary Lou.
Given the training room speech by Ronan O’Gara which has launched a thousand T-shirts and the recent passionate pre-match speech by Peter O’Mahony, perhaps you could arrange to photograph these two amigos outside the Irish embassy in Paris, ie, on the corner of Avenue Foch and Rue Rudé?
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