As Election Day looms, here are some ‘unresolved’ issues

Yet another election day looms. And still, things that are so screamingly obvious to those of us at the frontline of living in Ireland today somehow, bewilderingly, remain unresolved.

Our children are turning into zombies

Is it just me or does anyone else notice the State’s absolute failure to address the issue of babies and young children being quite literally reared by devices and social media?

We need a really strong government-run campaign to clearly inform and loudly warn parents of the potential ill-effects of allowing babies and children of all ages to spend so much of their time on screens from the moment they open their eyes or sit up in a buggy.

A campaign that would spell out exactly why - physically, psychologically, emotionally, academically - it really isn’t such a great idea to be handing your baby, your toddler or young child an iPad or your smartphone every minute of the day and then buying them their own the minute they enter primary school.

To remind people that storybooks, Lego, colouring books, art supplies, big cardboard boxes, camogie and hurley sticks, footballs, football fields, parks and friends’ houses are still out there.

That it’s a great idea to be a role model in the following ways – read and read to your children. Join the library. Be physically active yourself and encourage your children to be physically active. Play with them and encourage them to play traditional healthy children’s games outdoors and indoors with their friends rather than letting them sit in their bedrooms alone, gaming online, steadily losing their childhood by accessing all sorts of inappropriate and deeply damaging material and being turned into sitting ducks for scary online predators.

Talk to children rather than distracting them with devices.

The cost of housing

Our young people are emigrating because they can’t afford to rent or buy a roof over their heads while the State continues to bring in thousands of vulnerable people for whom this small island clearly no longer has the resources to offer sufficient or appropriate assistance.

Let’s be honest here. The downward pressure of the State’s kindly policy on immigration in cities, towns and villages in recent years has been massive. We have to grasp the nettle and acknowledge that the inn is now full. The school is full. The GP’s surgery is full. The dentist is full. The emergency room is full. The hospital itself is full.

Affordable accommodation is virtually non-existent and our social welfare system is buckling under the strain.

We need to face the hard, cold reality that we currently can’t even look after our own people properly anymore in relation to housing or many other needs.

Local example of our people being left in the lurch: Just watch the video of disability worker Charlotte Fallon, who was left shaken and in tears after her encounter in Kanturk with the Taoiseach, where she pleaded for something to be done about the needs of care workers and service users in the disability sector.

Lack of Gardaí on our streets and roads

There are nowhere near enough gardaí around, massive morale problems in the force - and let’s not forget the army, the air corps and the naval services either. The government is not offering crucial incentives like better pay, better conditions and more support for personnel in carrying out these roles.

Driving out of a busy County Cork town last week, I nearly crashed the car from the sheer shock of seeing a real-life Garda checkpoint. What does that tell you?

Visible results on the roads of the shortage of gardaí: Speeding. Aggression. Needless traffic accidents. Vehicles routinely breaking traffic regulations. Drivers of big vehicles such as lorries openly intimidating other motorists. Vehicles driving around with broken headlights.

Results of Ireland’s shortage of gardaí on the streets: Unprovoked attacks. An ever-present sense of menace in city and town centres because of the constant threat of anti-social behaviour. Intimidation of shop-owners and barefaced shop-lifting. Local example: My husband was going to see Lisa Hannigan in the Everyman Theatre last Saturday night. I insisted that he text me once he’d safely walked in the door of the theatre on MacCurtain Street after trudging over from the multi-storey car-park. Why? You know why. I know why. The gardaí know why. The dogs on on the street know why. Why isn’t something being done?

Littering and fly-tipping across urban, rural and marine environments

Gotta do something about all this waste packaging from on-the-go-food products. It’s making some people into millionaires and destroying our environment. 

Gotta do something about people refusing to pay bin charges and dumping their household rubbish in every open space they can find. Local example: Go for a walk. Look around you.

Lack of tradespeople and apprentices

The lack of availability – and the eye-watering cost of – services from people like plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, builders, etc, is now a major issue. They’re too scarce, too hard to get and they cost way too much. Allied to this glaring shortage is a growing concern that some of the work that is currently being done – on private and public projects - is not always up to standard, perhaps because of this shortage?

We need a big State push to encourage young people into well-run apprenticeships – male and female – and generate a new generation of skilled, competent tradespeople by emphasising the many real-life advantages of learning a trade.

And that’s not the half of it.