Jabs must be mandatory to beat the virus
MATT Cooper, i n his column (‘Vaccines will not inoculate the State against legal challenges’, Mail, Wednesday), said he believes ‘most [Irish] people’ will accept the Covid-19 vaccination, and that the minority who will refuse are ‘not so many’ as to ‘likely damage the necessary take-up of the vaccines to provide some element of “herd immunity”’.
But if we don’t get an overwhelming majority of Irish adults getting the influenza vaccine every winter season, one doubts we will get the vast majority of Irish people needed to be vaccinated against Covid-19 for herd immunity to occur. If the State so far is able to enforce l ockdowns and other restrictions related to this pandemic, then it ought to make, by any means necessary, the millions of Covid-19 vaccines it will pay dearly for mandatory, even in the face of any legal challenge. STEPHEN OLIVER MURRAY,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Less work, same pay
IT’S with astonishment I read 345 public servants in the Property Registration Authority are working just two days one week and three days the next week, or 50% of the time, and getting full pay for this work pattern.
When questioned, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said there had been ‘no changes to the overall working hours or pay for civil and public servants as a result of the working arrangements during Covid-19’.
Why are these public servants not on the Covid-19 payment like every other worker when there is no work for 50% of them? If only the private sector could operate like the public sector, there would be nobody on Covid-19 payments or the unemployment payment.
DENIS DENNEHY, Dublin.
Time to forgive
I READ two letters (Mail, Wednesday) relating to Bloody Sunday 100 years ago, when British forces shot and killed innocent people. I would remind the letter writers of how Gordon Wilson forgave the killers of his daughter in Enniskillen. I would hope these two gentlemen would adopt Mr Wilson’s sentiments please.
AIDAN WHITE, Shannon, Co. Clare.
Beg your pardon
WITH the presidential pardoning of Michael Flynn and a turkey named Corn this week, who will be the next to be pardoned?
There could be family, friends, co-workers or, technically, every person in prison. The family option is not new as Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger. The real question is who will or can pardon president Trump if they wish to? There is some doubt as to whether he could pardon himself, and waiting for the incoming Joe Biden to issue pardons might be risky. Trump could take a day off, by ‘illness’, and Mike Pence could fill in and pardon him. Of course, this is only a theoretical possibility. DENNIS FITZGERALD , Melbourne, Australia.
He can’t be Trumped
WHILE overseeing a thriving economy, the Trump administration rowed back on some of the US’s questionable exports, particularly in the area of social engineering, pertaining to such issues as abortion, gender ideology, etc.
By contrast we’re already getting an idea of the priorities of a Biden/Harris White House. In summary, a reversal of the Trump presidency’s measures. So instead of employment/dignity, the African American population in particular (given the majority of abortion clinics are in that community) can look forward to social welfare, abortion, gender ideology and patronising speeches.
ERIC CONWAY, by email. DONALD Trump, joined by his wife Melania, pardoned Corn, the National Thanksgiving Turkey, at the White House Rose Garden this week. But what exactly was the lucky bird saying? Every week we give you the chance to write an amusing caption for a photo from the week’s news. The best entry wins a €30 Eason token. Send your entries by post to Caption Competition, Irish Daily Mail, Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 – or by email to captions@dailymail.ie. Entries should arrive by next Thursday, December 3. It seems everyone is watching The Crown these days – and previously, Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret, shared a photograph of herself in the bath, wearing a tiara and surrounded by crew, as they prepared to film a scene for the show. We asked what she was saying, and the winning entry (below) came from Tom Donegan in Longford.
Pub problems
THE Government is giving town and village pubs (wet pubs) and their customers no respite, as they will probably not let them open before Christmas.
Then, if the pubs are given a later date, there will probably have been a surge over the Christmas period from other areas of the population, meaning a cancellation of any opening. And this after nine months of previous closure!