To rally the nation we need clear communication at top

In my opinion the Government is right to rally the nation together, as one collective and unified team, to beat the pandemic.

With that said, you can’t expect a team to be united if its ‘leaders’ don’t appear to be.

I make reference to the Government’s recent failings to communicate clear and cohesive messages to the nation, knowing that more people are listening now than ever before. When it comes to delivering messages, top quality leaders make sure to communicate with clarity and congruence.

This gives way to a solid foundation of trust from which team members can perform best, and in our situation, cope best.

With that said, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that our own Government (and pandemic leaders) are too often ill-prepared and sloppy when it comes to delivering clear and unified messages to the wider nation, particularly on TV/radio.

Regardless of the ever-changing situation, there is no excuse for poor communication at leadership level.

I’m drawn to ask, who are the PR/communications people behind our Government and how on earth are they letting senior politicians go on air without some sort of run-through first? Before speaking to the media, members of Government should prepare.

This is what all effective leaders do, across all industries. Regardless of the internal challenges that are at play, we (the nation) should not be met with such unprofessionalism again and again.

To finish, I am reminded of a fitting quote by Henry Ford who once said, “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.”

Alison Delahunt

Lucan, Co Dublin

 

Now more than ever we need hope from the Government

In the Greek myth of human creation, Zeus sent down Pandora with a strange little box and the curse of curiosity.

When Pandora gave in to her curiosity and opened the box, it released all manner of hurt and hell upon the Earth. As she wept beside the open box she heard a ringing from within. It was hope, the saviour of humanity from the fear and depression of worldly harm. We need hope now more than ever. We need something to cheer for.

The Government must give us vaccination numbers like a church fundraiser. To bring some cheer and bring back hope.

Ross Kearney

Dublin 13

New quarantine measures… but the same old loopholes

We have now successfully imported three very serious Covid variants which will, no doubt, intensify and prolong the pandemic here.

This has happened because of our failure to set up effective quarantine measures. Now Government proposes new quarantine measures which – surprise, surprise – will leave sufficient loopholes for further variants to arrive on our shores.

The most glaring of these loopholes is, of course, the decision not to extend future mandatory quarantine measures to travellers into Ireland from all destinations.

Then, there appears to be the intention to use private security as support for a Garda presence to police the quarantine. The Aussie experience of the use of private security in the policing of quarantine was not without its problems.

Why the reluctance to use the Defence Forces as support to An Garda Síochána in policing quarantine?

To do so would hardly turn the Republic of Ireland into North Korea.

Lastly, it is worth remembering that the UK and South Africa variants, now seeded in Ireland, appear to be not only more transmissible to the adult population but also to children than was the original Covid strain. Suppose a variant appears that is very transmissible to children: will we continue to think a quarantine that has at least one prominent loophole is OK?

Bill O’Sullivan

Rochestown Road, Cork

 

McClean fails to respect the traditions in land he works in

The anti-British hue I feel comes through in some of your articles about James McClean needs to be taken in context.

It fails to allow for the fact Irish women who could not have their children in Ireland, because they were unwed, were welcomed into Britain.

Irish women seeking termination were also welcomed into Britain. Irish youth seeking work were similarly welcomed.

People from all over the world were, if not welcomed, at least tolerated: can we say the same about Ireland?

James McClean has, as is his right, professed his allegiances, but at the same time he has failed to respect the traditions of the country that he has chosen to earn his living in.

There are other professional football leagues in which to ply his trade. He made his bed, now he must lie on it.

John McGrath

Clondalkin, Dublin 22