Sadly, I have not gone to Croke Park in years because of the access issues and have left my viewing to either the telly or going to local and county stadiums for my live feed. It pains me to say that the facilities in these stadiums are often much better than those in our national stadium. I went back to Croke Park last year for, ironically, a rugby match, as I must also confess to being a Leinster fan. I found it to be as bad as I remembered. The seating area provided is really nothing more than an access corridor for other seats. It is in a wind tunnel that might shelter you from the rain but cannot stop you from being frozen whatever the weather is in the stadium. You could put up with this if you could actually see the match. That’s not possible with people standing up and down, as you would expect in an exciting game. I contacted GAA HQ afterwards, only to be told this was not a GAA issue but a rugby one as GAA supporters do not stand up as much. I think I can safely say most GAA supporters would disagree. This could be alleviated somewhat if you could see the big screen, but that isn’t possible from most of the wheelchair seating. Small TVs are provided overhead on each section, but they are not aligned with the big screen and live play and are about 20 seconds behind, so you can’t even enjoy the oohs and aahs of a game in real time. Surely somewhere in the GAA there is an IT person who could come up with a simple solution for this? I ventured back to Croke Park last month for another rugby match (yes, I am a heathen). The rugby authorities running the European competition had taken the financial hit to put nets on the two back rows of the stand in front of the wheelchair viewing areas, so allowing us to actually see most of the match. Would or could the GAA do the same? Highly unlikely, as I asked this too but again got nowhere. I was tempted to write directly to our very committed and issue-focused GAA president, but judging by his lack of manners to Brendan Boylan I’m glad I didn’t bother. Perhaps the issue of wheelchair access doesn’t get you a photo on the front page or a clip on the RTÉ news as other issues he supports does. Siobhán Twomey, Artane, Dublin 5 Hunger anxiety will haunt Gaza’s children Madam — I was incarcerated in an industrial school in on Tralee, Co Kerry, until I was 16 years of age. It was well-known locally that starvation, sexual abuse and physical violence went on in that Gulag of a school. The one thing I was never able to get over was the level of hunger I had to endure during my eight years of confinement. To ward off the hunger pains I had to lick the varnish off the pews in the chapel attached to the school. Every week for six years I had to go to the local butcher shop in the town and carry back packages of meat, sausages and rashers I knew I would never get to eat. Even now, coming up to my 75th birthday in November, I have never come to terms with the hunger anxiety I was forced to endure. For years I would wake up in the middle of the night, open the fridge door and reassure myself there was enough food in the house. There was no Gary Lineker to speak up for me or the thous-ands of other boys who passed through the gates of St Joseph’s in the 100 years of its existence. As I look at what is going on in Gaza, I wonder how Eilis O’Hanlon deals with the faces of little children marked out for death with canvases as their only helmets. I know that long after she and I are no more, generations of children who manage to survive this genocide in Gaza will have to endure hunger anxiety long into their old age, much like I did. Michael Clemenger, Trim, Co Meath We must help to stop the genocide in Gaza Madam — Gaza is under siege. Entire families are being wiped out. Not satisfied with tens of thousands slaughtered, after raining down bombs and bullets over the last 19 months the Israeli regime now seeks to exterminate anyone who survived their bombs and bull-ets by cruelly starving them to death. Children are dying of hunger while humanitarian aid trucks are blocked at the border. This is not just cruelty. This is a war crime. This is not a conflict. It is genocide. We know only too well from our own history how forced starvation can be used as a means to eliminate an indigenous population; our population was halved during An Gorta Mór. We owe it to the memory of our ancestors, and to the people of Gaza, to come together and say to our Government: Never again for anyone. Daniel Teegan, Union Hall, Co Cork Failing our children with special needs Madam — Regarding the lack of services for children with special needs, I presume the reason there is a shortage of trained staff is because nobody wants to do this very demanding work, and I can’t see it getting better any time soon. At the establishment of the State, the much-maligned relig-ious orders set up most of the children’s services, for the blind, the deaf, the unmarried mothers and children with psychiatric problems. Unfortunately, it’s now up to the Health Minister; she could do worse than get hold of a few old nuns and use their expert-ise because the Department of Health has been incapable of replacing the religious orders in the less-attractive specialties. It could or should be recognised that the problem is probably insoluble. Dr Michael Foley, Rathmines, Dublin 6 Swan Centre is not just for gym bunnies Madam — I refer to John Burns’s article of May 18 regarding the Rathmines Swan Leisure Centre’s need for an extension. The Rathmines initiative played an important part in developing the plan to replace the old swimming pool on the site, the genesis of development of the Swan Leisure Centre. Unfortunately, part of the original plans couldn’t be completed — a joint development with the city council and Herman White’s site next door, developing the site for apartments and selling part of the site to Dublin City Council. This included the acquisition of a house next door that at the time was owned by the Legion of Mary (until 2004), along with the development of a public plaza. Sadly, this plan fell through at the last minute, and the size of the Swan Leisure Centre is now much smaller than originally planned. I am one of the many “walking wounded” senior citizens who attend exercise classes there. I am certainly not a “gym bunny” as John Burns describes. These classes are essential therapy to maintain mobility and help us live independent lives. Demand is so great that classes are booked out within minutesof open booking time. Many older people lose out. The Swan Leisure Centre also provides accessible facilities so people with disabilities can swim or use the gym. There is an autism hour every Friday, and the centre offers specific swimming lessons for people with neurodiversity. Rathmines doesn’t have any other publicly owned halls. A community hall was included in the original plans, but because of the loss of part of the site, the community lost out. The council report that stated there is no need to extend the centre has now been corrected. I remember during my years as a city councillor how bureaucrats in high places dismissed Rathmines as flatland; prob-ably because they spent a year in a flat in the area as a stud-ent, they thought they knew the area, but they didn’t know the community and its varied needs. Rathmines is a diverse community that requires the same facilities as the surrounding areas. Mary Freehill, Rathmines, Dublin 6 Skehan’s call to think small is right Madam — Conor Skehan’s call to “think small” in Irish infrastructure planning deserves amplification (May 18). He rightly warns that the national instinct for mega-projects, often mired in delays and over-design, is becoming a liability. Ireland has drifted into a peculiar pattern — every time a large-scale project fails, it responds by creating another centralised agency to “accelerate” delivery. This has led to a state that increasingly resembles what I used to call in my time in educational leadership a classic strategy. If you don’t want something done, hand it over to a committee; if you want it done, do it yourself. The paradox is clear. While local primary care centres quietly revolutionise access to health, the new children’s hospital has become a case study in dysfunction. While rural bus networks connect isolated communities, the Dublin Metro remains a PowerPoint dream. In Ireland, delivery is too often drowned in oversight. No one is in charge. Or worse — everyone is. The answer is not another tsar or taskforce, but trust in local councils, in communities and in smaller, smarter initiatives that can be deployed quickly and scaled if successful. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran, Co Armagh McIlroy and Lowry must behave better Madam — The recent bad behaviour of our most lauded golfers, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, leaves a lot to be desired. Rory’s petulant refusal to speak to the media after his poor performance in the recent PGA was in stark contrast to his affable and gregarious behaviour after his recent Grand Slam victory. Lowry’s unsportsmanlike behaviour on the course at the recent PGA was not a model of behaviour for our aspiring young golfers to witness. Most importantly, there is an obligation on the Irish media to call out such behaviour, which they have failed to do. Humble in victory, gracious in defeat. Paidi Curran, Co Kerry Please give us a capital ‘M’ for mass Madam — In response to your reply as to why the Sunday Independent doesn’t use an upper-case letter M in the word “mass”, could I kindly tell your Mediahuis “Bible” people that we were taught in primary school to always use a capital letter when writing a proper noun. Maybe in this example the words “mass” and “Bible” have nothing in common. Aidan Grennan, Rahan, Co Offaly Allow Browne time to fix the housing crisis Madam — I note that James Browne has been receiving a lot of criticism for his work as Housing Minister for Housing. There have been a number of articles about him since he took on the role in January, saying he’s not up to the job. This type of commentary sits uncomfortably with me for a number of reasons, but mainly because I don’t think we have the evidence yet to say he’s not up to the job. He needs time to fix the problems with housing, and I believe we should be now giving him that time. We shouldn’t be jumping to make these judgments after four months. I don’t know that it serves any-body to be tearing him down when he’s trying to do the job. John O’Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary Paddy O’Toole was an honest, good man Madam — Last Sunday you carried a well-deserved tribute to the late Paddy O’Toole. Paddy was from Gessala in north Mayo and one of three people from this small village who succeeded in getting elected to the Oireachtas. He started his career as a dedicated and highly thought-of primary school teacher before he entered political life. My first memory of him was at a Fine Gael rally in Claremorris in 1981 before the general election that year. I recall standing in the pouring rain listening to this inspirational speaker, who had just completed his first term in the Dáil. He went on to become a good minister in various departments at a time when it was hard to be in government. He never promised anything he couldn’t deliver. He always did his best. Honesty and integrity were the hallmarks of his political career . I remember him telling my father there were days when he didn’t have time to read a newspaper. And times when the few hours sleep he got in the back seat of the state car was the only sleep he got. I was proud to be in his guard of honour at his funeral. Thomas Garvey, Claremorris, Co Mayo Trans rights should not impinge on mine Madam — I agree with letter writer Bernie Linnane when she says most people don’t particularly care about the trans subject. JK Rowling reflects most people’s views when she says: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security.” The thing I care about is women’s rights and the rights of children not to be indoctrinated, and this is where the problem lies and a clash of rights exists. Trans rights impinge on my rights as a biological woman to single-sex spaces and sports. Trans people are free to believe whatever they want, but I object to being forced to believe and live by their beliefs. I object to gender identity theory being taught in schools as fact when it is a controversial and nebulous issue, like religious beliefs, being based on subjective belief and not science or knowledge. Trans people have the same rights as everyone, but their beliefs do not give them the right to impinge on my rights. Julia Anderson, Greystones, Co Wicklow Bureaucracy is slowly strangling us Madam — This country is getting carried away with bur-eaucracy, proceduralism and procrastination. It is strangling the life of the country and slowing everything up. In the housing market, red tape is foremost. Time taken by the courts to issue probate orders for second-hand houses can be lengthy. The red tape and time in buying or selling property in this country needs to be addressed if the housing crisis is ever to be fixed. Many properties can lie idle for long periods while the courts get around to issuing crucial orders to allow houses to be sold. The system needs radical reform to provide badly needed efficiency and to reduce the costs for people, rather than lining the pockets of bureaucrats. Maurice Fitzgerald, Shanbally, Co Cork Sonia the best Irish female sporting star Madam — In response to Paddy Pigott’s letter suggesting Rachael Blackmore as our greatest female athlete, I agree she is great, but she is not the greatest of all time. That honour, in my opinion, should go to Sonia O’Sullivan. What she achieved in the late 1970s, all through the 1980s and into the 1990s, will never be beaten. Sonia was the top competitor in her sport worldwide for such a long time that she deserves the title of greatest of all time. Noel Skinner, Santry, Dublin 9 Best of luck to all doing state exams Madam — The good weather of the past few weeks put a broad smile on our faces and presented us with a glorious opportunity to enjoy outdoor living. It lifted our spirits and the whole country was an oasis of good humour. At the risk of coming across as a party pooper, I sincerely hope that the weather in the lead-up to and during the state exams starting on June 4 will be temperate. It’s not easy for a student to thrive in a stifling exam centre. Best of luck to all. Go in there and give it welly. Then, when it’s all over, forget about it and enjoy the summer, whatever the weather. Billy Ryle, Tralee, Co Kerry