Galway Advertiser 2000/2000_08_24/GA_24082000_E1_019.pdf 

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Letters

Reader disputes Shannon flight delay facts
Dear Editor, The following is a clarification concerning the comments that Mr Curtin made regarding Willie Fahy's article of July 6 'Tardiness at Shannon'. Since I was the one Mr Fahy was picking up at that hour I would like to state some facts. I am looking at my receipt for the ticket that was reissued as a result of a cancelled flight from Atlanta. My receipt quite clearly states the flight was DL 9226 not 9626 as Mr Curtin states. Perhaps Delta changed its numbering again before depart ing Atlanta and we were not informed about it! We arrived at 5.00am and were in the immi gration/customs area by 5.15am. I can assure the gentleman that it was 5.55am by the time I got my luggage and it was slow getting it, but 1 have learned from travelling abroad that there is no point complaining. Because of where Mr Fahy parked, it was a six minute walk and I can assure Mr Curtin that the exits were not staffed at 6.10am as Mr Fahy returned to the coin boxes to get his exit ticket. We were out of Shannon by 6.30am. I must keep documented evidence of timing because the first few days were business meetings. Joan Moody, President, Moody Marketing, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Dealing with the problem of bogus asylum seekers
Dear Editor, Living as a foreigner in Galway for nearly a decade, I natu rally feel sympathy for fellow foreigners here, as well as for foreigners in my home country. However, 1 also acknowl edge that only a fraction of the asylum seekers coming to Europe are genuine political refugees. Many applicants for asylum are indeed coming for economic reasons, escaping the sometimes dire conditions in their home countries to find work and a better life in Ireland, where the economy is booming. I am sure that nobody in Ireland would have objections against such aspirations, especially since emigrating for eco nomic reasons has a long tradition in this country. Indeed, I find everybody friendly and welcoming to foreigners work ing here. Discontent arises only when foreigners are lodged and fed on State expense and then sometimes work illegally or beg in order to increase the pocket money they receive from the Government. When we criticise such behaviour we often overlook the fact that refugee status is the only option immigrants have to come to Europe. There is no country in Europe with a gener al immigration law. Giving green cards to computer special ists from India to work in Germany is a small start, but still the exception rather than the rule. In Italy and Spain farmers are desperate to get workers for the harvest, and here in Galway workers from Newfoundland are called to satisfy the needs of the labour market. Yet, for most people outside Europe the only way to legally enter Europe is to apply for political asylum. There is no way to apply for a general work permit as this exists, for instance, in the USA. Having to apply for asylum, many immigrants who are able and willing to work are forced to live on state benefits, which inevitably can have a negative influence on their personality and self-esteem, just as it sometimes has on Europeans who live on the dole for many years. What we need is an immigration law with certain quotas, as it exists in other countries, and conditions that allow and encourage all people to work instead of getting into the vicious circle of prolonged dependence on welfare. Name and address with editor.

Dear Editor, I wonder if you could pro vide the public with a service by obtaining and publishing (under the Freedom of Information Act) the honours and qualifications of the teachers in Galway's second level schools, so that the par

Publish qualifications It was Leo T h e of teachers L i p ' w h o said it
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ents will know who is teach ing what to their children, and whether they hold quali fications in these subjects and whether their qualifica tions are pass or honours? After all, the university pub lish calendars showing all of this information. Since some schools do not do this, you could provide a service by obtaining it and publishing it in your paper. Yours sincerely, JJ Murphy, Salthill, Galway.

Galway rep of taxi union comments on letter alleging harassment by driver
Dear Editor, Having read the letter which you published in the Galway Advertiser of August 10 from Angela of Sandy Road asking, 'Are women safe at night', I would like to point out the following. The Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Regulations 1963 lays down at Articles 52 and 53 "Duties of Drivers of Public Hire Vehicles" a very strict code of conduct and dress for all taxi drivers. The question must therefore be asked of Angela, Did she do her civic duty with regard to the incident in question and report the matter to the Gardai? If she did not, then be it on her conscience when this man strikes again as strike again he will. She has used the words taxi/hackney on two occasions in her letter. There is a popular misconception that taxis and hackneys are one and the same. I would like to point out that taxis arc public and private hire vehicles and arc insured as such, while hackneys are private hire vehicles only. This means that hackneys may not pick up passengers on the street and must be booked in advance of the pick up. She states that herself and her friend hailed a hackney on College Road, which promptly stopped and picked them up. I must point out to her that while travelling in this vehicle they were not covered by insurance, as the driver was engaging in public hire while licensed and insured only for private hire. If an accident had occured they would not be able to claim off the insurance. The only way to be sure is if it does not have a roof sign then it is not a taxi. It is also a common practice that people 'share a cab'. I must point out that once a person hires a small public service vehicle the only person who can say who gets into the car with them is the person who hired the vehicle and if they wish they can share the entire cost of the journey but they can not each be charged. Yours sincerely, Noel Burke, National Taxi Drivers Union (Galway Branch) Representath e.

Dear Editor, In your editorial of August 3 2000, you incorrectly stated that "It was the acerbic manager of the New York Yankees who first coined the immortal - and typically New York - dismissal 'Nice Guys finish last'." Except that it was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who said it and it is well to remember the context in which the immortal words were first spoken. It was 1941, and the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team (for the first time in their modern histo ry) had won 'the Pennant', indicating their championship of the National League and therefore their right to meet the New York Yankees, winners of the American League, in the World Series. Now the manager of the Dodgers was one tough cookie named Leo 'The Lip' Durocher, a middle-western American of Huguenot descent, who was death on umpires and the most foul-mouthed manager in all of baseball. At the press conference celebrating the Dodgers' victory, one of the sports reporters had the temerity to observe

what a pity it was that the New York Giants, (the Dodgers great rivals) had not won instead, since their manager. Bill Terry, was "a perfect gentleman and such a nice guy". It was at this point that Durocher pronounced the immortal phrase, "Yeah, he's a nice guy, but nice guys finish last!" I know whereof I speak because I lived in Brooklyn at the time and could recite the names of the entire Dodgers team whose exploits I will never forget Yours sincerely, Herb Meyer, ISO Seacrest, Barna Road, Galway. E D I T O R ' S C O M M E N T : Thank you for that great story. All we can say is 'n mea culpa, mea maxima culpa', I we knew it was Durocher but in the fre quent confusion of mind that overtakes as now and then, we had confused his partic ular New York fiefdom. Thank God he's not still around.

behaviour by debs and their dates
Dear Editor, I watched on Monday evening as our debs paraded the town ol Gort in their fin ery before setting off to some outside venue. Oh, they looked beautiful on the outside, but they showed their true colours on thenreturn at 3.00 or 4.00am on Tuesday morning. They took fruit from outside a shop (deliveries) and squashed it all over the street. They broke bottles and uprooted flowers. ' If these parasites are the leaders of the future, God protect us from their chitchHow nice if we could sepa rate the flora and fauna from the thorns, weeds and scrub, from our midst, and the par ents of those thorns to fed proud of their offspring's behaviour, manners, and respect for other people's property, rather than boast about the cost of designer outfits and the presentation of those disgusting thugs. They should he wrapped in canvas sacks with the warn ing: "I'm a wrecker and troublemaker before they're let loose on the pub lic Mary O'Shanghnrssv. The Square. Gort.
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Bad m a n n e r s in Woodquay
Dear Editor, Would you believe it? A senior resident in Woodquay (me) had to climb over the bonnet of this car to get out of her home (marked X). Sorry, I can't disclose my age. It's a damn good job I am young at heart to try that stunt. Name and address with editor.

Letters to the Editor:

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