Madam, – Over a 160 years ago Hans Christian Andersen wrote his story of The Little Match Girl,about a girl who froze to death in the snow and ice of her native city as those around her enjoyed themselves. It is a tale that stirs the conscience of all those who read it.
I do hope that the report of the coroner’s inquest (Home News, January 29th) on the death of a seemingly healthy and fit young mother Rachel Peavoy of hypothermia in her Ballymun flat in the freezing cold of January 2010 does the same.
The needless death of this young woman is absolutely shameful and a powerful indictment of government and local government gone mad! I do not know all the circumstances that led to this catastrophe, but it is unbelievable that a young mother, who was living in a flat with her two young sons in a building surrounded by empty and vacant units, was left with no heating supplied during the big freeze of January 2010.
Supported by her local doctor, her appeals for help to the local council, and even to the junior housing minister all seem not to have worked.
Money can be found to bail out banks and builders, run ghost hotels and to keep the good ship Anglo Irish Bank afloat, but not, apparently, to keep a healthy young woman warm! An inquiry is necessary, not the gravy train of a Moriarty or Mahon tribunal, but to get at the simple truth.
All those involved should be asked to step down from their positions and whoever takes over the running of this country needs to ensure something like this never happens again. Perhaps a simple thing like the Rachel Peavoy Act or Emergency Fund could be allocated to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated.
The miracle was that Rachel Peavoy’s two young sons were not also found dead beside their young mother as fortunately she had asked her family to keep them the night before. – Yours, etc,