Sir, - In the light of the strike which has affected child care and health services for the last week, much attention has been given to the adverse circumstances in which many people in our society live and the work situations of the staff providing the necessary services. Just a week prior to this, we saw the publication of a book, commissioned by the Combat Poverty Agency, on the welfare implications of demographic trends, in which the impression was given that Ireland was entering an era of unprecedented opportunity. In response to this Dr Garret Fitzgerald commented (April 19th) "uniquely, we are going to have an opportunity to create here a caring society, in which poverty could be removed by well judged state action."
In the light of this, could we show how we value appropriately the work done by social care/child care staff and support them in the essential role they have in influencing social policy to ensure that this "caring society" develops. - Yours, etc.,
Lecturer,
School of Social Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Lr Rathmines Road,
Dublin 6.