Letters to the Editor

Dunmore Choir long before 1968 Dear Editor, I have been a great reader of The Tuam Herald for most of my 85 years, and I was so delighted to see the Dunmore Choir singing all over the world, and most lately in its neighbouring town, Tuam.[private] I was a member of the Dunmore Choir so many years ago, and I presume the reference to it starting in 1968 refers to when it transferred to the new church. There was of course a choir for decades before this and I sang in it as a young girl under the baton of the wonderful Josie McGarry. In later years I used to meet her on occasion and she died only a few short years ago. The High Mass was the big thing in those days, and was often sung for funerals, totally in Latin. The choir was up in what was called the organ loft and was quite small. There was a partition between it and the other part of the loft and one of my abiding memories was the sound of talking in the other part of the loft, often discussing the gossip of the day. Before Josie McGarry I was told that there had been a choir in Dunmore from 1900, presided over first by Miss Weldon, I think she was married to one of the Finnegans in the Square, and then Miss Gleeson who lived in Gater Street. After Josie went away, Angela Charles was over the choir (sister of Michael James Charles who sang with us when I was young). After a short time she was succeeded by Martha Cummins. I left for Dublin at this stage and I believe Ollie O'Shea was over the choir until the new church was opened. I am told the new choir was under the leadership of Ann Halliday and Una Mooney who presided over it until her death. In my youth, the Mannions from Carnaseer were great singers, and Martin and Arthur had really beautiful voices. The Fox sisters were there also, and Tommy Morris had a great tenor voice. Mick Kenny of Gater Street was a boy soprano whose favourite piece was Panis Angelicus, which he had heard from John McCormack who sang it in the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932, I think. Wonderful memories of bygone days, and it is great to see the tradition carried on so well. God Bless, Mary Granger 24 South Circular Road Dublin Home birth and human rights Dear Editor, The recently reported horrors endured by home birth midwives in Hungary are but a pale shadow of those planned for midwives in Ireland. Agnes Gereb faced five years in jail for assisting at a home birth: Irish midwives face up to ten, if they breach HSE's onerous terms and conditions. Now at Report Stage in the Dail, the Nurses and Midwives Bill makes it unlawful for midwives (but not for nurses or medical practitioners) to practise without indemnity. Making insurance mandatory is key to compliance with state bureaucracy: lurking underneath Section 40 lies an invisible undercarriage of rules and regulations binding independent midwives hand and foot. Surveillance is tight: HSE requires midwives to surrender client files before issuing payment. Sixty years ago in Ireland, childbirth was women's business. Having a child at home was the norm. Midwives were self-governing, albeit via a London board. Today, so powerful has the health bureaucracy become that women have lost their power over birth. Midwives have lost the freedom to practice autonomously. And women have lost a fundamental liberty: the right to decide how and where their child will be born. The terms under which midwives are legally required to work also define the conditions under which women are obliged to give birth. However, there are signs of hope. The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that denying women the freedom to give birth at home denies them their human rights. The Court ruled that the circumstances of giving birth incontestably form part of one's private life and that, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, prospective mothers have the right to choose those circumstances. Only an independent midwifery profession can enable that choice. Subordinate to a nursing board, midwives in Ireland have lost the freedom to rule themselves. They have all but lost the right to offer the services of their choosing in the community. They can no longer decide whom to accept as a client, or when a pregnancy ceases to be normal. And when a mother exhibits some change in her condition, however minute, that is deemed a disqualifier for home birth, their indemnity lapses. Care is to be withdrawn from the mother at home, even during the height of labour. New draft guidelines suggest the calling of 'relevant stakeholders' such as the Gárdaí. This is the appalling vista that the Nurses and Midwives Bill will lock in, unless it is amended. Yours etc Marie O'Connor 42 Rathdown Road Dublin 7 Author: EMERGENCY: Irish hospitals in chaos Tel: 086 81 80 254 Concern thanks Dear Editor, It has now become customary that I write an annual New Year's letter to thank the readers of The Tuam Herald for their generous support to Concern Worldwide. Last year when I penned these few lines the world was within days of hearing of the catastrophic earthquake which struck Haiti. In that horrific disaster 230,000 people died, 300,000 were injured and another one million were left homeless. Concern has been in Haiti since 1994, which means that when the earthquake did strike we were in a familiar place with people we know. We are working around the clock to assist those who are experiencing shocking deprivation. Concern is assisting 130,000 people on an ongoing basis in Haiti. And this is possible due to the extraordinary generosity of the Irish people, who have contributed a staggering €8.7 million to Concern for its work in Haiti. In the current economic climate here at home this is truly an act of amazing kindness. Concern is working in 25 of the poorest countries on the planet. It is your generosity and your sense of justice and compassion that makes it possible for us to do all our work across the globe. As well as working in emergency situations, such as our current programme in Haiti, we also work on long-term development projects so that people can break away from the cycle of poverty and deprivation. One billion of the world's inhabitants do not have enough food to eat. Concern is playing a significant international role in helping improve their lives. Again, it is your generosity that makes our work possible. And that is something that is never forgotten or taken for granted in Concern. I take this opportunity to wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. Sincerely, Tom Arnold CEO Concern Camden Street Dublin 2 [/private]