Sir, –On Tuesday evening I received an email from my GP’s office informing that “effective Tuesday, July 15th, 2025, [their] standard private consultation fee will increase to €90 (from €80, August 2023).
This 12.5 per cent “adjustment” was necessary due to “rising operational costs” (that vague “go-to reason” provided for price hikes these days) and more specifically due to “employing enough doctors to ensure they can continue offering their]same-day appointment service.”
I was advised that this “level of accessibility is exceptionally rare in General Practice, and [they] remain fully committed to maintaining it for [their] patients”.
Repeat prescriptions will increase to €30 (from €25 in August 2023, – a 20 per cent increase).
RM Block
Is €90 a record for a GP consultation fee? – Yours, etc,
NIALL H. DOYLE,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Could cohousing be a solution?
Sir, –With Ireland in the midst of a severe housing shortage, the Government must be bold and brave and embrace creative solutions. One that deserves serious consideration is cohousing, an innovative, community-led model that is flourishing in countries such as the UK, US, Netherlands, Denmark, and Canada.
In Denmark, the government and financial institutions are supporting the concept with favourable zoning laws and financing options. The result is that over the next five years 80,000 of the country’s over 50s are planning to move into a cohousing community.
Cohousing is designed for people aged 50 and over who are healthy and active, offering the opportunity to “right-size” into well-designed, sustainable homes with shared facilities for socialising and enjoying life to the full.
It differs significantly from nursing homes or supported housing as they are self-managed communities, typically for a younger cohort who are looking for a more suitable option within their own area.
This model helps to combat social isolation and enable older people to age well, possibly postponing or avoiding the need for institutional care. An added benefit is that it can free up underused housing stock for younger families.
Cohousing is also cost-effective with shared amenities and collaborative management reducing expenses, while smaller, eco-friendly homes will be better for the environment.
The need for cohousing in Ireland is urgent. Research shows that many over 50s currently live in homes that are too large or no longer meet their needs. According to the ESRI, more than 1.18 million people in Ireland are aged between 50 and 75, and 67 per cent of Irish homes are under-occupied, double the EU average.
Cohousing Ireland is a new, not-for-profit initiative with more than 150 members and groups forming in Dublin, Cork, and elsewhere. We see three major barriers standing in the way of cohousing gaining traction in Ireland.
First, access to suitable sites is a major hurdle, with vast tracts of land held by the State, religious institutions, and local authorities. Second, planning laws don’t recognise cohousing as a distinct housing category like student accommodation. It needs to be properly zoned and supported in development plans.
Third, most prospective cohousing residents are mortgage-free. They need access to bridging finance that would allow them to move without first selling their homes.
A State-backed revolving loan fund, successfully used in Denmark and the Netherlands, would make a significant difference.
Cohousing is about more than housing. It’s about dignity, sustainability, and community.
With targeted policy support and political will, it can become a vital part of Ireland’s housing future.
Yours, etc,
ANNE CONNOLLY,
Cohousing Communities Ireland,
Dublin 6.
Sir – I am reading with dismay the ongoing debate about reducing the minimum required apartment sizes in new developments.
Once again, the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael Government shows that they are only capable of doing things that give the impression of taking action while refusing to do anything that will actually improve the housing situation.
We should be encouraging more to live in apartments in this country, as is the norm in many other European countries, and not penalise those that do so with fewer windows and less square footage.
Why is there no consideration being given to reduce the requirement for apartments to come with a ratio of car parking spaces?
By eliminating parking requirements, the developers will save far more in construction costs by not having to excavate underground and it will encourage more to live a car-free existence which has been shown to increase personal health and happiness, reduce costs on the health service and promote community cohesion. – Yours, etc,
DR JOHN LEGGE,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
Rosie O’Donnell for president
Sir, – With virtually no locals interested in the job, why not pick Rosie O’ Donnell for the Áras ?
She is about to get Irish citizenship, has lived north and south of the Border and has the extraordinary ability to attract the attention of US pressident Donald Trump for her every utterance.
President Michael D Higgins seemingly cannot get an audience with Trump, but Rosie knows him intimately for over 30 years and he is highly responsive to her comments.
Such a move would really put Ireland on the map. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O REILLY,
Northport,
New York
Alan Shatter and that Bill
Sir, –I would very respectfully suggest that former justice minister Alan Shatter who told the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee that the Occupied Territories Bill was “anti-Semitic” and “reminiscent of policies of 1930s Germany” reflect on the words of Auschwitz survivor and writer Primo Levi: “The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers, and it would be foolish to deny it. Rejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.”
It would appears that the legacy of Primo Levi and the great Jewish authors who wrote about their direct experience of the Holocaust and who warned us about the future has been ignored or forgotten – tragically, by Israel. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS FITZPATRICK,
Terenure,
Dublin 6
Sir, – Alan Shatter claims that the proposed ban on trade with occupied Palestinian territories is a boycott Jews Bill reminiscent of 1930s Germany, I presume the bombing and killing of 50,000-plus people, including women and children, by Israel is acceptable to him? – Yours, etc,
DAVID MURNANE,
Co Meath.
Sir, – I would like to commend the wonderful contribution of former minister for justice, Alan Shatter, to Tuesday’s parliamentary committee debate on the Occupied Territories Bill. Despite facing a hostile reception, he masterfully articulated the innate flaws of this farcical piece of legislation.
He truly represents, among the Irish political class, a voice of sanity in the wilderness of groupthink on this matter.
This is one of the first instances in recent times that Ireland’s long established Jewish minority community have been given a public forum to put forward their viewpoint.
Given recent history, the Irish media and political establishment has been too quick to discount their fears of legalisation effectively boycotting their co-religious.
I echo Mr Shatter’s view that staying on this course will only harm and hinder Ireland’s economy while doing nothing to solve the ongoing conflict. The legal minefield that this opens up for US multinationals has not been properly explored and given the choppy international economic waters, we should exercise caution and shelve this Bill.
Conflicts are solved by dialogue and not virtue signalling boycotts which only target one side of a conflict. As a neutral country we should act like one and do our best to bring both sides together, sharing Ireland’s own experience of successful long term conflict resolution.
It is Ireland’s loss that Mr Shatter is no longer a member of the Oireachtas and I do hope this is remedied at the next election. – Yours, etc,
ENDA KELLY,
Palmerstown,
Dublin.
Sir, – I read that the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee has asked Ireland to “sober up”, after having “fallen into a vat of Guinness”. Really?
Quite apart from those insulting remarks from a man whose ultimate boss is considerably less than diplomatic; quite apart from the behaviour towards Ireland of the country he is accredited to as ambassador; quite apart from that country’s murderous attack on defenceless Gazans, amounting to genocide; quite apart from the slaughter of children, their mothers and fathers by arms supplied by Mr Huckabee’s government, I suggest that my Government has acted with utmost sobriety in their actions and words, especially regarding the Occupied Territories Bill.
Quite apart from the Bill’s progress through the Oireachtas, I believe we, as citizens of a sovereign country, should take our own individual action. If we all, as individuals, take action by refusing to buy any Israeli product, service or financial offering, we act in a moral way by thinking globally and acting locally.
Our actions may not have a large initial result, but morally we must be seen to state our national belief and revulsion at the actions of the Tel Aviv government. We can boycott Israeli bonds and financial instruments; Israeli tourism and the airline El Al; Israeli agricultural products such as avocados and oranges, industrial products such as engineered valves and others, and defence and IT products, which I hope my Government is already absolutely refusing to procure.
I remind Mr Huckabee that the days of small civilised countries being easily silenced by large ones is over. Ireland, with our first class international diplomatic reputation, can and will speak out against the savagery inflicted against the people of Gaza.
I ask my fellow citizens to permanently boycott Israeli products to show our support for our Government and the people of Gaza. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’CONNOR,
Greenlake,
Co Wexford.
Palestine GAA and visas refusal
Sir, – How Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, and those officials in the Department of Justice, who refused the children of Palestine GAA visas to visit the home of Gaelic games can sleep at night is beyond me.
I just hope their children are never faced with such devastating disappointment. It’s not just shameful, but despicable.
I hope GAA clubs in every constituency make their TDs aware of their disgust, particularly those that are members of the Coalition parties. – Yours, etc,
DANNY BOYD,
Belfast.
Summer camp in Co Down
Sir, – The news that a children’s summer camp in Co Down has been cancelled, because of protests by a local Orange Order over the attendance there by some children from a GAA club, gives me yet another reason why I will not support the idea of a United Ireland.
We already have enough bigots of our own here. – Yours, etc
GERARD CLARKE,
Dundrum,
Dublin.
Pearse Doherty’s faux pas
Sir, – If the Sinn Féin finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty, doesn’t know that Musgraves own SuperValu – something that would have been taught to secondary level students of business – how then could we trust them when it comes to the economy? – Yours, etc,
RORY J. WHELAN,
Co Meath.
Write and wrong
Sir, – A recent flurry of letters complaining of non-publication of letters set methinking. I would have regarded myself as a regular contributor, with a fairly good (?) success rate. I felt that my comments and observations on many topics raised smiles, if not eyebrows.
This stopped when my letters and observations criticised Israel. Not the Jewish people, just Israel.
It then became, it seemed, impossible to have anything published in the letters page.
Makes me think that that I have been sent to the naughty step, but probably more like my letters weren’t as something as others.
If I knew what that something was, I could possibly do something about it.
Twenty-five years writing to a friend and then being cut off hurts.
I live in hope of a reconciliation.
Or a sharper wit! – Yours, etc,
PAT QUINN,
Dublin 8.
Meeting House in Temple Bar
Sir, – May I correct Helen Baily (Letters, July 16th)? The Meeting House in Eustace Street was exactly as Frank McDonald described in article on leaving Temple Bar.
As the author of Dictionary of Dublin Dissent– Dublin’s Protestant Dissenting Meeting Houses 1660-1920, I can assure her that the building now known as The Ark was opened in 1727 by the Unitarian-Presbyterian congregation, which until then had worshipped in nearby New Row.
The Quaker Meeting House Helen Baily refers to is two doors to the left and is now the Irish Film Centre.
It was the fact of there having been two Meeting Houses in close proximity to each other which gave rise to the name of the open area behind The Ark and the IFC: Meeting House Square.
With respect. –Yours, etc,
STEVEN C. SMYRL
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
The NTMA and scams
Sir, – Resulting from the recent scam carried out against the NTMA, which I’m sure was carried with some aplomb and professionalism: If those charged with minding the Government coffers can be scammed, then I might ask how are we, the ordinary citizen, supposed to keep up with the latest scams that scammers come up with?
I would suggest that mere talk, committees and online lists of those to avoid are insufficient.
Action is needed. – Yours, etc,
ANTAINE O’DUIBHIR,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
Wise words
Sir, – It was good to read the letter by Fr Laurence Cullen (Letters, July 17th) regarding the deeply enriching work of some great Irish missionaries. They were giving dynamic testament to the truth of the saying of Saint Francis of Assisi : Preach the gospel at all times. And if necessary use words. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL GLEESON.
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
Still rubbish
Sir, – Laura O Mara ( recently) and Karen Higgins (in the mid 1970s) asked the question: why do we leave rubbish on the beach after us?
Now Karen is rather puzzled it seems that after all this time has elapsed (50 years or so) since her first appeal, these people or more probably their offspring, are still leaving rubbish on the beach .
Here is a possible answer : All those rubbish litterers do not read The Irish Times. – Yours, etc,
PAT WILLIAMS,
Dublin 6W.
