April 20 - Why were services to city elderly denied?

I would like to comment on Eugene Phelan’s article on Limerick Leader, April 12, regarding problems that have beset those involved in providing meals on wheels to 80 elderly, frail and dependent recipients of the service in Janesboro since Easter Sunday.

The cessation of the service contrasts sharply with the well intentioned appeal Pope Francis made to clergy, March 23, asking them to work among the poor, “to become shepherds who smell like their sheep”.

The unexpected difficulties encountered by the well intentioned service providers in Janesboro made maintenance of the service untenable because of an impasse that arose within the management structure resulting in the withdrawal of access to premises and communication facilities. One wonders why such services were denied without fair warning when the knock-on effect was ultimately destined to deprive the most vulnerable of daily sustenance. Surely it was very irresponsible to place the needs of 80 elderly people in the dilemma of “the hungry sheep who look up and are not fed”, as mentioned in Milton’s pastoral elegy Lycidas.

Is it, now, not time that management provide a more professional service that guarantees the service providers and clients with continuity of premises and back-up facilities since clearly there is abundant good will to continue the work on a low-cost basis?

Daniel R. Clery

South Circular Road, Limerick