We all breathed a sigh of relief this year when April arrived. At last the first shoots of recovery and a return to living outside a straitjacket appeared on the horizon. However, the road map out is still hazy. We now need a clear plan for the resumption of outdoor dining and outdoor culture to revive the flattened economy.
The much vaulted 17m injection of capital to create ‘European-style’ outdoor dining needs to encompass all aspects of social interaction; restaurants, cafes, room for buskers, open spaces, and the reopening of all pubs, not only those serving food. This plan must also include a major boost to kick start Dublin’s nightlife which right now is a graveyard.
We can all take precautions against a virus. It’s harder, however, to recognise and respond to the damage and deep malaise that prolonged exposure to lockdown can cause; the impact on people’s mental health, loneliness, isolation, and domestic abuse. Many are suffering in silence, and the pandemic, despite its real threat, must not be allowed to eclipse a compassionate response to that suffering.
And it’s to these issues that we give particular attention in this, our first print issue of 2021(February/March issue available at www.newsfour.ie), by highlighting important projects like Walk in My Shoes (pg 32), and the campaign to reframe mental health stigma (pg 33), both initiatives of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services. Not forgetting Darkness Into Light (pg. 26-7), a movement that has been addressing suicidal ideation for the past nine years; both organisations deserve huge credit for their work in the area of mental health; a theme also touched on in an upcoming film on Dublin’s Forty Foot (pg 4), and a unique art sale in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation (pg 7) elsewhere we look at recovery from physical brain injury (16-17).
This must be a time for hope. Sensible precautions, along with the comprehensive vaccine programme should obviate the necessity for any further lockdowns. A new optimism is being ignited, as together we are about to complete the last leg of this journey out of darkness and into the light.
We all breathed a sigh of relief this year when April arrived. At last the first shoots of recovery and a return to living outside a straitjacket appeared on the horizon. However, the road map out is still hazy. We now need a clear plan for the resumption of outdoor dining and outdoor culture to revive the flattened economy.
The much vaulted 17m injection of capital to create ‘European-style’ outdoor dining needs to encompass all aspects of social interaction; restaurants, cafes, room for buskers, open spaces, and the reopening of all pubs, not only those serving food. This plan must also include a major boost to kick start Dublin’s nightlife which right now is a graveyard.
We can all take precautions against a virus. It’s harder, however, to recognise and respond to the damage and deep malaise that prolonged exposure to lockdown can cause; the impact on people’s mental health, loneliness, isolation, and domestic abuse. Many are suffering in silence, and the pandemic, despite its real threat, must not be allowed to eclipse a compassionate response to that suffering.
And it’s to these issues that we give particular attention in this, our first print issue of 2021(February/March issue available at www.newsfour.ie), by highlighting important projects like Walk in My Shoes (pg 32), and the campaign to reframe mental health stigma (pg 33), both initiatives of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services. Not forgetting Darkness Into Light (pg. 26-7), a movement that has been addressing suicidal ideation for the past nine years; both organisations deserve huge credit for their work in the area of mental health; a theme also touched on in an upcoming film on Dublin’s Forty Foot (pg 4), and a unique art sale in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation (pg 7) elsewhere we look at recovery from physical brain injury (16-17).
This must be a time for hope. Sensible precautions, along with the comprehensive vaccine programme should obviate the necessity for any further lockdowns. A new optimism is being ignited, as together we are about to complete the last leg of this journey out of darkness and into the light.