Someone should send this 79 year old woman to jail

A snippet from this week’s Bray People newspaper.

An elderly woman from Delgany is housebound and in agony, squeezed in to an undersized wheelchair at her home, because there is no funding available for an orthopaedic wheelchair.

‘All I want is a comfortable chair,’ said a tearful Dorothy Leopold of Delgany Park, the sides of her small chair visibly pressing into her body. She had a suitable seat but the back broke.

Dorothy is 79 and a former matron at Wesley College had a bad fall 16 years ago and has experienced immense pain since then, particularly in her hip and spine.

‘I’m sitting sideways in this chair because it’s too small.’

Her friend and former home-help Helen explained that Dorothy is extremely distressed and incredibly sore.

‘There is no money in Wicklow for a decent chair,’ she said.

There is no money in Wicklow for a decent chair…

A few miles down the road from Delgany lives TD Dick Roche. The most recent information available shows that Mr. Roche spent €50,000 on trips in a single year.

One trip to New York cost €2,537 for a business class ticket. Would an orthopaedic wheelchair cost that much? Probably not.

So, a 79 year old woman in severe pain is forced to sit in a seat that brings tears to her eyes while her local TD gets flown to New York in the lap of luxury. Something is wrong with this, very wrong indeed and it illustrates perfectly how public money is frittered away.

Dorothy could take matters into her own hands of course. Commit a crime. In jail she would at least get a proper wheelchair and be able to get through her day without so much pain.