LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Why did nobody tell us about this man’s death?

EDITOR – Last Saturday’s Irish Times published an article describing, in poignant detail, the lonely funeral of a Ukrainian man in Skibbereen who died suddenly at the start of January. The ceremony was attended only by the undertakers, the gravediggers and the priest.

Nobody I have spoken to in Skibbereen knew anything about this man or his sudden death, but the description of his funeral was deeply moving. 

I would have expected either the undertakers, the coroner’s office or indeed the Garda to have contacted Skibbereen’s Eldon Hotel, the Paragon or the hotel on Sherkin Island where there are long-term Ukrainian residents, to inform them of this man’s funeral arrangements. 

This would have allowed them the opportunity to take part in his funeral and to respectfully mourn their fellow countryman. They undoubtedly would have attended, as would many of us locally if we knew about it. If nobody ‘in authority’ contacted either the local press to garner compassionate support for his funeral, or his fellow Ukrainian countrymen and women living in Skibbereen and its environs, then that’s just morally wrong. And an unforgivable oversight.

Gardaí did go to a lot of trouble to find some family background information on this man which is to be acknowledged. Sadly, no relatives were found. His name was Yevhen Mishchenko. He was 65 years old. It is believed he was an academic. He was from Mariupol and the address he had there no longer exists. Any family members are long gone from that location. The Russians now occupy his home city.

There is no justification that I can think of for Yevhen Mishchenko’s funeral to have taken place without mourners in attendance. Whoever notified The Irish Times should have first notified the Ukrainian population of Skibbereen and the locals.

The loneliness of the man’s short life here, his death, his funeral and his enforced exile from Ukraine is heartbreaking, quite honestly. Yevhen Mishchenko is now lying at rest in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Skibbereen. May he rest in peace.

Susan Harrington

Lurriga,

Skibbereen

We need more bins in our towns and villages

EDITOR – There should be more bins in towns and cities in my opinion. 

If you were to go to Cork city for a nice day out with family and friends the amount of rubbish on the footpaths is astronomical. 

Most of the time the bins are full and no more rubbish can be put in them, so the first thought that comes into people’s mind is to just dump bags on the footpaths. 

The majority of the time the bins are overflowing and rubbish is falling out, so birds come along and start taking things out. This causes the rubbish to blow everywhere and it makes the city look very untidy. 

I am a fourth-year student at Sacred Heart Secondary School in Clonakilty and I feel like in my town there are not enough bins either. 

When you are walking on the footpaths there are very few bins so people just decide to throw their rubbish on the ground, rather than going to look for a bin. 

I feel like this is very wrong and that there are just not enough bins around towns and cities. 

I feel like this should be taken into very serious consideration. 

Also, a lot of local beaches around West Cork have a lot of rubbish on them. Inchydoney, for example, is a popular tourist attraction and is also popular with people who live locally. 

While a lot of locals are great at the beach clean-ups, there are also a lot of people who bring their dogs for a walk along the beach and don’t pick up their litter. 

They either leave it there on the beach or they put it in a bag and just throw it away in the dunes. I believe that for such a public place there should be bins there, as lots of people go there in the summer on hot days and they just leave their rubbish on the beach, then that rubbish drifts off to sea.

Katelyn McCarthy,

Ballinacarriga,

Dunmanway 

Parents got great help from Camhs in Dunmanway

EDITOR – Our family had a very unwell teenager who got tremendous help from the staff of Camhs Dunmanway. 

As well as supporting and guiding our child back to health, they were also 100% available to us as parents and to our other children. 

The team at Camhs Dunmanway helped our teenager back to health and we will be forever grateful to them.

 I would like to offer reassurance to other parents that our experience was that no stone was left unturned for our child by Dunmanway Camhs and that their care for the whole family was second to none.

A very grateful mother

(Name and address with editor)

Apology for Newcestown fatalities error 

EDITOR – Following on from my recent article on the incident in Newcestown 100 years ago, entitled ‘Fatal roadblock explosion outside Bandon caused outrage in 1923’ published on page 6, I wish to express an apology to Mr Jeremiah Lordan who found errors in the article. 

I wrote that the victims of the Civil War incident were reported as all civilians. However, the correct information is that a number of the victims were Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners. 

I did not set out to distort historical facts. I did, as I always do, consult the Bureau of Military History, along with newspaper archives. I sincerely apologise for the error, to readers, and to Mr Lordan, who graciously pointed out the inaccuracies. I hope this corrects the record.

Pauline Murphy

Togher,

Cork.