LETTER: Call to highlight men's health and wellbeing

SIR – With the local election and the European election upon us, we will see post-May 24^th, 2019 some old faces and new faces in both the Cork County Council for the Bandon and Kinsale Municipal District and the European Parliament for Ireland South and I wish our new councillors and MEPs the best of luck for the next five years. 

As a proud resident of Bandon, I recently paid a visit to my local GP, Dr Patrick J Murphy from Bandon Medical Clinic, Oliver Plunkett Street, Bandon. Dr Murphy has been my GP for 24 years and is a well-respected GP in Bandon with over 40 years’ service in the medical profession and backed with a wonderful team in the clinic. 

I was touched and taken aback with the support he has given to me in regards to men's health and wellbeing and getting the message out there to make the subject a priority. But we both agreed that it is a long, long road and countless number of successive government before the next generation will deal with the issue, but for our generation we have hardly scraped the foundation.

So my message to the newly elected councillors of the Bandon and Kinsale Municipal District and new MEPs for Ireland South is to do your best to make it your priority for the next five years. 

I also want to point out that Bandon doesn't have an official tourist information office in the town and, not only it is important for the economy, but for town which has a lot to offer because of its history. I feel that our town is missing out in terms of showcasing the best our Bandon has to offer, so – to the newly-elected representatives – please make it a priority to have a proper tourist office so that we can welcome the visitors to our proud town and provide jobs in the area. 

Regards, 

Dermot Hegarty,

Bandon.