Sir, – As an Australian doctor, I have followed with great interest your coverage of public sector strikes in Ireland. Every Australian hospital is held up by Irish doctors, acting as recipients of their exodus from your shores.
Tea rooms are a cacophony of Irish voices. So much so, that Australian doctors have adopted Irishisms into their own slang. Good things are no longer grouse for Australian doctors but grand, and many weekends – we don’t work all of those here- – are spent in search not of a good time but for craic.
Irish doctors are among the best in the world. Australia’s health system benefits significantly from their expertise and their dedication to patients.
They help us sustain a world class health system with decent conditions for its staff.
Australian doctors are also on strike. Our demands are achievable and include a maximum 12.5-hour workday, four protected days off a fortnight and a 30 per cent increase in pay. They will make our workplaces safer and attract more doctors to Australia. To Irish doctors, they are unimaginable.
It is a catastrophic mistake to force your best and brightest to work in conditions so abhorrent that moving to the other side of the world is the only option. The best Irish doctors are looking after mums and dads in Sydney rather than Sligo because the Irish Government refuses to pay or treat them properly.
Though I would miss working with Irish colleagues, I hope these strikes are an overdue wake-up call that compels the Government to give them a decent life to return home to. – Yours, etc,
DR TRAVIS LINES,
Victoria,
Australia.