Treatment of seriously ill Gaza children in Ireland stalls over visa concerns
Gaza
to Ireland for potentially life-saving treatment has stalled because of Government concerns about granting special visas to the children's siblings.
Three people familiar with the ongoing mission to bring sick children from Gaza to Ireland have confirmed they were told that the next evacuation is on hold until the visa issue is resolved.
Several children who had been listed for treatment since the Government first agreed to start evacuating paediatric patients in 2024 have since died.
Last September, the Cabinet agreed to bring up to 30 sick children and their mothers or carers to Ireland for treatment. Children listed for treatment here are suffering from serious conditions like cancer and kidney failure.
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So far, 12 sick children have been flown via Egypt to Ireland in two sensitive operations in December and May. These were co-ordinated by the World Health Organisation, several Government departments, the Health Service Executive, Children's Health Ireland and the Red Cross.
The paediatric patients have been accompanied by either a mother or a carer, and 21 other accompanying family members. In several cases, it was recognised for humanitarian reasons that a sick child's siblings could not be left behind in a war zone without a guardian. The Department of Health said all 45 Gazans, including mothers and siblings of paediatric patients, have received medical care for 'illnesses incurred as a result of living conditions in Gaza'.
All have received Stamp 4 Visas, which grant them special permission to remain here for a specified time.
Concerns have emerged about awarding those visas to patients' siblings between the departments of justice and health. One Government source said the medevac scheme is not operating 'as it was intended to'.
Two sources who are familiar with the operation confirmed that they were told by officials in the Department of Health that the next evacuation cannot proceed until the visa issue is resolved.
Thomas Donnelly, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Temple Street Children's Hospital, said he was one of a group of clinicians who held a meeting with the Department of Health about the medevac operation last month.
'We were told that no further evacuations would take place because of the disagreement about visas between the Department of Health and the Department of Justice,' he said.
'I specifically said that my waiting list is decreasing and no current patients would be affected by taking some of these patients on. Still, we were thanked for our 'restraint' and told there was nothing to be done because of the visa issue.
'Since then, children on our list to be evacuated have been killed and more will be killed while Government officials twiddle their thumbs. Only 12 children have been evacuated since the conflict began. This is shamefully low. We ask the Government to stop this needless delay asap so that these medical evacuations can resume.'
The Department of Justice said that there have been 'no delays' in the 'processing' of visas for the medevac scheme. The Department of Health said that it is 'engaged with the Department of Justice in relation to visas for entry to Ireland, border control and registration for permission to stay in the state'.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald yesterday wrote to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris, raising concerns that only 12 of 30 sick children had been evacuated from Gaza so far.
'It is of real concern to me that the Government is not applying the urgency to which the situation demands in evacuating the remaining 18 of 30 patients – all of whom are vulnerable and in desperate need of treatment and care,' wrote Ms McDonald.
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Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 7th: On a disturbing silence, tests for medics and discerning dogs
Sir, – The recent RTÉ Investigates programme exposing failings in nursing home care was harrowing. Yet, perhaps even more disturbing was the silence that followed. Footage of vulnerable older adults crying out for help, ignored and neglected did not provoke widespread outrage. The two nursing homes in question remain open. This reflects a society that has normalised the neglect of vulnerable older adults. This is ageism. While the programme appropriately raised questions for Hiqa and the Government regarding standards, oversight and accountability, a deeper issue – the acceptance and tolerance of ageism – was largely ignored. READ MORE Ageism is not simply a cultural bias. It is a powerful driver of inaction and inequality. The recent Prime Time programme and the Ombudsman's Wasted Lives report rightly focused on the 1,200 adults under 65 living in nursing homes. This forces us to ask: at what age does loss of your autonomy and human rights become acceptable? For the 30,000 older adults in nursing homes, where is the public discourse over their lack of choice – about where to live, what to eat, or whom to welcome at the door? Let us be clear: for most, nursing homes are places of safety, compassion and appropriate care. But for many, entering a nursing home is not a real choice. It is the predictable outcome from a shortfall in rehabilitation services, community supports too rigid to meet individual needs, and a lack of accessible housing. Ireland has a legacy of institutionalising those whom society finds problematic to support. We cannot allow history to repeat itself. Poor standards in the care of older people are not unfortunate exceptions. They are the result of systemic, age-based discrimination. We must name this for what it is – and we must end it. Older adults are entitled to the same dignity, autonomy and human rights as anyone else. At every stage of life, people have the right to make choices, to be heard and to live and thrive. – Yours, etc, DR EMER AHERN, President, Irish Gerontological Society, DEIDRE LANG, Vice-President, Irish Gerontological Society, BIBIANA SAVIN, Irish Gerontological Society, CEO SAGE Advocacy, Cork (And seven others). Pass the parcel, wherever it is Sir, – Ciarán Hancock's interview with David McRedmond, the chief executive of An Post (' An Post has been brilliant. I've never been remunerated less and enjoyed a job more,' July 4th) reveals a shift in core business from letters to parcels, with the State-owned postal service having 'delivered just over a million parcels a week last year, with growth of 20 per cent in this space already this year'. Perhaps I am one in a million, but as I await an explanation from An Post, a parcel I posted by registered mail on May 19th this year has not yet reached its destination in Sweden. – Yours, etc, KEVIN McLOUGHLIN, Co Mayo. Sir, – The interview with David McRedmond was highly informative and interesting about how a legacy postal service has thrived. Key takeaways are that parcel volumes are up and letter volumes are down, and that the company has diversified into basic facilitation of cash services. This latter is an extremely useful service. Despite this increase in parcels, he wants to tweak the Universal Service Obligation. But, if delivery frequency is reduced, particularly in rural areas, will rival couriers poach its parcels business? – Yours, etc, PASCAL Ó DEASMHUMHNAIGH, Co Wexford. A discerning dog's life Sir, – Colm Keena's heartwarming account of the two labradors (An Irishman's Diary, July 4th) reminded me of our childhood pet, a miniature Scots collie called Prince. Sometimes, when the doorbell rang he never moved from his rough tufted mat in the kitchen. Other times, when the doorbell rang, he would bolt up the hallway to the door, at lightening speed, and bark frantically at the closed door. This only occurred when the caller was the local parish priest or a sister from the local convent. We posited that the dog's reaction was, no more than Colm's labrador, something to do with his breeding! – Yours, etc, CORMAC MEEHAN, Bundoran, Co Donegal. Liquid lunches Sir, – As a primary school principal enjoying the first week of my extensive summer holidays, last Thursday's (July 3rd) Opinion pages made for grim reading. Firstly, those said holidays came in for scrutiny in your editorial and then Finn McRedmond compounded the issue by lumping me in with the 'buttoned up, reliable, literal-minded types' rather than the class of rogues and ne'r-do-wells to which I aspire. I can assure Ms McRedmond and your editorial team that I intend to spend the summer wasting my time writing, being a hopeless romantic and for at least some of it living the life of a bourgeois bohemian among the louche Mediterraneans! Unfortunately, she somewhat proves her point by forcing me to correct the spelling error in the print edition, but a principal has his principles! – Yours, etc, JOHN KELLY, Bennekerry, Co Carlow. No planning for planning Sir, – The recent revelation that the population of the Republic has increased by over 30 per cent in the past 25 years will probably come as a shock to the body politic given the complete lack of housing, infrastructure and integration planning that we have seen in that period. From badly underestimating the number of people that would head to a buoyant economy in 2004 when we signed up for EU free movement with no serious analysis to recently not realising that post Covid would see a major surge of people here (quite apart from Ukrainians suffering invasion), nearly all seem oblivious to the downside of unrestricted immigration. Basically, services and wages end up under pressure as does housing supply, all of which feeds into a far right narrative that is gaining ground. We still await an updated integration strategy and waiting we will be it seems. – Yours, etc, MICHAEL FLYNN, Sutton, Dublin. Hpat and levelling the playing field Sir, – Seven years ago, The Irish Times published an article (' Why most Irish doctors in future will be white, female and middle-class, ' April 10th, 2018) describing how a particularly privileged section of Irish society looked set to dominate the medical profession, despite attempts over previous years to diversify entry to medicine. The most notable of such initiatives was the introduction in 2009 of the Australian Council for Educational Research's Health Professions Admission Test, or Hpat, which purported to 'level the playing field' faced by applicants for medical school places (and to produce 'better doctors' in the process). The Hpat was intended 'to assess skills deemed important for medicine, such as reasoning, problem-solving and interpersonal skills,' and 'while the 2½-hour test was initially envisaged as one which candidates could not study for, there (was) now an extensive private tuition industry where students can spend up to ¤800 over 15 weeks to prepare for the assessment'. It was of course utterly predictable (and predicted) that those who could afford such extra tuition would do so and, as your editorial (July 3rd) points out, affluence still has a distinct influence on access to a career in medicine. As a former clinician and director of postgraduate medical education in the UK and Ireland, I remain a non-believer when it comes to claims that the Hpat is a defensible source of added stress and expense in the Leaving Certificate year, or that it has produced more competent, compassionate or committed doctors than previous entrance assessments. In fact, one of the greatest sources of professional satisfaction during my clinical career was helping Irish medical graduates who'd been obliged to study abroad (eg in Prague or Plymouth, because they couldn'afford to 'get' the Hpat), to navigate their entry into the Irish health system, where they've so often become some of the best doctors it's been my privilege to know. I firmly believe that the Hpat is a non-evidence-based, politically inspired but profitable test, which has failed to create a demographic profile within the medical profession that reflects that of the population at large. If I could, I would prescribe a simpler and fairer combination of criteria for entrance to our medical schools: a reasonable number of Leaving Certificate points and a commitment to work for the first two years after graduation in the Irish health system. – Yours, etc, DR CHRIS LUKE, Cork. Sir, – I have been tutoring Hpat students in the Institute of Education since 2011 (I am a GP running a vasectomy business in Cork). I feel the discussion around the exam in recent days has missed the point. The existence of grinds and preparation courses is a natural consequence of any new test or application process, especially for something as competitive as medicine. The purpose of the Hpat initially was to reduce the importance of students scoring maximum points – something most achieved by attending grinds, and expensive study courses relating to traditional Leaving Certificate courses. The key difference with the Hpat and these other subjects is that the degree to which a student can improve their Hpat score is much more limited and is dependent on each student's intrinsic ability to solve complex problems. A student can significantly improve their performance in subjects such as accounting, history, physics, etc, through relentless practice and tutoring, this is not the case with the Hpat. Students tend to reach their own ceiling quickly with some tutoring/guidance, hence a short course over a day or two is often the most preparation students need for the Hpat. While it is not perfect, I do feel the Hpat has merit. The key benefit I see is that it actually reduces the impact and importance of grinds and expensive schools, hence giving students from a broader spectrum of society a better shot at getting into medicine. It has been repeatedly quoted in articles that '33 per cent of medicine students are from wealthy backgrounds, compared with 18 per cent of students overall'. However, this is a meaningless statistic in the absence of the same data prior to the introduction of the Hpat. This may well be an improvement. I would agree that more needs to be done to improve access to medicine for less advantaged students. However, I believe reducing the importance of the Hpat is a regressive step. Students who can afford preparation courses will still attend them, the key thing to remember is that the grinds and expensive courses are of much less benefit to them than a similar course for a standard Leaving Cert subject, and in turn this does level the playing field somewhat. – Yours, etc, DR COLIN IRWIN. Kinsale, Cork. State schools and admissions Sir, – I welcome the introduction of the single application pilot scheme later this year, particularly its recognition that State secondary schools should prioritise children living in their local area. However, our local secondary school currently gives no priority to local students. Instead, it operates a lottery system open to applicants from across the county – and even beyond. This approach ignores the needs of the community it is meant to serve. Since 2019, all newly established State schools have been required to meet local demographic demand and prioritise children from the surrounding area. It is unacceptable that this obligation does not apply to all existing State schools. The principle of serving the local community must be applied consistently across the country. It's time for the State to act decisively and ensure that every State school – not just new ones – is required to put local children first. – Yours, etc, SARAH LONERGAN, Dublin 9. An inspiring story Sir, – What an inspiring story in Weekend (' Me, Myself and Ireland: For four weeks, I was sleeping in St Stephen's Green, surviving on €1 a day .') Allen Bobinac is such an asset to Ireland, and so thoughtful when he refers to the three stages of 'empire' – the first generation builds, the second enjoys fruits of this, but also recognises the work that went into it. The third generation enjoys all the structures, but doesn't see the work. Is this when a sense of entitlement creeps in? And are many of us beginning to suffer from this? – Yours, etc, GILL McCARTHY, Shillelagh, Co Wicklow. Attacking seagulls Sir, – My family are being attacked by seagulls who are nesting and have chicks. The nest is on a flat roof of the house backing on to ours. For some reason the species is protected by European and national legislation. Seagulls are vermin and are dangerous to humans as they attack especially when with young, and also if people are eating out of doors. Their droppings are germ laden. Why in the interest of public safety is there a prohibition on culls? – Yours, etc, DES BOYLE, Dublin 5. Overrun by tourism Sir, – Shilpa Ganatra and Conor Pope point to 'overtourism ruining popular destinations' and advise to swap Santorini for Milos ('Even better than the real thing,' July 5th) . Milos, unfortunately, is currently experiencing precisely this level of overtourism. The mayor of Milos recently said: 'Soon our island will be covered in concrete, and we won't be able to handle basic services like water, waste, or traffic. We'll be left with nothing but cement.' – Yours, etc, RICHARD PINE, Corfu, Greece. Holding back bus transport Sir, – As someone who chooses to commute by Dublin Bus for environmental reasons, I find it increasingly frustrating that buses are often held at timing points – even when traffic is light – just to stay 'on schedule'. This is particularly noticeable during the summer months, when road conditions improve and buses could reach the city much faster. While I understand the need for consistent service, this practice penalises those already on board and undermines the appeal of public transport. At a time when many employers are encouraging staff back to the office, we should be making sustainable commuting more efficient – not less. – Yours, etc, GILLIAN LAWLESS, Co Wicklow.
The Irish Sun
18 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
I was lying in bed when I was struck by harrowing condition – things got worse and I didn't find out truth for years
LUCY Shiel was living her best life in college when her mind was attacked with dark thoughts that made her believe she was a "bad person" - and left her searching for answers for YEARS. The 5 Lucy is sharing her experience with OCD to raise awareness of the disorder 5 The 25-year-old was lying in bed after a night out when she was hit with intrusive thoughts for the first time 5 She has shared the signs and symptoms to watch out for And while multiple therapists waved the condition off as common anxiety, Lucy wasn't convinced and finally considered she may be experiencing OCD. The lifelong condition can be so debilitating that the World Health Organisation has ranked it among the top ten when it comes to the most disabling illnesses of any kind - in terms of lost earnings and lessened quality of life. Lucy, now 25, told the Irish Sun: 'I didn't always have it, it came on very suddenly when I was 19. 'It was four years after that before I had even came across the concept of OCD online through American research. 'I had worked with therapists in these four years before but unfortunately none of them could figure out that it was OCD. 'Once I came across it myself, I went to my GP and I was like, 'I think I have this' and he was very good, he was like, 'Okay, I'll refer you for psychiatric consultation' and once I got there they were like, 'Yes this is very textbook OCD', and that was two years ago.' Lucy says that living with the condition was still a nightmare even after being diagnosed. She explained that life with OCD is a constant battle between the brain's conscious and subconscious, which is constantly spiralling into negativity. Lucy herself was plagued by the fear of not being a good person and was always mentally battling self-doubt. She explained: 'It was hard, it was horrendous. It's categorised by this onslaught of intrusive thoughts that are usually quite dark in nature, because those are the ones that grab your attention obviously. I live with OCD and here's why your brain is like a kettle 'So they're the ones that will make you stop in your tracks and go, 'Why the hell did I just think that?'. 'They're racing thoughts and as soon as they come at you you're thinking, 'Why did I think that?', 'What does this say about me?', and you're trying to get that thought out of your head. 'And the compulsive behaviours come in, some people might put the light on ten times because they think if they don't then someone's going to die then it's going to be their fault.' Lucy told how she was plagued by thoughts that she was somehow a bad person, adding: 'A lot of mine was totally internal, from the outside looking in you wouldn't think I was doing anything but I was doing a lot. 'I had compulsions in my head, neutralising a bad thought with a good thought after it, fighting with a thought or reviewing my memories to confirm I'm a good person. I'll think, 'You're a bad person', and I'll go, 'No, no, no, this is why you're not.' 'So you're always engaging in the thought in some way whether saying no that's wrong or trying to disprove it, literally anything to get rid of it. 'I guess I spent a lot of time in different therapy chairs telling people about this. 'They said it was just anxiety and I tried to make peace with that but I had anxiety as a child and this was different.' DIAGNOSIS DISCOVERY 'Another compulsion is Googling your symptoms but by Googling my exact thoughts I came across this Reddit page talking about OCD, and I was like, 'This sounds pretty right.' 'That's how I found out it was OCD and I thought yeah, 'This is definitely me', so I brought it to my GP and I was like, 'It's this thing'. 'Is it common, it's hard to know because a lot of people will never be diagnosed or won't admit to it because some of the intrusive thoughts are really dark and taboo and people are ashamed of the experience in their head. 'I know that two to three per cent of the world have it so you could apply that to anywhere.' HERE TO HELP Lucy decided that the lack of information available in Ireland was leaving people with OCD in the dark. So after receiving her diagnosis, she created She said: 'Since I started the page I've spoken to hundreds of people who have said thank you, I didn't realise there were other people like this in Ireland. 'I wanted to start therapy again and I suffered a bereavement after my diagnosis and after I accepted that Ireland maybe doesn't have our own resources I was telling people what OCD was. 'I wanted the person I was working with to understand OCD so if I fell into a spiral they would be able to cop that. 'Ireland is very behind, even though the knowledge is there, they don't have it.' DEBILITATING BATTLE And the 25-year-old said that the crippling condition is often misrepresented and played for laughs in the media, despite the reality being much harder to deal with. Lucy said: 'It's so misrepresented in the media as this funny quirky thing where you like to have things a particular way for no reason other than that's just how you like it but that's not how it is. 'That's actually obsessive compulsive personality disorder which people can be diagnosed with, that's very typical of the stereotype we see in the media. 'OCD is really different from how it's portrayed in the media, they're very different, it's actually so debilitating.' But the Lucy said that the condition doesn't have to control the life of those who live with it. WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF OCD? OCD affects different people in different ways, but usually appears as a particular pattern of behaviours. These include four main steps: Obsession – where an unwanted, intrusive thought or urge repeatedly enters a person's mind. Anxiety – the unwanted obsession then provokes a feeling of intense anxiety or distress. Compulsion – as a result of feeling anxious, a person will carry out repetitive behaviours or mental acts that they feel driven to perform to better the situation. Temporary relief – the compulsion will offer temporary relief to the OCD sufferer's anxiety - but the obsession soon returns, causing the cycle to begin again. While it is possible to just have obsessive thoughts or just have compulsions, most sufferers will contend with both. Common types of compulsive behaviour in people with OCD include: Cleaning and hand washing Checking – such as checking doors are locked or that the gas is off Counting Ensuring order and arranging things 'perfectly' Hoarding Thinking "neutralising" thoughts to counter the obsessive ones Avoiding certain places and situations that they feel could trigger obsessive thoughts Lucy explained that after years of struggling with the condition, she went to A&E to deal with her nightmare situation. Since then, she's been prescribed medication but is still on a journey to discover and spread more information about OCD. She continued: 'I fully believe that recovery is possible, it is classified as chronic, it's something that until the end of time I'm going to have to be on top of but I've been taking medication for the past two years. 'It was honestly a lifesaver. Prior to that I went to A&E and said, 'I don't think I can do this anymore'. It had been such a tough four years I said, 'I can't live the rest of my life like this', the medication was a lifesaver. 'Some people have it for as a long as they can remember, I didn't. 'It came on in an instant - it was crazy, a lot of people I've spoken to it's come on them suddenly, I don't know there could be something in our genetics that were predisposed, it could be trauma, there's still a lot to know about it. 'So you can have intrusive dreams also, you know how you have dreams and they're so bizarre and you're not in control of them, they come from your subconscious, I like to think that's where OCD thoughts come from. 'In a non-OCD brain there's a filter between your subconscious and conscious mind that notices everything, but somehow that gets damaged and then all of those thoughts come to the forefront and you end up with these crazy thoughts.' 'ATTACK CORE VALUES' Lucy added: 'My thoughts are very managed with my meds, they still appear but the meds give you space to realise it is OCD, and the big thing is not to respond to the thought once it presents itself. 'Nine times out of ten I'll be successful with that with the medication, you have to just let the thought be there no matter how terrorising it is which is obviously easier said than done. 'The ones that distress you attack your core values, for example I'm not a religious person but a big one for religious people is they get thoughts while praying, that they are being blasphemous to God. 'I don't get that but I get thoughts tracking what I do find important, because then you'll pay attention.' Lucy said there's still a lot to know about OCD, which affects roughly 156,000 people in Ireland. Asked if she had a message for those who would like to know more about the condition, she said: 'You definitely know people who have it, your loved one could have it, it's not a silly funny thing it's very hard to deal with. 'But recovery is possible, it can feel like it isn't, it can feel all consuming like my life is over but it's not.' STAR'S PAIN Earlier this year, RTE star Brendan Courtney also revealed he The popular presenter said he was diagnosed at 25, but had become obsessed with washing his hands when he was just six-years-old. Lifting the lid on his horrific symptoms, Brendan said: 'I didn't get intrusive thoughts until later in life and I could go and read about it because it's terrifying. 'Whatever the bizarre thought is, the next thought is, 'Oh my God why did I just have that thought', and then you spiral.' Brendan added: 'I found OCD appears after very stressful times or during very stressful times. 'So you're logical, but your emotional ability to just discount the thought, you can't do that because you're stressed. 'So you attach to this thought and then you feel really stupid. You feel really out of control.' The Dublin native bravely spoke on air back in April about fears he had as a young adult. TOUGH TIME He said: 'It can be quite harrowing. It's not just your hands are dirty. My fear in my 20s was sharp objects, knives. 'I couldn't look at knives or have knives in the house because my internal thoughts would then attach themselves to some harm. 'And then I'm like, 'Why am I thinking that?', because I didn't feel like that.' Brendan has learned how to 'cope' with his distressing thoughts through counselling, therapy and books. He explained: 'It presents itself when I'm really stressed or when I've had a bereavement or something out of control. So I now have a good understanding. 'But then you're afraid to say that even because it'll present somewhere else!' 5 Lucy was unaware that she had OCD for years 5 Brendan Courtney recently opened up on his struggles with OCD Credit: RTE
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
‘My Cosmos plants are struggling. How can I help them thrive?'
Some Cosmos bedding plants I recently planted in our new garden have struggled to get going. Their leaves have yellowed and they look stunted. Any suggestions as to what the problem is? In my old garden I grew these very easily. Rachel O'L, Kilkenny A fast-growing, floriferous, half-hardy annual, Cosmos bipinnatus is easily raised from seed sown under cover in spring. This very decorative member of the daisy family is great for quickly adding height and colour to a container display or summer border. It also makes an excellent cut flower. A wide range of varieties are available, with flowers in shades of pink as well as white, lemon-yellow and apricot. Annual cosmos is typically very vigorous, so much so that the standard advice is to avoid planting it into too rich a soil in order to encourage flower production over an excess of leafy growth. That said, plants can become sometimes infected by diseases such as aster yellows or fusarium, which cause stunted growth and yellowing of the foliage. Like most members of the daisy family, this species loves full sun and a free-draining soil, so overwatering, or growing plants in wet, poorly drained soil or in deep shade can also cause similar symptoms. There's also a chance that your plants may be suffering from what's known as lime-induced chlorosis. This happens when the soil has a high pH (a pH above 7), meaning it's alkaline or high in lime. READ MORE Plants vary in their ability to grow well in these kinds of soils. Ericaceous plants such as azalea, pieris, camellia and rhododendron, for example, can only be grown in soils where the pH is quite acidic (ideally a pH of 5-6). But most plant species including cosmos are happiest when the pH is just slightly acidic to neutral, with a pH of 6.5-7. In alkaline soils, however, an excess of lime can interfere with a plant's ability to absorb phosphorus, iron and manganese as well as other nutrients, causing the symptoms you describe. So I'd suggest you test your soil's pH, always a good idea with a new garden and something that can be done easily at home using a test widely available in most good garden centres. For accurate results, use a soil sample from an area that hasn't been recently manured or fertilised. Correcting an overly high soil pH is complicated and typically involves using products that acidify the soil, such as sulphur, aluminium sulphate and sulphur of iron, also known as ferrous sulphate. Mulching with pine needles or bark mulch are other solutions. But it's very important that this is done carefully and cautiously as the amount required will depend upon the degree of alkalinity. Bear in mind, too, that making the soil too acidic can also have a negative impact on plant growth. Detailed advice on .
