The sadness of not being present for your child

Sir, – I refer to a letter from Frank J Byrne in Gran Canaria and completely empathise with him (“A sad sight”, Letters, September 28th). I recently witnessed a similarly sad sight that left me in tears.I sat opposite a mother on the bus with her little girl on her lap. The girl was clawing at her mother’s jacket and calling “Mama, Mama”. Her mother was scrolling on her phone for the entire journey into town and didn’t appear to even hear her daughter. I wanted to take the little girl in my arms and just give her a hug. – Yours, etc,URSULA HOUGH-GORMLEY,Donnybrook,READ MOREDublin.