Tag Archives: Ann Norton

A LOCAL woman has questioned if the HSE believes the health and life of her daughter is “worth more than €600”, following a traumatic experience. Nicole Norton (19), who suffers from Cerebral Palsy, requires intrathecal baclofen therapy (IBT) to prevent her from going into possible spasm, internal organ and heart failure. In an interview with The Clare Champion, her mother, Ann Norton, said she got a phonecall from a senior clinician on Wednesday of last week informing her that the HSE would no longer pay for the cost of refilling this pump because it is too expensive. It costs about €600 to provide medication for the pump every five or six weeks. Ms Norton said she was told the medication for the pump is “not being released from the pharmacy due to the cost”. “I felt sick in my stomach that the HSE would put Nicole’s life at risk for the sake of €600.” Councillor Norton said if Nicole goes into …

The Israeli ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Ze’ev Boker visited Clare County Council’s headquarters at Áras Contae an Chláir in Ennis today (Wednesday). Ambassador Boker was greeted by Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council Bill Chambers; Mayor of Ennis Ann Norton and Gerard Dollard, interim chief executive of Clare County Council. Ambassador Boker was accompanied by Mrs Amira Arnon, director of the Northern European Department in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is visiting Ireland this week.

Clare Crusader’s Clinic is facing the threat of closure by 2020, unless major Government funding is provided on a annual basis. While neither of the co-founders, Councillor Ann Norton and Frank Cassidy, want to close the clinic, they have warned its current losses are unsustainable without Government funding. In the wake of the Console scandal, the co-founders have decided to open the accounts for the first time to dispel the perception that it has loads of spare cash. According to profit and loss accounts provided to The Clare Champion, the clinic has accumulated losses of €107,341. The charity made a slight profit of €1,495 in 2012, a profit of €14,615 in 2013 before sustaining a major loss of €48,523 in 2014. The clinic suffered further losses of €17,587 last year and €41,231 for the first six months of this year. Fundraising from 2005 to 2016 generated a gross return of €2,684,779, less €395,931 in costs, giving a net figure of …

Four young people from Phoenix will arrive in Ennis on Monday next as part of a three-week long exchange, a centrepiece of the long-standing twinning relationship between the Clare County and Arizona State capitals. The new Mayor of Ennis, Ann Norton, will perform one of her first official functions at the Rowan Tree Café on Tuesday at 12.30pm when she hosts a lunch for eight Ennis Phoenix Youth Ambassadors for 2016, among them the recently arrived Phoenix contingent as well as four Ennis students due to depart for Arizona next month. The Ennis Phoenix Twinning Committee, which is part-funded by Clare County Council, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013.

Independent Councillor Ann Norton is the new Mayor of Ennis. She was unanimously elected at this week’s annual general meeting of the Municipal District Committee of Ennis. Councillor Norton was elected to Clare County Council for the first time in 2014 and succeeds Fianna Fail’s Pat Daly in the role. Councillor James Breen (IND) has been elected deputy mayor in place of the outgoing deputy mayor, Mary Howard, Fine Gael. Mayor Norton, in her acceptance speech said, “It is a great honour for me to hold this office in a year that will see Ennis host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann for the first time since 1977. This is a huge occasion for the town and the entire county. “As mayor I also looking forward to supporting the various community initiatives and cultural projects that will be taking place over the next 12 months, including plans for the new flagship County Library project in Ennis. Another key priority of mine will be …

THE results of the eighth count are in, which was the distribution of Timmy Dooley’s surplus of 749 votes. No candidate was elected so Ann Norton, fancied by some in the early stages of the campaign before Harty’s entrance, has been eliminated. The full results of the eighth count are Harty (Ind) +155  10,843 Breen (FG) + 25  7,537 Carey (FG) +30  7,062 McDonagh (FF) +390  5,887 McNamara (Lab) +71   5,569 Moran (SF) +25  5,083 Norton (Ind) +53  3,205   Speaking after her elimination Ann Norton said she had a great experience in the campaign and said she will continue to lobby the county’s TDs in her role as a county councillor. “They’ll be continually hearing my voice over the next five years. ”  

THE HSE is being asked to explain why it has not appointed a paediatric surgeon in the Mid-West, despite a suggestion to do so, following the death of a two-year-old Clare child more than a decade ago. The call has been made by Clare Independent General Election candidate Ann Norton, who said the family of the late Shannon Canny from Kilkishen feel “let down” by the health service over its failure to act on the suggestion. Councillor Norton, who manages the Clare Crusaders Children’s Clinic in Barefield, said hundreds of Clare children have to travel to Crumlin Children’s Hospital and Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin for surgical procedures, despite the “presence of a supposed Centre of Excellence in the Mid-west”. An inquest into Shannon’s death on January 7, 2005 found that she died from tissue necrosis due to complications of the twisting of the bowel. According to Councillor Norton, “In the aftermath of the inquest, Professor Pierce Grace, a …

THE lack of in-patient beds for young people with mental health issues has been highlighted by Councillor Ann Norton. “There is no bed capacity in Limerick for young people with mental health issues, there is a considerable waiting list for mental health assessments and there is an absolute lack of available counsellors, publicly or privately, for young people,” she claimed. “The Government cannot on one hand claim that young people are the future of this country and, on the other hand, ignore their plight,” she said. She has requested that the HSE assume a more direct role in the provision of mental health services to counteract the “epidemic” of suicide, warning that the number of officially reported suicide cases is “a mere scratching of the surface” in terms of the actual number of deaths occurring. “Suicide is a growing problem in this country, irrespective of what the Central Statistics Office figures show. Depression does not discriminate on the basis of …