THE surgical team in Ennis Hospital turned up for work on Wednesday to discover without warning day surgery was cancelled two days after overcrowding reached a new record of 130 patients on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). That was the disputed claim made by Deputy Michael McNamara who has also revealed he stopped the transfer of his relative to UHL for medical treatment because she was afraid to go there and was treated elsewhere. However, the UL Hospitals’ Group has stated the decision to postpone elective surgeries in Ennis on Wednesday was communicated to all the Ennis-based theatre staff yesterday evening. The group acknowledged regrettably, the decision was not communicated to one member of the surgical team, who attended, and this matter is being rectified. A number of elective surgeries at Ennis Hospital and other UL Hospitals’ Group sites were postponed today on Wednesday as the group continued to manage a significant level of demand for emergency care as …
Read More »‘If you don’t live in a house with pyrite, you don’t understand’
SERIOUS mental and physical health impacts for people living in homes where the concrete blocks are defective were outlined at a meeting in Ennis last Friday night (June 16). As members of the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) sought an update on the new grant scheme, frustration boiled over they were told they would not be able to make applications for another five weeks. One emotional homeowner told the meeting that she was recovering after recently suffering a stroke. “My husband now has long Covid and is unable to work,” she said. “How will we manage? What supports will there be to navigate this grant process? I feel like we’re being set up to fail.” Deputy Violet Anne Wynne said the woman was the second person in a fortnight to say they had suffered a stroke as a result of dealing with the stress of pyrite. “While politicians can certainly empathise with the issues constituents are experiencing, you can only …
Read More »Clare TD was among targets of Harris trolling
Sinn Fein deputy was subjected to scathing Twitter attack IT HAS emerged that an anonymous Twitter account, which led to the termination of the contract of Sunday Independent columnist Eoghan Harris, targeted Clare Sinn Féin TD Violet Ann Wynne. Last week, editor Alan English took the decision to terminate Mr Harris’s contract after he admitted to being involved in the Barbara J Pym account, which has since been permanently suspended for violating Twitter’s rules on platform manipulation and spam. The account tweeted Deputy Wynne last March after the Tánaiste’s erroneous assertion that there were no protestants in Sinn Féin. While Leo Varadkar later apologised to Deputy Wynne, a member of the Church of Ireland, the Barbara J Pym account launched a scathing attack. The tweet, sent to the Tánaiste, Sinn Féin and Deputy Wynne said: “She’s only acceptable as a token Protestant as long as she toes the SFIRA line and justifies the murder and ethnic cleansing of Protestants north …
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