Tag Archives: Dr Michael Harty

THE glaring disparity between public subvention provided to public and private nursing homes came under the spotlight this week as some residential care facilities request more personal protective equipment (PPE) to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic over the coming weeks. In a week when a local lobby group issued a public appeal for people to donate PPE, a huge gap has emerged in terms of state funding provided to different local nursing home operators. According to figures obtained by the Clare Champion, some public nursing homed are getting almost twice as much public subvention under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Fair Deal) compared with their private counterparts. Under the NHSS, the cost of care in Clare’s public nursing homes is €1,607 in St Joseph’s Community Hospital, Ennis; €1,650 in Raheen Community Nursing Unit; Ennistymon Community Unit €1,481 and Regina House Community Nursing Unit, Kilrush, €1,422. This compared to €830 for a single or shared room in St Dominic Savio Nursing …

Dr Michael Harty believes Covid-19 should be categorised as a “pneumonic plague” because it is a deadly virus that people have no immunity against, attacks lungs and other vital organs and in some cases leads to deaths. The former Clare Independent Deputy has compared to current pandemic to the Spanish Flu of 1918 as it has such a destructive impact on peoples’ health. “People of all ages have died from Covid-19. There is no age group that is immune from it,” he said. His comparison comes after official confirmation the number of Covid-19 cases in Clare increased from 60 to 65 from Monday to Wednesday this week. The Kilmihil-based GP expressed concern about the dramatic increase in mortality from the virus from the mid twenties to 36 on Tuesday. He believes that Ireland is about twelve days behind Italy and in twelve days’ time the country could reach the peak experienced by the Italians a week ago. Having analysed the …

  AN emotional appeal has been made by a number of community leaders for those intending to travel to Clare holiday homes for Easter to cancel their plans. Despite the signing into law of stringent new Garda powers to enforce the Covid-19 lock-down, concerns remain that many have flocked to the West in recent days. The Director of Nursing at St Theresa’s Nursing Home in Kilrush told The Champion that the increase in visitors has been noticeable, and said the situation is a great risk to aging communities are already living in fear. “The risk they are bringing is not just to us in the Nursing Home and protection agencies but also to the many ageing communities in West Clare,” Yvonne Moroney said. “This is the same area they love to visit year after year, but it will not be the same if the infection was to catch on in our small communities. Many people are worried about what people …

EFFORTS must continue to reduce the incidence of Covid-19 to ensure that in excess of 1,200 people don’t die from this disease in Ireland in three weeks’ time, a local doctor has warned. Dr Michael Harty has appealed to people to stay at home, the elderly to “cocoon” and others to self-isolate for 14 days if they have any symptoms to try and reduce the worrying rising death rate in the country. Having tracked the Covid-19 figures in different countries, he said the death rate in Ireland is 15 people per million compared to 207 per million in Italy. The Kilmihil-based GP expressed concern about the increase in the number of patients requiring ventilation from 77 on Tuesday to 107 on Wednesday and this doesn’t include another 37 in ICU. If a large number of people get Covid-19 around the same period, he warned ICU will be overwhelmed very quickly despite of extensive efforts to double capacity in the public …

ON Monday, Dr Michael Harty announced that he is not looking to be re-elected to the Dáil and in an interview with The Clare Champion, he said the outgoing Government has failed rural Ireland, while the administration didn’t accept obvious solutions to major problems facing the country. Dr Harty also revealed that he had turned down invitations to stand for established parties in the General Election. “Obviously, the economy has recovered and that brings benefits to everybody. But I think there is still a huge dissatisfaction within rural Ireland that they are being left behind, that services are still being withdrawn to rural Ireland,” he commented. As it stands now, he feels that the likes of Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris and Eoghan Murphy do not understand the needs of a county like Clare. “I think that the Government is urban-orientated. We have the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Housing, who are all urban-based …

A SLIGHT majority of Clare GPs are in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment on the eve of Friday’s national referendum. While national opinion polls have shown a lead for the Yes side in the lead-up to the referendum, local GPs are almost equally divided on this question, with 11 in favour and nine against. According to a Clare Champion survey, seven local doctors who responded will be exercising their right to apply a conscientious objection to delivering a termination. It also emerged that of the 20 GPs surveyed, none were consulted by the Health Service Executive or the Department of Health about how terminations will be carried out in their practice. The Minister for Health Simon Harris has consistently stated he would like to see a GP-led service for the termination of pregnancy, if introduced in the country. Eleven GPs who were surveyed agreed with the idea of unrestricted permission to terminate a pregnancy up to 12 weeks, without …

THE expected return of Dr John Hillery as a possible candidate for the next general election is adding spice to the political manoeuvrings that have stepped up a gear across all parties. Although the resignation of Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald on Tuesday prevented a Christmas snap election, which no politician or voter wanted, all prospective candidates are now firmly in general election mode. The extraordinary political events of the past week suggest that, unless Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin add new safeguards to their confidence and supply agreement, which was severely dented over the Department of Justice emails debacle, a general election could be called early next year. Fine Gael, which leads the beleaguered, minority-led Government, moved quickly to select its two outgoing Clare deputies, Minister of State Pat Breen and Joe Carey, at its selection convention on Monday night. While Senator Martin Conway, who was one of the three nominations, withdrew at the last minute to …

DR Michael Harty has told Dáil Éireann that Clare would lose inter-county hurlers, if parts of the county were subsumed into Limerick. He was speaking on a Private Members’ Local Authority Boundaries Review debate on Tuesday, which looked at similar issues in Cork. “Anyone familiar with Clare hurling will know that most of our senior team, which has been successful in recent years, come from that area. I am sure people in those areas would not swap the saffron and blue for the green of Limerick, although I am originally from Limerick myself. These are the issues that are important to people when a boundary change is proposed and they are not to be underestimated,” the Independent Clare TD told Dáil Éireann. “Such was the opposition to this proposal that it was not politically possible to pursue it and the then Minister, Phil Hogan, decided not to act on the annexation proposal. A group called Clare Against the Boundary Change …