Tag Archives: Limerick

Further searches were conducted and an additional six people have been arrested in relation to Operation Coronation, which was conducted by Gardai in Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. Gardai have revealed that last Wednesday evening, further searches resulted in the recovery of €40,000 cash along with evidence relating to the sale and supply of controlled drugs. Eleven bank accounts were frozen containing in excess of €200,000. Three high-value cars were also seized along with evidence of the accumulation of wealth from suspected drug trafficking. A fourth car was seized for having no valid insurance. A further six people were arrested during the course of the evening. On Saturday morning a search was also conducted on waste ground in Prospect, Co. Limerick. Two firearms and an extendable taser baton were seized during the course of this search, all of which were concealed in plastic wrapping. Update on arrests: Nine people were charged in relation to the sale and supply of controlled drugs …

The railine between Limerick and Ennis reopened from first service this Tuesday morning. The line had been closed since late February due to flooding at Ballycar in Newmarket-on-Fergus.  Iarnród Éireann is advising customers that due to Covid-19 a revised timetable is in place and only essential travel is permitted. For those who must travel, they should check www.irishrail.ie before travelling for times. The railway track at Ballycar Lough has flooded on a number of occasions in recent years. This flooding has led to temporary closures of the railway line for extended periods of up to 20 weeks at a time, although this closure was not as prolonged. Flood waters rose to a maximum height of 1.6 metre above the railway track during some flood events, despite works, which saw Iarnród Éireann  raise the track level by 60 centimetres at Ballycar in 2003 to mitigate against the effects of flooding. This time flood waters reached 1metre above the track. Work is ongoing on …

  Plans are well underway for the development of a large Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) on the floor of the main gymnasium in the University of Limerick’s Sports Arena. It is expected that this temporary facility will be kitted out to accommodate between 120 and 164 patients, depending on staffing, on the basis of a Health Service Executive template in line with a similar one planned for City West in Dublin. The UL Hospitals’ Group estimates it will cost approximately €560,000 for design and build, including mechanical and electrical works, which does not include equipping and staffing costs. This is a joint initiative between the University of Limerick and UL Hospitals’ Group, who are working together to ensure that work will get underway with a week. Once work gets underway it is envisaged that this new facility will be built in four weeks. The HSE has issued an open invitation for all qualified health professionals to make themselves available as …

AS Wednesday morning broke there were 63 people waiting for treatment on trolleys at UHL. Outside the beleaguered hospital’s front door some of those coming and going were happy to share their views and experiences of the region’s failing health system. One man, who didn’t want to be named, has been at the hospital for several days with his 86 year old mother. “She came in on last Wednesday morning at 2am and she was on a trolley until Friday night. She got a bed then, but she has been moved a few times since, she got moved from a private ward to the hall, to a ward and now she’s moved again today.” It is a very poor way to allow an elderly woman be treated, he says. “She has to be helped to the bathroom, she can’t do things herself. Her dignity is gone, she’s just thrown on a trolley and left there. She has to be helped …

UL Hospitals Group is urging members of the public to consider all care options before attending the Emergency Department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) today, Tuesday October 15. The hospital is managing high volumes of patients that have arisen due to a busy 48-72 hours in the Emergency Department. “We apologise to those patients who are experiencing lengthy waits for beds, and we would like to reassure them, and their families, that we are working to alleviate the situation.  We are appropriately transferring patients to other hospitals in our Group and are working with the MidWest Community Healthcare to access appropriate beds within the community. All patients are receiving expert medical care and every effort is being made to make their stay as comfortable as possible,” UHL said in a statement today (Tuesday). “Meanwhile, we urge people to consider all available care options and not attend the ED at UHL unless absolutely necessary. It is crucial that the ED …

Gardaí have confirmed that they have arrested a second man in connection with the investigation into the murder of Aidan Kelly of Moyross, at Blackwater, Ardnacrusha, County Clare in 2006. A garda spokesman said they arrested a male in his 60s on Wednesday and following a period of detention at Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick he was released without charge, and a file is being prepared for the Director of Prosecutions. Meanwhile a man in his 30s who had been arrested earlier this week continues to be detained this Thursday at Henry Street Garda Station in connection with the same investigation. Aidan Kelly was killed on May 10, 2006 at Blackwater and up until Tuesday September 10, no arrests had been made into his murder. The Limerick man had been shot a number of times on the night of May 10 and a firearm was recovered at the scene. On Tuesday of this week a man in his 30s …

UL Hospitals Group has “sincerely apologised” to patients facing long waits Emergency Department (ED) during busy periods. On Friday there were 75 patients on trolleys, compared to 81 on Thursday. “The Emergency Department at UHL continues to be one of the busiest in the country. There has been a surge in presentations to Emergency Departments this week. We have been working hard to progress patients through the system to discharge, so that we can free up beds for the patients in the Emergency Department who are awaiting admission. Surgery at UHL has been curtailed over the last number of days to enable us to use that bed capacity for patients in the Emergency Department,” the group said in a statement issued on Friday. “Access to transitional care and home care package funding has been reduced over the past two weeks, which has led to an increase in delayed discharges. However, we continue to work with our community colleagues to progress transition …

THE failures of University Hospital Limerick, which recently broke Irish records for patients waiting on trolleys; was the background to a behind closed doors meeting between UL Hospitals representatives CEO Colette Cowan, Chief Clinical Director Paul Burke and Clare County Council on Monday. Councillor Tom McNamara was one of those who attended but he didn’t accept all that he was told. “They outlined the reason for the overcrowding, they said there was an MRI scanner down and they need a second one. They said that 25 beds extra were opened up when the 17 closed, which we found hard to believe. You know in your heart and soul if 25 beds were going up in Limerick Regional Hospital, there’d be a big fanfare. From what we can gather from below, there weren’t 25 beds open. How come if there were 25 beds opened, when the 17 closed, the numbers on trolleys jumped up to 81?” A few years ago the …