The proposed Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023 does nothing to add to the existing prohibition on obstructing somebody from accessing a healthcare facility or harassing somebody. The provisions around communications and conduct “likely to influence the decision of another person” are unimplementable.
The Government today accepted my Private Members Motion seeking the implementation of a range of measures aimed at reducing pressure on overcrowded Emergency Departments across the country.
Read MoreAt a time of immense pressure on its services, the National Ambulance Service needs to re-examine how it can utilise Paramedic Studies graduates of the University of Limerick.
When I recently asked the Minister for Health the number of occasions where ambulances arrived at scenes where the patient had already died, I was told that such statistics are not collated. The deterioration in the National Ambulance Service is clear from the statistics we do have.
Only 7 WTE (Fulltime /Whole-time Equivalent) healthcare professional positions in Acute Services were created at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) during 2022 despite UHL being the most overcrowded hospital in the country last year.
Read MoreDespite Minister Donnelly’s claim that 1,000 new posts have been created at University Hospital Limerick since March 2020, two recently upgraded theatres in Ennis Hospital have remained closed since before Christmas.
The absence of IT systems and structures in the HSE and across the entire health service, including CAMHS, is a major blockage to its improvement and efficient functioning and needs to be addressed urgently.
I spoke about the healthcare crisis in the Mid West on The Tonight Show.
I attended a positive meeting about UHL yesterday with UL Hospitals Group management, the Health Minister, Taoiseach and fellow Oireachtas Midwest representatives. At long last, there was an acknowledgment that the Midwest hospital system is under-resourced compared to other regions of the State and that the Model 2 Hospitals, such as Ennis and Nenagh, are underutilised.
Micheál Martin and his government failed the people of the Midwest by refusing to tackle the mounting problems at UHL. Leo Varadkar must now intervene.
I was shocked that the only proposal from the Government representative on today’s show was to call for mandatory face masks and “other restrictions”, and to call for young doctors and nurses to be forced to work in a chronically mismanaged health system.
Chronic and persistent overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick is not being addressed.
I raised the issue of ongoing overcrowding at University of Limerick with Taoiseach Micheál Martin today.
I spoke to Newstalk this evening about University Hospital Limerick, the most consistently overcrowded hospital in the country, and the need to develop a strategy to deliver an acceptable level of health services in the Midwest now and in the immediate future.
No new acute, sub-acute or ICU beds will be opened in the Midwest in 2022, according to HSE figures released to Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara.
Read MoreHIQA is to undertake inspections of the ED at University Hospital Limerick and work with hospital management to develop a strategic plan to address capacity issues. It’s important the plan has a wider scope than the approach taken up to now.
Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara has received confirmation that HIQA is to undertake inspections of the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and work with hospital management to develop a strategic plan to address capacity issues at the Mid-West facility.
Read MoreIndependent Clare TD Michael McNamara has expressed his support a plan announced to reduce treatment waiting times for children with scoliosis and spina bifida which he described as “long-overdue”.
Read MoreClare TD Michael McNamara has called on the HSE and government to publish the findings of a review by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) into the ongoing trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
I opposed another extension of the COVID-19 emergency powers and the Government’s refusal to accept an amendment providing for democratic scrutiny of regulations made pursuant to those powers.
I am not opposed to public health doctors giving public health advice. I am opposed to extending the abdication of government to an unelected and unaccountable body. It is undemocratic and unsafe.
€24.7m was spent on Mandatory Hotel Quarantine, which detected 0.39% of all cases detected in the State during its period of operation. MHQ is a costly but largely futile measure to be seen to be doing something.
In outlining my opposition to yet another renewal of “emergency” powers on Covid 19, I explained how the Government has been reckless with people’s health.
I will be voting against the Government’s proposal to extend the emergency powers in respect of indoor hospitality.
Later tonight, I will be voting against the measures proposed by Government under the Health (Amendment) (No.2) Bill.
I spoke against the Government’s bill to allow for the restrictions and lockdowns to be introduced until at least November with the possibility of a further extension thereafter.
Given the Government’s proposal to extend far reaching and extraordinary emergency pandemic powers, the least we could do is allow for it to be fully debated.
I am voting against the proposed extension of emergency legislation because it allows for the restrictions to basic human rights and ordinary human activities to be rolled over indefinitely.
Clare Independent T.D. Michael McNamara has criticised the Government’s Mandatory Hotel Quarantine strategy, which he described as “a half-baked exercise in optics” and a “flawed measure” in the context of an unchecked border with Northern Ireland and when the majority of persons arriving in the state whether by air, sea or over land are not tested for variants of Covid-19.
Read MoreI asked the Taoiseach if the Health Minister would correct the record of the Dáil where he wrongly said there is no penal provision relating to religious services.
Given that vaccine demand greatly exceeds current supply I questioned why the Government is prioritising people who, according to HIQA, the US CDC and scientists across the world, have an immunity from infection arising from having contracted and recovered from Covid (which can be verified with an antibody test).
Did Stephen Donnelly even read the regulations that he signed into law, which contained penal provisions relating to religious services? Now that priests are being fined, I am calling on him to correct the record of the Dáil.
The Health (Amendment) Bill is being rushed to avoid scrutiny. We have been told that quarantine facilities will not be up and running for weeks regardless of whether the legislation is passed tomorrow or given more time for adequate scrutiny.
Read MoreI asked the Minister for Health how many people who have contracted Covid have been vaccinated and whether it is proposed to vaccinate such people in light of the suggestion that they may enjoy some protection arising from their previous infection.
I questioned the Health Minister about prioritising the vaccination of persons in receipt of home care and their carers; the winter flu; and rapid antigen detection tests.
Clare Independent T.D., Michael McNamara, has received confirmation from the UL Hospitals Group that a business case for a major expansion in the level of services provided at Ennis Hospital has been approved.
Read MoreI spoke against the lockdown and the power to lockdown again and again until June at least.
As Ireland continues to combat COVID-19, we must not lose sight of the impact it is having on mental health.
I questioned Health Minister Stephen Donnelly about the medical basis for threatening another lockdown and whether he foresees its consequences.
