Search Results for 'Mary Harney'

The family of bowel cancer victim Susie Long has spoken out about the surprise resignation of the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, on Wednesday night, saying that they feel utterly betrayed by her broken promises.

It has been a watershed for the Government this week, we are leaking politicians like one of the burst pipes spurting water during the big thaw.

Probably the worst aspect of the outrageous VHI premium hikes up to 45 per cent as announced this month is the fact that, with so many millions pumped into the public health service over the years, people in this country need to have private health insurance at all. Not so long ago — a mere six months ago actually — the outgoing chief executive of the HSE - Professor Brendan Drumm, suggested that improvements in the HSE were so progressive it would make complete sense for everyone to use the public health service. He consequently foresaw a day where people simply would not have a need to take out private health insurance at all.

JANUARY — the year gets off to a flying start when the words 'Oh feck' are uttered collectively by two million as the January wage sheets are handed out and the true realisation of the Budget kicks in... Sky Sports reports a massive number of calls to their cancellation centre...sales of lattes are decimated...hair extensions are returned to the rats who sold them during the good times...the lights are turned off...Our working class hero Anglo Avenger Trucker Joe, who hasn't mounted a protest using building equipment for what must be weeks now, attacks Anglo ATMs with an angle grinder. He is arrested again for the usual few hours, but despite his latest effort, Cadbury's say that he is not their man for the new Milk Tray ad...back to the drawing board for the caped crusader. It snows and rains and freezes.

WHEN THE current recession first loomed just over two years ago, the general consensus by those of a certain age was that it was nothing compared to the dark days of the 1970s and 1980s.

The weather didn’t suit the Australian rugby players on Tuesday evening but thankfully Munster gave us something to cheer about while the prospective loss of our economic sovereignty was hovering at the back of our minds. The long and the short is that we have made a complete mess of being a sovereign nation and while we can blame the politicians, the bankers, the Church, basically all the people we used to put faith in, the sad reality is that we all share the responsibility. We are the ones who elect politicians and we are the ones who lobby them to put parish pump politics ahead of the good of the country, naively believing that the satisfaction of our own greed will bring us security. Personal greed, and perhaps a neurotic fear of poverty, has brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. It has also prevented us developing a robust social conscience when it comes to paying taxes to ensure quality public services.

A leading local nursing union official is calling for a crisis summit on the health services to be convened immediately.

Mayo Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony has criticised the decision of An Bord Altranais (regulatory authority for nurses and midwives) to increase the annual registration fee for nurses from January 1.

Research and development projects in the field of medical technologies at NUI Galway are to receive an investment boost of €900,000 over the next two years from Covidien, one of the world’s leading suppliers of healthcare products.

A local community activist has slammed the closure of St Francis Public Nursing Home in Upper Newcastle as a residential facility saying the decision represents another stage in what he terms Health Minister Mary Harney’s “long journey towards public service devastation”.