"No question" of Gorey Hospital closing down

"No question" of Gorey Hospital closing down
By Fintan Lambe
The Chairman of the South East committee of the Regional Health Forum, Cllr Joe Sullivan, has said he has been assured that the future of Gorey Hospital is safe and it will not close.

It was reported in the national and local media that the hospital is one f 21 publicly ran nursing homes around the country that don’t meet HIQA accommodation standards, and may be forced to close, or cut down on the number of residents, if they don’t comply with regulations by July 1.

However, Cllr Sullivan said he can’t envisage the hospital moving out of Gore. "I have been speaking to senior official in the HSE, and she told me there’s no question of Gorey closing down", he said."There are two new palliative care rooms at the hospital due to be officially opened on January 30".

"The official said she’s aware of the HIQA report and that it will have to be looked at", he added. "I’m working as closely as possible with HIQA and the HSE to ensure the threat of closure does not arise".

"At the moment the information I have is the hospital is safe", he continued. "But we will have to have an urgent meeting with the HSE to assurances that it is not in any danger, and ensure that any threat that may be there is non – existent any longer".

He asked Senator Michael D’Arcy to call on the Minister for Health for an assurance that there will be no change of status in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Cllr Malcolm Byrne said he received assurances form a senior HSE manager in the South East, that the HSE continues to support Gorey District Hospital, and that "there are no plans or proposals to close this facility".

"Whilst there are challenges in meeting HIQA requirements due to the age and layout of the facility, I am satisfied that we will provide for these challenges and plans have been submitted to HIQA in order to maintain this facility into the future", the official said.

Cllr Byrne described the clarification as welcome.

Increase in Deprivation is this Government’s Great Shame

  22 January 2015

Increase in Deprivation is this Government’s Great Shame.

- Wexford third poorest County in Ireland;
New Ross the most disadvantaged countywide-

 Fianna Fáil Councillor Michael Sheehan has slammed the record of this Government in tackling poverty as statistics from the CSO released on Wednesday show that 30.5% people in Ireland now live in deprivation. This figure is up from 13.7% in 2008. The statistics also show that almost one in eight children now live in consistent poverty.

 Councillor Sheehan added that "These shocking statistics show how pointless the Labour party has become in Government. Having been elected to protect those who struggle to pay their bills from day-to-day or need a helping hand, Labour in Government have proven themselves to be one of the most irrelevant and out of touch political parties in our country's history.

Since becoming Minister for Social Protection, the leader of the Labour Party has presided over approximately €1.8 billion in cuts to social programmes. The number of long term unemployed has remained static at 180,000 for the past three years. 74,000 young people are still out or work and not in any education or training schemes, despite the fanfare surrounding the Youth Guarantee. Labour in Government has slashed the very supports which aim to protect vulnerable people, so it should come as no surprise that public confidence in the Government has plummeted.

"These CSO statistics must act as a wake-up call for the Government. There is no point in the Taoiseach and Ministers preaching to the world about how Ireland is experiencing a strong economic recovery when our people and our society are still sinking into deprivation. I am calling on the Government to make poverty reduction its number one priority and to ensure that any recovery is felt by everyone, not just the top earners. We cannot allow a two tier recovery to continue between urban and rural, the haves and have-nots. A new, all-encompassing poverty strategy must be developed by this Government to address this very worrying trend.

This latest CSO report backs up the recent information by the All Ireland Research Observatory which has some startling information on the poverty levels in Wexford. In the Deprivation indices, New Ross and Enniscorthy fall well below the average and Wexford and Gorey are marginally below average.

Countywide we are the third poorest County in the State, registering nearly 87% marginally or below the average. On a more worrying trend and a deeper analysis, nearly 21% of the County is designated disadvantaged/ very disadvantaged. The people may feel that this government, be it jobs, be it investment has let Wexford down. The people are right.


Cllr Michael Sheehan, M.C.C.

Hamper Winners that were won in the National Super Draw.

 The following are the names of the four Hamper Winners that were won in the National Super Draw.

Wexford Winners are:

Carmel Whitney, Oulart
 Eilish Kavanagh - Bunclody
 Athony O'Connor - Kilmuckridge
 Eamon and Mairin Kehoe - Enniscorthy

Eilish Kavanagh Operation Transformation Leader

Enniscorthy / Bunclody Comhairle Ceanntair want to extend their best wishes to their PRO Eilish Kavanagh nee Murphy who has been chosen as a Leader on Operation Transformation.

The first episode of Operation Transformation for this series will broadcast tomorrow evening- Wednesday the 7th January at 8.30pm on RTE One.

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