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The Health Service Executive (HSE), on behalf of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), inspect tens of thousands of food establishments throughout Ireland every year.
Note: Food safety legislation here in Ireland sets standards which food businesses must stringently adhere to, and no short-cuts are acceptable or permitted, when it comes to ensuring the protection of consumer health.
The number of food outlets (takeaways, restaurants, wholesalers, butchers and retailers etc) shut down in Ireland last year, rose by over 25%; when compared to the previous year 2017, with 66 enforcement orders activated across Ireland.
The FSAI have described this increase as totally unacceptable, stating there are “absolutely no excuses for negligent food practices”.
Last year Dublin saw the largest number of such offenders; numbering in total 22; [(Northside (12), Southside (10)]; however, when broken down by population, it was Co. Louth which fared the worst with 6 closure orders instigated across the county, wrestling the title relating to hygiene-related activities held previously from Co. Donegal.
Counties that were given a clean bill of health in 2018, included Kerry, Wicklow, Offaly, Waterford, Sligo, Kildare, Leitrim and Longford.
While food providing establishments in Thurles town, here in the Premier County also received a clean bill of health; County Tipperary, as a whole entity, comes in at 5th place on a list of 15 named offending counties; which include Kilkenny, Laois, Carlow, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Louth, Meath, Mayo, Westmeath, Cavan and Donegal.
 Limerick University Hospital Nationally, a new 2019 high of some 606 hospital patients has been reached; each left to be abandoned on trolleys and chairs in corridors and waiting rooms, while all seeking a hospital bed this morning (January 14th 2019).
As is most usual, I regret to write that once again the two worst effected hospitals in Ireland; both servicing the County of Tipperary, are found to be topping the list of the most neglected medical institutions. This is despite the most knowledgeable of medical personnel working here, all to be found performing under the most extreme conditions, being under-provided for and understaffed.
Figures, released by the INMO’s (Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation) Trolley Watch, so far this morning, confirm that University Hospital Limerick, servicing North Tipperary, again tops the poll nationally, with the number of patients waiting having reached 59 persons, while South Tipperary General Hospital, which services South Tipperary, comes in nationally, in second place with 50 persons suffering under similar circumstances.
A total of 439 people nationally are, this morning, waiting within emergency departments, while 167 are located in various hospital wards.
Today’s shameful statistics combined locally and nationally, represent the highest number of patients awaiting a bed, since March of last year, (2018).
“South Tipperary General Hospital (S.T.G.H.) are doing magnificent work under General Manager Maria Barry and all her Team, together with every devoted member of staff at this hospital. With additional funding, they are making steady and worthwhile progress. They truly deserve praise and encouragement, and not criticism or snide negative commentary”.
So, stated Independent TD Mr Michael Lowry, in response to a recent public interview given by Deputy Mattie McGrath, recently.
Deputy Lowry stated; “Mattie is a great man at finding fault, specialising in criticism, but is very short on solutions and has a poor record on delivering results for the Hospital. During the past 3 years more has happened at this hospital than at any time in the previous 10 years. The cloud of doubt about its future has been lifted.”
 Deputy Michael Lowry. “We now have investment. We now have refurbishment works. We have development of services. We have expansion of bed compliment. The Hospital with whole-time equivalent positions, together with part-time roles has over 900 people working on the hospital site. Since 2016, over one hundred extra personnel are now working in the hospital complex. This includes 33 qualified nurses, 25 health care assistants, who are trained to support nurses in bedside duties. The balance is made up of additional consultants, doctors, attendants or clerical support staff. The new 11 bed trolley bay area became fully functional in 2018,” stated Lowry.
“In its first year of service 1,320 patients have used this facility to great effect. Without this unit those patients would have been on a corridor. Instead they were treated in a bed, with dignity and respect.
During 2018, “Medical 1” underwent a significant refurbishment programme. All flooring was replaced, bathrooms were upgraded, and improved lighting was installed. All areas were painted. An enhanced “nurse call” system was put in place.
While the new 40 bed modular unit did incur delays outside of my control, significant progress has been made. The site has been cleared. Services such as water, sanitation and drains have been put in place. Foundations and plinth bases for the modular units is almost complete. The modular frames which are in safe and secure storage, in Cahir, will be delivered to the site in the next 3 weeks. The link bridge between the hospital and the new unit is completed.
This is a major project. It takes time and the benefits of the additional bed compliment will be enormous. The Capital Cost of this Unit €12 million is provided for. Additional funds will be required for equipment and the day to day costs to staff and run the unit. The Senior Management of the Hospital have been very busy. They have quietly and efficiently prepared a business plan and put forward a business case for the required additional money. This Business Plan is being dealt with by the HSE nationally. I am confident that the funds required will be available from the 2019 budget. This project has had the full support of An Taoiseach Mr Leo Varadkar, the Minister for Health Mr Simon Harris and the Government.
This year, 2019, will see the further development of facilities and services with new additional staff appointments. Over €1 million has been allocated to various projects to include the upgrade of the laboratory. Refurbishment of the coronary care unit and acute medical assessment unit. Upgrade of kitchenettes and a new internal paging system. Approval has also been received to make changes to the main entrance of the hospital and to improve the emergency department entrance. This work is designed to reduce weather impact and to avoid closing these access points as a result of harsh weather conditions. Some 8 new consultancy posts have been sanctioned and will be advertised in the coming year.”
Deputy Lowry further stated, “Critics should recall that this hospital was listed for downgrading in 2007. Plans were in place to transfer acute services from Clonmel to Kilkenny and Waterford. For years the hospital was in limbo, completely ignored and side lined with no investment. I don’t apologise for the fact that my political intervention at the behest of the consultants and management of the hospital has heralded a solid stable future for the hospital with an exceptional level of funding to match the ambition. Unlike others I prefer to be positive, to be constructive, to get things done, to find solutions and achieve results.”
The Executive of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) are expected to meet next week to set dates for future strike action. The organisation claim that it has asked the Government to work with it and to try to resolve problems regarding recruitment and retention in nursing. This regrettably has not happened and 95% of INMO nurses and midwives have now voted in favour of industrial action.
Limerick University Hospital (UHL) Overcrowding figures in hospitals in the early part of last year saw January (12,201), February (10,772) and March (10,511). The worst-hit hospital, in 2018, was Limerick University Hospital with 11,437, latter which is expected to provides acute-care hospital services, including a 24-hour emergency department, for the population of Ireland’s Mid West Region, which encompasses the counties of Tipperary, Limerick and Clare.
University Hospital Limerick is also the main teaching hospital for all six hospitals run by the HSE in the greater Mid-West Region [Others in this group include St. Munchin’s Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick; Mid Western Orthopaedic Hospital, Croom; St John’s Hospital, Limerick; Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis, and the Mid Western Regional Hospital.] and is aligned with the Graduate Medical School at the University of Limerick
The smaller South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel, had 5,201 patients waiting on trolleys last year (2018).
In all, more than 108,000 patients went without a bed in Irish hospitals during 2018.
“Go n-éirí an bóthar leat”, loosely translated from the Irish language into English means “May the road rise to meet you” or in more realistic phraseology, “May your journey be successful”.
Oh, but not so in Thurles; no, we living here in this rural backwater, when we use this Irish phrase “Go n-éirí an bóthar leat”, we mean the literal, loose translation, “May the road rise to meet you”.
Following a recent news statement posted on this website on December 28th last, headed “EU Awards Funding For Tipperary Smart Street Lighting”; we were since contacted by a number of individuals asking where a series of “sunken road craters” existed in our town.
To those that enquired, check your email, we sent you photographs showing the above 3 craters which are to be found within 6 meters (18 ft) of each other on Slievenamon Road, Thurles and all between 4 inches and 10 inches below the actual current road surface. You can find a few more recently “installed” in the proximity of Emmett Street and Mitchel Street.
The drain covers, interestingly, have a manufacturers name and the address of the foundry that cast them; “Sharkey Dublin”, possibly installed in the latter half of the reign of Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India until his death in 1910.
The effect of these craters on motor vehicles of course is usually, at worst, a steering system misalignment or bent wheel rims. Motorists pay local authorities motor tax, if they want to drive their vehicles in a public place. There are four forms of tax on vehicle fuel:- (1) Excise duty charged by the litre, (2) Carbon tax, which is charged by the tonne, (3) A National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) levy of 2 cents per litre, (4) Vat @ 23% is added on after all other taxes have been charged. We won’t mention the tax on the purchase of the vehicle itself, the cost of obtaining a Driving Licence, passing a Driving Test, Vehicle Insurance and that ever essential National Car Test (NCT).
With all of these taxes taken into consideration therefore, Co. Councils feel you shouldn’t get too upset when forced to pay the extra costs of repairs needed to replace / repair steering system misalignments, destroyed tyres or bent wheel rims.
Recent road repairs undertaken in Mitchel Street and Emmett Street in the town, prove that Tipperary Co. Council practises remain extremely flawed. It appears that when it comes to manufacturing craters; the words of author, scientist, and statesman Benjamin Franklin come to mind as in, “old habits die hard”, meaning it is difficult to change a way of behaving, that Tipperary Co. Council has displayed during previous decades, despite the introduction and a major emphases being placed on “Health and Safety” practises.
Yes, “Go n-éirí an bóthar leat”, or “May the road rise to meet you”, is a wish only we can offer pedestrians in Thurles presently, yet we live in optimistic hope that no person steps off the pavement into one of these craters, under cover of darkness on any future moonless winter night.
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