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Updated 10.35 PM
THE OUTSOURCING OF medical card reviews is part of the reason for the “bizarre judgements” being handed down according to Clare Daly TD.
The Dáil this evening resumed debate on a motion calling on the Government to reverse the cuts to discretionary medical cards.
As part of the debate, Daly told deputies that many of the functions of the HSE have been outsourced with the medical cards reviews being undertaken by billing and payment services company Arvato Finance.
The Dublin North TD says that staff at the German owned company have no training in dealing with social care, are often on temporary contracts and are working at minimum wage levels.
She asked Minister of State for Primary Care Alex White TD:
Is it the case that a German company Arvato is now reviewing the medical card situation? Is it the case that they have no training at all, no backup in the community welfare or healthcare office, have no garda clearance, are on temporary contracts, are on minimum wage and lack any knowledge of our health situation?
“Maybe that’s one of the reasons we’ve been getting bizarre judgements. Because the people charged with making those decisions haven’t been getting the proper training and wages,” she said.
One HSE worker who spoke to TheJournal.ie said that the Arvato staff who are employed on the medical card reviews, “are barely trained with no background in social care, do not work for the HSE, have no garda clearance and are on minimum wages”.
The employee also said that the Arvato team based in East Point Business Park in Clontarf also do not have access to a vital computer.
One story that emerged recently concerned a woman who was asked during a review whether her son ‘still had Down syndrome’. Amanda Hughes also said that the her re-application was lost by the HSE even though she had tracked her package to the office in Finglas.
The HSE employee also outlined how post is going missing because some is arriving at the Finglas office and is then supposed to be sent onto East Point but is getting lost in between.
Debate
The Dáil motion was tabled by Sinn Féin last night and debate continued this evening with members of the Technical Group having their say.
Backbench government TDs were also present for the debate along with the minister of state.
Independent TD Catherine Murphy said that some people who have received extensions have told her that they are worried they will end when the local and European elections are over.
“They’re expected to pay the property tax, they’re expected to pay water charges, they’re expected to pay the Universal Social Charge, they’re expected to pay their household charge but they weren’t expecting this. They weren’t expecting their vulnerable children to be hit,” she told the Government benches.
The motion was defeated when the Government’s counter motion was passed by 72 to 36.
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That’s not a rifle image that’s a shotgun.
Do you really think the people in journal .ie would know what a rifel looks like ………..
Rifle
I think I will send a picture of a tank to the journal.ie ……… Tomorrow’s headlines ….. YELLOW SUBMARINE found in ireland …… Beatles no one suspects
hahahahah while it was the first thing i thought when i seen the picture i just know someone would say it !! still cant decide though are you just being pedantic or are you right to say it
yes but it’s an ASSAULT shotgun.
Well the way D.O.J and the gardai want to reform the gun laws you might be right!!!!
Haha that’s a shotgun lads, change it. Gun laws in this country are so stupid. Let the man have his rifle ffs.
Well it depends on the rifle. A sporting rifle can be legally held but nobody needs an AK47!
The problem is it wasn’t his riffle. This guy is part of a gang that was targeting elderly people living on their own, breaking into their homes and robbing them. The gun that was recovered belonged to a 77 year old man whom they tied up and beat. They stole the firearm from his home along with a sum of money.
From Donegal Daily
BREAKING NEWS: A MAN has been arrested and a firearm seized during a Garda operation this evening.
A Garda spokesman confirmed to Donegal Daily that the man arrested was detained after a search of a house in Ballyshannon.
The suspect is in his 40s.
A rifle was recovered during the search which came just days after a weapon was taken during an incident in Glenties where a 77-year-old man was battered and robbed by a vicious gang of burglars.
“A male aged in his 40s was arrested at the scene. He is currently detained under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939, at Ballyshannon Garda Station,” said a spokesman.
James,
If this turns out to be true, it’s great news! That gang have been praying on elderly and vulnerable people in the north west for too long. I wonder was it anything with the €10,000 offered for information. Either way, lets hope these animals get sentences fitting their crimes!
Dr Rory used to shoot with the gentry
So he should have used it on them
Who says an AK47 can’t be a sporting rifle?
@Massimo The €10,000 might have something to do with it.
The above incident happened in Glenties, it used to be a Garda District Headquarters with a station that was manned 24/7
Shatter has since dissolved the district (Which was the largest in Co. Donegal) and split the policing of it between Ballyshannon and Milford. Both of which are nearly an hour away from Glenties.
It goes to show how crime levels will rise when cuts are implemented in Policing.
Tomorrows news: gardai to give back shotgun mistaken for rifle
Mistaken identity again
Shoot him with it.. Maybe he’ll think twice about having a gun in the first place!
I’d be getting my rifle images from another website if I were you.
Why didn’t we give that hellhole to the Brits when we were have that social clear out years ago. Donegal is a waste of space
“Youknowimright”, is your surname “Offmyfeckingtrolly” ?????
@youknowinright You have just shown how intellectually inferior you are to everyone else, probably on this planet.
That is the most ignorant, uninformed comment I have ever seen.
Everyone here is now a bit dumber for reading it.
Now go collect your dole and pick up your cans of Dutch Gold you waster.
have your say