Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
CHILDREN’S MINISTER DR James Reilly has lost his seat in Dublin Fingal, after being defeated by Sinn Féin in the battle for the fifth Dáil place.
Speaking after the result this afternoon, he said it had been a tough day for a lot of his colleagues in Fine Gael and Labour.
In comments to TheJournal.ie and other media outlets, as workers were dismantling the count centre around him, the Fine Gael deputy leader said he would be considering his future role in the party and in politics.
As to whether his career as a public representative was over, he said he was a big believer in “never saying never”.
Reilly said he felt Fine Gael and Labour had left the country in a better place economically.
He added that he accepted the result from the Fingal voters, remarking:
The thing with democracy, we take it for granted sometimes and we need to nurture it.
There are those who would be very concerned about that. There’d be those who’d be very concerned about any other combination. But in the interests of the country people are going to have to roll up their sleeves and come to an arrangement because another election is not something I think that people want or the country can afford.
When asked by RTÉ whether his defeat and Alan Shatter’s loss in Dublin Rathdown were bad news for Enda Kenny’s leadership, he said the incumbent Taoiseach had to focus on leading the country forward instead of on Fine Gael’s losses.
https://vine.co/v/i6lnMD0P3I3
So what happened?
From early yesterday, it was apparent the Fine Gael deputy leader would be in a battle to take the last Dáil place in the five-seater.
In later counts, his Sinn Féin rival for that seat, Louise O’Reilly, pulled further ahead.
Reilly ended up with 6,215 and Louise O’Reilly 8,771 by the time the results of the 10th count were in. At that stage, the Fine Gael deputy leader’s party colleague Alan Farrell, Labour’s Brendan Ryan and SF’s O’Reilly were all deemed elected.
Fianna Fáil senator Darragh O’Brien topped the poll yesterday, and Socialist-turned-independent Clare Daly took the second seat at around 10pm last night.
O’Brien’s FF running mate Lorraine Clifford-Lee had looked to be in the mix for that fifth seat last night, but was eliminated one round before Reilly this afternoon.
Speaking to RTÉ Reilly said people might have thought he’d be safe because of his profile, but that it was clear Fine Gael hadn’t made an “emotional connection” with people on what the “recovery meant” for them.
That message didn’t get across. The future for this country is bright if a bit uncertain at the moment. I hope that everyone pulls together.
Farrell paid tribute to Reilly following his colleague’s elimination. Asked what he thought went wrong for the former health minister, he said he though Reilly had been a “lightning rod for an awful lot of discontent in regards to the Department of Health”.
“The ministry clearly hurt him. It caused him to question his role in politics as we all know and I can empathise with that I can understand.
It’s a thankless job. It’s a job that he wanted and sadly he simply just didn’t get the budget for it and the rest is history.
Sinn Féin’s big three
SF heavy-hitters Martin McGuinness and Mary Lou McDonald showed up in the count centre in Swords just before midday to lend their support to their candidate.
McGuinness said the win was another triumph for “strong republican women” in Irish politics. McDonald also paid tribute to the work O’Reilly had been doing in the sprawling north county constituency.
Later on, Gerry Adams turned up too – paying a whistle-stop visit to the north Dublin constituency on his way to the RDS. An upbeat Adams said the win was “absolutely brilliant”.
“She did sort of keep us hanging in for a wee while … but that’s women for you.”
He said there had been a great team effort in the area, and thanked the voters of Dublin Fingal for showing faith in the party’s candidate.
For her part, the newly-elected TD said she had been feeling confident all weekend.
We knew the support was there. It’s not a protest vote, it’s not a negative vote, it’s a very very positive thing and today you can see our party… transfer friendly, we were very transfer friendly.
Updated at 4.20pm
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I think it’s a disgrace the way elderly people are treated by the government
I think Irish people are also very quick to blame others assuming that it has all responsibility to provide all care for their relatives. We see a lot of old people who could make it home with a bit more support from their families but instead they are left to go into care because of lack of support. Blaming it on ‘the Government’ alone is a cop out.
Agreed!. There were no nursing homes back in the day (I hate that cliche !). Kids grew up with their grannies and granddad around them and they learned from them.Now the grandparents are almost disposable when they are less productive.
I agree that old people are treated dreadfully in this day and age, we had to put my grandmother into a nursing home earlier this year, we all work full time with kids, my uncles the same, people can’t commit to looking after their an elderly person full time, not because they don’t want to but because it’s not feasible!!! In an ideal world we would, but unfortunately with things so tight nowadays people have to work, and when an elderly person is falling a lot and needs full time care there are no other options!
Frances
Who would you like to pay for unlimited access to Nursing Home care. Please don’t trot out the usual Left Wing drivel that the elderly have paid taxes all of their lives. They may have but they certainly haven’t paid one tiny fraction of the costs associated with this new wave of ” elderly management ” as I like to call it.
The average cost of a Nursing Home is somewhere in the region of fifty thousand Euro a year and the average private pension is somewhere in the region of twenty eight thousand Euro a year. Below that figure the principal form of income is the State funded contributory and non contributory pension that wouldn’t cover your meals in a Facility for the aged!
Another real issue is the fact that Nursing Homes run by the State cost some fifty percent more to fund when compared to private facilities and I think we can all agree that in the vast majority of cases the quality and standards of these would substantially favour the latter.
Perhaps you could let us have an answer to my opening question Frances.
Donie, so true. I worked with people from many overseas countries and they were all surprised by this whole concept of nursing homes. Yes some elderly can only be cared for in a nursing home but like many, I too remember as a child my granny and great aunt living with us until their final days. That is the norm in many other countries. Not so anymore. While these delays are awful, it is terrible that I can confidently say that all hospital staff are familiar with the term granny dumping. It is often sad when remembering the sacrifices that parents make for their children, that often the same is not returned when the parents themselves need support.
I think Irish people are also very quick to blame others assuming that it has all responsibility to provide all care for their relatives. We see a lot of old people who could make it home with a bit more support from their families but instead they are left to go into care because of lack of support. Blaming it on âthe Governmentâ alone is a cop out. by home nursing in Bangalore
Agreed!. There were no nursing homes back in the day (I hate that cliche !). Kids grew up with their grannies and granddad around them and they learned from them.Now the grandparents are almost disposable when they are less productive. by home nursing in Bangalore
share this with ten people and try to be a life saver….GOD
gofund.me/Elliotyeswecan
The elderly are the people who have contributed most to our miserable country, and this is the way they are treated. Other people abuse the system and benefit most… What a joke, just makes me angry.
It’s not a nice thing to say, but I’d do myself in before I left myself at the mercy of the Irish state.
Yes, feel the same way. Dreading old age if this is how things are going to happen..
The figures hide the scale of the suffering and the waste of public resources.
Where will older people waiting for a nursing home bed for 12-14 weeks wait? All have been deemed in need of full-time nursing care. Those at home will grow progressively frailer and many will be admitted by their GPs to their local A&E and into an acute hospital bed. Not only do they not need acute hospital care (just nursing care) they will deprive others in need of acute care of a bed. This is a problem — not just for older people who may need a nursing home bed — but for everyone who may need an acute hospital bed.
At the core of the problem is the failure of successive governments to plan for our ageing population. This does not just mean funding for nursing home beds, but also includes a much greater investment in community-based care. Supports such as home helps, home care packages, public health nurses, occupational therapists, day care centres, meals on wheels etc can enable more older people to live for longer in their own homes. Likewise, proper funding for home adaptation schemes would be a great help (funding for the scheme has been slashed this year).
The current problem was clear from late last year when the HSE published its service plan. This is our statement issued on December 18, 2013 http://www.ageaction.ie/age-action-concerned-impact-hse-service-plan-sickest-older-people
http://www.ageaction.ie/age-action-concerned-impact-hse-service-plan-sickest-older-people
Whilst the pressure being placed on our already burdened health service is of grave concern, the worst part about this delay is the effect it has on the quality of life of these older people stuck in acute hospitals!
Due to understaffing and over-crowding, many of these patients spend the vast majority of their days in bed or sitting in a chair with the consequence being that by the time they are placed in a nursing home they can no longer walk and have become incontinent. The real tragedy of this 4 month delay is the physical and psychological toll which this delay takes on our loved ones. We should not simply abide this!
The Government does not care about elderly people, they only cost money, no profit in them. Let the private sector look after them or let the people set up a charity ……Our caring government.
Better off not going all the abuse that they get in them places. A place in Galway had a sweat shop for knitting Aran sweaters. By they time the operation was uncovered bone had already been exposed through the tops of the oaps fingers. Enough is enough
This is just sad and alarming too because the government allows this to happen to older adults. They should be taken good care of and not taken for granted. I hope the government will do something about this and will release the funds right on time and to provide more nursing homes in order to accommodate those who are in need of care. This should be addressed right away since http://www.longtermcare.gov and http://www.ltcoptions.com confirm that around 7 out of 10 of people who are 65 and above will require long term care. To make things worse, there will be a silver tsunami soon and more people will require care inside nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. If the government can’t do it alone, then perhaps its time to create a partnership with private groups or charities that can solve this problem. I really hope the government will put this in its priority list or else a lot of older adults will suffer physically, financially and emotionally as well.
I agree with Michael Nahyan, it’s disgusting they way, they treat are elderly, and why it has to cost so much to look after the elderly is beyond me. , I really feel for them.
I realise it’s important to find nee things to be engraged about, but the waiting-time for one of these places is a non-starter. Nobody suddenly wakes up one day and finds themselves old and unable to care for themselves. It happens over time. There’s plenty of t
have your say