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AN IRISH CHARITY has called for “urgent action” from the incoming government to combat the “spiralling HIV crisis” as the number of people diagnosed with the virus almost doubled in the first four months of 2016.
According to provisional data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), there were 175 cases of HIV reported in the first 16 weeks of 2016, compared to 106 in the same period last year.
This marks a rise of 69, or about 40% in one year. The figures come after provisional figures at the start of the month showed that there were 498 new cases of HIV reported in Ireland in 2015, up from 377 in 2014.
The rising number of cases of HIV being reported represent a “crisis” and need to be tackled immediately by any incoming government, according to charity HIV Ireland.
‘‘One of the first actions of the new Government must be to address the HIV crisis in Ireland,” said Niall Mulligan, executive director of the charity.
HIV Ireland has been working in the areas of prevention, testing, outreach and support for almost 30 years and we are alarmed at the relentless upward trend in HIV diagnoses.
Prevention
On average, there are now about 10 people a week being diagnosed with HIV in Ireland.
The groups most at risk of contracting the virus are men having sex with men (MSM) and intravenous drug users, as well as immigrants.
HIV Ireland said that a “national HIV prevention and awareness campaign” was needed to combat the growing numbers.
“The Government needs to invest in public awareness about how HIV is transmitted and how this can be prevented,” said Mulligan
Voluntary universal testing for HIV should be available nationally, especially within community and healthcare settings.
Early diagnosis of HIV can greatly increase the chances of effective treatment of the illness. The earlier a person is diagnosed, the greater their long-term health prospects can be.
A programme was launched last month aimed at providing free rapid HIV testing in a number of unconventional venues.
The initiative is aimed specifically at gay and bisexual men.
It is a collaboration between Dublin-based GLEN, the Sexual Health Centre in Cork and GOSHH in Limerick. One venue already confirmed is Pantibar on Dublin’s Capel Street.
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These dirt bags need to be charged for this.
They are filth of society
Why haven’t they been arrested ? If I was under suspicion of assault I would be arrested. With CCTV footage I would be charged .
Let out on bail in the meantime,
Why is this any different ?
No you wouldn’t Sinead there’s no power of arrest for assault so stop waffling..
A section 2 assault is a summary offencein the District Court with up to 12 months imprisonment and or a fine
Section 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1997 states that an arrestable offence” means an offence for which a person of full capacity and not previously convicted may, under or by virtue of any enactment, be punished by imprisonment for a term of five years or by a more severe penalty and includes an attempt to commit any such offence. That would include a section 2 or 3 of the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 which are more serious assault charges
Section 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1997 states that an arrestable offence” means an offence for which a person of full capacity and not previously convicted may, under or by virtue of any enactment, be punished by imprisonment for a term of five years or by a more severe penalty and includes an attempt to commit any such offence. That would include a section 3 or 4 of the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 which are more serious assault charges
Section 29 of the copy and paste act 2006 also carries a harsh penalty upon conviction!
The HSE need to realise that their line of ‘we haven’t received a complaint’ is not doing them any favours.
The original footage was filmed by a work experience student , and that’s how they treated those poor souls in front of a student. I can’t help myself speculating what those evil carers were like when she wasn’t there.
“Well if you died I wouldn’t bring you to the toilet” “put her out on the porch”
Words will stick with me forever.
May they suffer for the rest of eternity.
Imagine what they were doing to them when they were bringing them for a wash etc.I would say they really laid into them then.
Heartbreaking for thoses poor residents and their familys ..hope to god the staff are prosecuted!
How can anybody red thumb that comment??
While the courts continues to put criminal’s “rights before the victim’s rights ,
then this country is a joke. .
When there are insufficient controls and systems in place moderate abusers can become vile abusers. Nothing short of a complete systemic overhaul is needed in the hse.
10 yrs in prison for that
Yes they should be punished as rigorously as the law allows but it will keep happening until something is done systemically in the HSE.
10 years? Grow up, they won’t even do a day for it. Best we could hope for is loss of job, a criminal record and a suspended sentence of some sort.
I am not a violent person but you feel like smashing their head off the ground.My god these people sicken me they should not be let out into the public domain rather they should be locked up in a mental asylum for the rest of their lives as it’s quite evident there is something seriously wrong with the people who did this.
The union will fight for its members to remain in employment.People forget that after HIQA visit management was replaced,staff got 100 hours training.No doubt union blamed lack of training,management and cuts to staffing..Fast forward to RTE expose and mangement blamed again,union blame lack of training and staff shortages.Staff suspended numbers 12 all on full pay…So out come will be 12 will return to work more training probably a written warning instead of dismissal for gross misconduct…….Union is complicit in this culture and this is only one example of this behaviour….If this was a private home as was Leas cross the patients would be all removed and placed in new homes and home would be shut down.But no this is the public sector so nothing gets done……a cover up will follow and nobody will ever know if the staff filmed abusing patients are sacked and charged by the gardai for abusing the patients.Carey and Lynch will not be held accountable by anybody either in this disgracful disgusting treatment of our vunerable..
And the report in to institutional abuse won’t be published in this case either….so St Attracta’s can join St Johns, Cherry Orchard and St Mary’s Phoenix Park!
Agreed Martin. It is ironic that the patients ( innocent ) who were shown on the documentary and their carers (guilty) had their faces blanked out in the interest of legal and fair procedures. Says a lot about our legal system.
Also does the number of red thumbs suggest that a sizeable number of readers support the staff in Aras Attracta.
There would have been no RTE expose in the first place without nursing staff within the Aras Attracta tipping off RTE. This only happen when the HSE failed to act when to staff concerns were raised..A culture of control rather than care had developed within the unit for what ever reason.
They are suspended with pay pending an investigation into what happened. They will then summoned and dismissed from their jobs.once that is established they can be charged in a court of law.saying the unions are involved in this culture is downright silly .its like saying defense lawyers are somehow complicit in crime
Name and shame.
Closed ranks, union members, HSE, Don’t do it again!!! Move along nothing to see here!! The End!!!!
I did my Nursing Training in Ireland and it doesn’t surprise me one little bit.We had to work in St Brendan’s and St James Hospital and I have no doubt prisoners are treated better.the Nurses that worked there did very little yet were so cruel and uncaring with absolutely no compassion.
Sickening to see how the weakest in our community are turned into a ” all for profit scheme”. Where was the HSE or dept of health or the minister himself. All hiding behind the over priced lawyers who win again against the taxpayer. Layer after layer of management doing nothing but keeping themselves in travel and eating expences. It seems that the only reason the HSE exists is to deflect attention away for the minister and the dept. It conception by Michael Martin had nothing to do with offering a better health system but as a escape goat for governments who can blame the HSE for their mismanagement. 20 billion euros of a budget for health and this is what we get. Not to worry Leo only needs another half a billion euros for 2015.
Like people here say, why aren’t people arrested and charged with assault etc. I don’t understand why not, can someone explain.
What animals they are and i can’t understand the family of one of the patients saying the place is great if it was my mother sister etc i would want it shut down and for all future innocent patients.
Animals are kinder than that.
Leaving this new allegation aside, I would point out the whistle blowers who contacted RTE were in fact nurses within Aras Attracta itself, therefore not all staff were happy with the “carry on” we saw. The Psychiatric Nurses Association raised its concerns in relation a number of issues as far back as 2009 , these included, health and safety, standards of care, quality of food, hygiene, locking of exit doors training of and lack thereof of some care staff. Sadly, it took an RTE undercover reporter to set up a sting operation before anything tangible happened. The old saying a stitch in time saves nine comes to mind.
Damage limitation, no video it didn’t happen
Sorry I’m talking about aras attracta as a whole not just this one incident. :-)
I’d like to see people lose their jobs, appear before court, be publicly shamed. Charged and do time.
I’d like to see managers sacked and also charged with neglegance
I am on your side on this
So am i. Wasent the ward manager sitting on ivy knowing she does’nt like men. And him a male nurse. I’d hate to imagine what goes on at bedtime, bathtime. Even toilet time. We saw how she was denied basic help for the toilet. (Not if you were dead would i bring you to the toilet) and then when she wets nno one gonna help her clean up. And these people call themselves Christian. They have recieved wages fraudentaly. They were employed to care and i saw no care in these small video clips. Which were made at different times and days. These patients have it every day. So make the alleged accusers repay their wages. Have the nurses struck off the registar and then prosecute them for the crimes against these poor patients.
Lampost how do you think we found out, the media have the video evidence so have the guards at this stage. They all cant be shut up you know.
What has Christianity got to do with it?
Absolute animals I hope that people in the locality know who these so called employees work treat them with same regard that they treat the people they are paid to look after
Dont insult animals
Leo Varadkar is the Minister for Health and is in charge of the HSE. He spends more time moaning about protesters than he does doing his job and fixing serious issues like this. This is happening on his watch, so he should do something.
So should Varadker be a presence in every hospital ward in Ireland to monitor staff ? If frontline workers are of a mind to behave like this, all the inspections and management controls in the world won’t stop them. As someone earlier has pointed out management were changed and staff received additional training time after the last HIQA report.
None of that prevented this particular set of staff behaving as they did. Your targeting of Varadker in this instance is stupid. If the the Pope, The Dali Lama, The Queen of England or who ever else you want were in charge of the Dept of Health, it would have made no difference to those people. Sometimes you just have to accept that something that happens down the line is not entirely the fault of the person at the top.
To use the suffering of those innocent patients as a means of political point scoring is just another insult to them and their families, because in doing so you offering a fig leaf to the abusers. What happened was simply abuse of the weak by a group of bullies – nothing else.
At this stage it is shocking to see the full sordid list of things (that we know about) in Ireland that only reluctantly come to light because of some investigation or tribunal in the last 20 years or so. Makes you wonder about all the other decades of wrongdoing that went on. You have to wonder if, left alone to our own devices, there isn’t something fundamentally warped and disturbing in the Irish psyche.
Every person involved in this abuse needs a solid besting with a length of lead pipe. S***bags.
varadkar , lynch and healy should all resign, this disgrace was on their watch and their response to questions about this is just disgusting to listen to and it is obvious they dont care. of course they are only interested in promoting themselves and irish water!
My opinion
In Ireland we are too Catholic to be guilty of anything
Can’t be guilty of abuse in churches in schools in work houses in people’s own homes in care homes in any part of Ireland it’s just not possible
Even if the evidence 100% says that you are
Until Ireland relinquishes its ideology on where it stands on systemic abuse
There will be cover up after cover up after cover up and it will be too late for many that suffer at the hands of those who the most trust is put.
The 2007 Health Act led to the establishment of HIQA, they weren’t around in 2005.
I still haven’t and don’t wish to watch the video. It’s very upsetting even imagining it
I hope they get abused slagged insulted shouted at cursed at and whatever else everyday and if they scurry of and leavve like a rat that they are i would like their new neighbours to find out and everybody in the new community to hate them cause thats all they deserve because you mark my words THEY WILL NOT LOSE THEIR JOBS THE HSE WILL KEEP THEM AND THEY WILL NOT GO TO PRISON.
Why dont the yokes do the decent thing and leave the job.AH but no the union will fight the case for them and they will keep their jobs they will be transfered to a differant department and they will go to court probably get a suspended sentence at most.So in all basically nothing whatsoever will happen to them.,It makes me want to puke..
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