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Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

'It would not feel right': Simon Harris cancels St Patrick's Day trip away

Yesterday, the INMO said that there were 714 people on trolleys in hospitals across the country.

Updated 11.30pm

HEALTH MINISTER SIMON Harris will not travel abroad for St Patrick’s Day due to difficulties facing the health service this week.

Harris tweeted that it “would not feel right” to travel considering the difficulties being dealt with by staff.

“People across the health service are working extraordinarily hard to make progress in what is a difficult week,” Harris said.

“I am in regular contact with HSE.

It would not feel right to me as Minister to travel for St Patrick’s Day so I have made decision not to do so.

Yesterday, the INMO said that there were 714 people on trolleys in hospitals across the country - the highest number ever recorded in a single day.

It dropped slightly today – with 649 people waiting for a bed – but remains at a critically high level.

Harris had come under the pressure over the planned trip away, with opposition figures highly critical of the government’s response to the crisis.

Harris was due to travel to Belgium and the Netherlands for St Patrick’s Day.

When asked about the trolley crisis today in Washington DC, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said:

I am in touch with Simon Harris on a daily basis, he contacted me this morning to say that given that the scale of overcrowding in our emergency departments and hospitals at the moment that he was cutting short his trip.

Varadkar said Harris did have some important meetings planned in Belgium and the Netherlands around drug pricing and getting better value for the cost of medicines for Irish patients but Varadkar said it could be done at another time.

The Taoiseach said he would be continuing with his trip in the US.

“So I think he has made the right decision in terms of staying at home, I will be continuing with my work here which has been scheduled for quite some time,” he said.

“Looking at numbers it does tell a story you see enormous variation, part of the reason why we have such high levels of overcrowding at the moment is a prolonged flu-season, the fact that we lost a few days because of the snow.

“That’s a reason, it’s not an excuse, and I do see in hospitals like Cavan, like Beaumont, like Drogheda who were just as affected by the snow and by the flu the numbers on trolleys are in single digits,” he added

He said a “major improvement” in the quality of management is needed in some hospitals. Varadkar also ruled out a reshuffle of his Cabinet.

Speaking in January, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he doesn’t want any patient in Ireland to “face the indignity and the risk to their health that comes with prolonged trolley waits”.

The Taoiseach said the case for extra beds in our hospitals is “indisputable”.

“Even if there was no overcrowding in our hospitals we would say we still need more bed capacity and that’s down to the fact that we have a growing population, an ageing population.”

With Christina Finn reporting from Washington DC

Read: ‘It’s absolutely deplorable’: Record-breaking 714 people on trolleys in Irish hospitals this morning

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    Mute Sinabhfuil
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    Jul 12th 2014, 10:08 AM

    Ah, tis well I remember driving past one of the Dublin Corporation developments of the 1980s with a well-off professional in the building industry. He pointed at it in a fury. “Look at that! Materials and work to an inspected standard no private builder could possibly afford!”
    Remember when a house being built by a council was a guarantee of quality? The best of materials, workmanship inspected stringently, everything done perfectly.

    85
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    Mute Kate Ellen Egan
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    Jul 12th 2014, 10:57 AM

    There are people who got corporation houses when they were on hard times at small rent , bought them when they were a little better off for well below the market value but come the Celtic Tiger ,kids gone they were sold for mega bucks ,was that a fair thing to do ? after all corporation houses were the original social housing schemes

    78
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    Mute Inntalitarian
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    Jul 12th 2014, 11:11 AM

    Social housing should never be sold to a private owner. It distorts the market completely and is entirely unfair to regular buyers, particularly those just above the threshold for SH.

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    Mute GATHERINGYOURMONEY14
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    Jul 12th 2014, 4:52 PM

    Part “V”
    How appropriate.
    The establishment yet again gives the V sign to the working poor middle-classes.

    7
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    Mute Edward Smith
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    Jul 12th 2014, 1:08 PM

    Great, you work hard and save for years to get your own space and then a family of welfare bums moves next door to you for free.

    56
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    Mute George Grey
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    Jul 12th 2014, 10:28 AM

    Developers milked and milking the system. Many broke developers are now employed by NAMA to look after their greedy and failed projects. In tow with the banks they decimated any vision for sustainable housing projects in this country. The real hindrance to the industry is not social housing but rather a desire to maximise profits with little cost.

    53
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    Mute Edward Smith
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    Jul 12th 2014, 1:20 PM

    On the RTE news two months ago there was an item about Cluid Housing Association handing over two beautiful new houses to a Nigerian single mother and a Polish family. We are never going to be able to build hoses for everyone who decides to come here.
    We should concentrate on housing our own people first.

    48
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    Mute Bobby
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    Jul 12th 2014, 1:22 PM

    Europe would slap you for saying that. Your not allowed. You must do as they say in the Union……

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    Mute Junkie Joe Joyce
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    Jul 12th 2014, 4:18 PM

    “Our own” have had it too easy for generations. I’ve no doubt that a Nigerian or Polish family would appreciate social housing far more than many of our own anti-social degenerates.

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    Mute Edward Smith
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    Jul 12th 2014, 7:02 PM

    Now that truly is genius, lets teach our poor a lesson by bringing in the Worlds poor.

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    Mute Robert Meade
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    Jul 12th 2014, 11:05 AM

    So sticking a few social housing units into a new estate is the government’s answer to social integration?

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    Mute Patlyndo
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    Jul 12th 2014, 11:19 AM

    Got it is painful to watch. The same eejits, discussing the same problems with the same eejits and coming up with the same solutions, that have not, did not and will not work to address the “social” housing issue.

    32
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    Mute gkrell
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    Jul 12th 2014, 11:57 AM

    Do they ever consider that the reason so much social housing is needed is because the price of property is way out of line with the average wage? 25% of children are born to single parent families now. 50% of people in social housing are single parents. Single parenthood is becoming the new normal. The solution is not to milk the taxpayers, but to let the price of property naturally reduce to suit market demand. A single parent who minimum wage should be able to afford their own home. They are not an edge case any more. They are becoming the majority.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jul 12th 2014, 12:16 PM

    So we should sell property cheaper than the materials? How about the other parent pays for their child and people actual aim for better employment.

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    Mute gkrell
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    Jul 12th 2014, 12:47 PM

    not at all. The high price of property is not because of the materials used, it is because prices are unnaturally inflated due to a number of reasons. One reason is, people are told the state will pay their retirement costs, so instead of needing to save money for retirement, they have more available to spend on property. The price of property is only what people are willing to pay. We have a society now where people work 40-50 hours a week just to pay for the box you get to leave your stuff in while you are away working to pay for the box to leave your stuff in. Then the other factor is the increasing number of people who rely on social housing. 100,000 people are living in social housing within Dublin city’s canals. This decreases the amount of property available to own/rent pushing property prices higher and also removes the demand for low cost housing from the market, as this cost is being born by the tax payer who are paying for housing in some of the most desirable city centre locations.

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    Mute gkrell
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    Jul 12th 2014, 1:13 PM

    oh and we’re not talking about paying for children here which of course both parents should help. A single parent family needs two homes, one for the father and one for the mother. The children could split their time between the homes making their support share equal, but two homes are still needed. One has to be paid for by the mother and one has to be paid for by the father. This sort of family is becoming more and more common now. They used to be an infrequent edge case so the cost has been born by the tax payer as the majority of families had two parents, needing only one housing making the cost of buying a home a single parent prohibitive. Now though, more and more families are living in single parent homes – 25% and growing meaning 50% of social housing now goes to them, paid for by the tax payer. What needs to happen instead is that the market adjusts to meet the new reality of home-owners. It’s quite realistic to this. We don’t have the money to fund an ever increasing number of single parent homes. House prices just need to drop to a level that is affordable by the new market instead of being propped up by tax-payers. It’s a no brainer. However the biggest opponent to this is the state and the banks who likes to keep inflating the cost of housing because it is a cash cow.

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    Mute Bobby
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    Jul 12th 2014, 1:15 PM
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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jul 12th 2014, 1:17 PM

    You don’t even see your own argument in your suggestion. Why would people bother if the can have a child and get really cheap housing and work a low paying job.
    If you reckon it is viable to provide houses @ 65k and make a profit I suggest you become a developer. Of course it requires non union workers and free land.
    Personally I think we should be trying to use the stock we have. Maybe give tax incentives to retired people to move from the prime locations that are well serviced for families and those working. The capacity for city suburbs is grossly under used.

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    Mute Bobby
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    Jul 12th 2014, 12:33 PM

    That’s how it works in England. Private/key worker/social units in each development.

    6
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