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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has said that he will raise the issue of a woman who drove a member of the gardaí to a crime scene because he did not have a patrol car to drive himself with the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.
Kenny was speaking in the Dáil this morning after Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn raised the issue of the woman in his constituency of Donegal North East whose home had been burgled.
The woman contacted gardaí at her local station in Newtowncunningham but was told that the garda officer on duty had no mode of transport. She offered to collect the officer and bring him to her home which he agreed to.
She then drove the mile from her house to the station and brought the officer back to the scene to investigate the burglary.
The story is carried in today’s Irish Times and Irish Examiner and was raised by Mac Lochlainn during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil who cited wider concerns about cutbacks in An Garda Siochana.
He called for an urgent review by the Minister for Justice of these cutbacks and called for the implementation of a plan to “reassure rural communities in particular”.
“This is a matter that the Minister for Justice is obviously in contact with the Garda Commissioner about,” Kenny told the Dáil.
“I am aware myself around the country of the extent of mileage covered by garda vehicles. Some of them are nearing the end of their mechanical tether as it were and clearly the Minister is looking at that.”
Kenny asked the Sinn Féin deputy to send him details of the particular case which happened last week and promised to take it up with the Justice Minister and the Garda Commissioner.
He added: “I will take up the issue with the Minister for Justice and the Commissioner directly to see that every citizen in your constituency and all over the country gets the best level of attention and service from the garda force.”
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The Mercy has been overwhelmed for a very long time now, this was inevitable. There have been documented accounts of fights at the front door and violence inside the A&E. Overcrowding in the A&E and lack of beds is only going to escalate tensions and potential conflict. A review now is insulting a very much too little too late. I feel sorry for the staff having to deal with this, it’s very much not an isolated incident. Management, the HSE and the minister need a proper response to this, not a short term fix. RIP to Mr Healy and sympathies to his family, horrendous news.
Typiclal Union attempting to score points. Show some respect ffs
@SquideyeMagpie: The INMO has highlighted this issue well before this incident. There has been 33000 assaults on nurses in the last 7 years.
It saddens me that this type of violence has crossed over into our Hospitals and the safety of those nurses and doctors is further put at risk. We all know this has been a long time coming, from drunks overcrowding A&E’s to drug addicts to mental health issues. But yet the priority by the I.N.M.O. and Phil Ní Sheaghdha is solely pay ( I totally get and support the pay issue), whereas the priority should surely be about safe working conditions and safety for patients. Are issues like safety, recruitment, i.e. more staff, agencies and the training and keeping of more nurses. Are safety conditions not more worthy of strike action than pay. It is not that the H.S.E. and I.N.M.O. etc don’t know what the problems are, it is that they don’t want to be bothered by trying to find a solution. E.G. Last week the HSE paid out E31m in compensation in a birth case, which has been an ongoing issue for years but it keeps on happening, that money and the excessive amounts paid to recruitment agencies could be pumped back into Health. Two weeks ago
Perhaps Minister Neale Richmond could do what Damien English failed to do and challenge the injunction Top Security have opposing the ERO for security workers who are stuck on €11.65/h since 2019
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