Headlines
Doctors call €205,000 ‘Mickey Mouse’ money
Doctors have upped their opposition to the filling of 50 new positions before issues with their contracts are resolved.
Nurses Strike causes disruption to hospitals.
The nurses strike showed no signs of stopping or slowing down as one hour work stoppages continues today.
Fianna Fail TDs march against party and for nurses.
Two fianna fail TDs today marched with the nurses in Sligo yesterday.
Finbar Fitzpatrick is called to resign over Neary case
Doctors call €205,000 ‘Mickey Mouse’ money
Doctors have upped their opposition to the filling of 50 new positions before issues with their contracts are resolved.
Despite beliefs that the IMO were going to take a step back, both they and the IHCA have decided that the only way to better their contracts is to refuse to assist in the hiring of new doctors.
The IHCA will hold an Extrordinary General Meeting this Sunday and will urge their member to withdraw from any planning groups or committees they are on until the issue is resolved.
The IMO said that they would be willing to participate in interviews if they got a guarantee that contracts would be finalised before the new doctors began to work. Minister Harney rejected their conditions.
Dr. Joseph Keavney of Beaumont hospital was interviewed by the Irish Independent this morning. He said that the contracts would only attract sub-par doctors because more was being offered to shining stars by hospitals in the UK and Australia.
Other doctors claimed that they were not disputing the amount of money being offered but rather the ‘gagging clause’ that does not allow them to advocate on the behalf of their patients. The Health Service Employers Agency (HSEA) said that this clause was a myth.
Morning Ireland this morning explains….
The Irish Independent is pretty clear on where it stands on the doctors dispute. They did a comparison of salaries including the owner of Irish Ferries (€1 million), Dermot Griffin, Director of the National Lottery (€155,000) and Mary Harney who is earning €1,000 less. ‘Mickey Mouse’ money?! Have they no idea how little some people earn? One of the quotes in the Independent was ‘What kind of a house would €205,000 buy?’. My question would be what kind of a person expects one years salary to pay for a family home?! Thats what mortgages are for!!
Nurses Strike causes disruption to hospitals.
The nurses strike showed no signs of stopping or slowing down as one hour work stoppages continues today.
The difference this time however, was that hospitals are starting to show the strain now.
The following hospitals were shown to be struggling with the work-to-rule action: – Portlaoise General Hospital: four patients have had their surgery canceled for up to two weeks. – Ennis General Hospital: one patient had their surgery put back. – Waterford Regional hospital: contingency plan is underway. – St. Luke’s, Kilkenny – Wexford General Hospital – Sligo General Hospital
The INO says that a huge driving factor in the industrial action is the child-care anomoly. Last year, child-care workers had their pay increased by 20-27 per cent. This left them with a higher income than the staff nurses that oversaw them.
Mary Durkin, nursing president for SIPTU, said that she is confident that the industrial action will change all that. She believes that there will be a cut in the working week for nurses by one hour and an increase in pay by the end of the year. She hopes to build on this in coming years.
Mary Harney confessed last night however, that she saw no end to the dispute
I wouldn’t be so confident. I really doubt that the nurses will get any kind of a pay increase although they may possibly get a reduction in working hours. The government seem fairly set on this and Mary Harney is maintaining her nerves of steel. Pity.
Fianna Fail TDs march against party and for nurses.
Two fianna fail TDs today marched with the nurses in Sligo yesterday.
TD Jimmy Devins and Senator Eamon Scanlon defied F.F. yesterday when they marched with the nurses for a pay increase and reduction in working hours.
Take what you want from this, but these two TDs were in the region that the INO had targeted were they to decide to run in the upcoming elections.
Finbar Fitzpatrick is called to resign over Neary case
Prime Time did a report on the review of Michael Neary’s case in which he was cleared of charges against him for removing the wombs of women over twenty years without cause.
The show featured Mary Harney who condemned the incident and Sheila O’Connor of Patient Focus who called for Fitzpatrick’s resignation.
It was reported that when Neary was suspended, his IHCA representative pressured three men into clearing his name hastily and frivilously. Both men have since been suspended over the incident.
