Mary Harney and the Department of Health Ireland

Ms. Harney

Could you please stop blaming the staff of one of the most honorable professions in the world, nurses’ work tirelessly for the welfare of the patients in hospitals and all institutions of care in this country. I hear you ranting that patients’ lives are at risk; yes you are correct they are at risk but not from nurses not wanting to care for them but from your department, the Irish government and the HSE (Health Service Executive) refusing to recognize the hard work they do. I have heard the spin that you have put on the whole dispute and it is complete and utter rubbish.

If you want something constructive to do in the health department why don’t you do something about the level of obesity in this country, in the last ten years obesity has more than doubled with deaths and illness filling hospitals needlessly, if this was tackled maybe the nurses would be freed up to care for the other needless hospital cases like road accident victims. Sorry I forgot that that was an election promise at the last election, yes you as politicians can put your spin on that and tell me that the statistics show that deaths and injuries have dropped but compared to other countries they are unnaturally high, per capita death on Irish roads are higher than in the UK.

John Kavanagh