At Naas General with staff protesting the dire shortage of staffing resources a few months ago.
The lack of commitment toward health care in Kildare by the current government has to be criticised. Since it was revealed at the start of June that Portlaoise Hospital is to have its A&E services downgraded, this will place further pressures on Naas Hospital emergency department which is already under strain.
Minister Varadkar stated this week there would be a ‘modest increase’ in operating budgets to allow ‘existing levels of service to be maintained’. Given the expected increase in demand to Naas A&E which will arise from the downgrading of Portlaoise Hospital it is clear there is no cohesive plan in place toward health care in Kildare and current services being maintained will not be adequate to cope with rising numbers.
The Fianna Fáil party has published a Bill to provide property tax relief for homeowners who are paying management fees. There are thousands of homeowners living in managed estates across Kildare, and indeed Ireland, who are paying on the double for many services. This is an issue I raised many months ago in a submission to the Revenue Commissioners during a recent consultation on Local Property Tax.
Fine Gael silence on the parliamentary privilege issue is deafening. The right of elected parliamentarians to make statements in the house without fear of litigation is absolute. Article 15.13 of our constitution enshrines that right and it is a pillar of modern democracy, not just here in Ireland, but across the common law world. If there are abuses of it, and that can happen, the answer is not to injunct half the national media, but to tackle it in the proper manner, through the internal procedures of the house. This is an absolute right and only the citizens of Ireland can alter that in any way through referendum. It is an assault on parliamentary democracy and on our constitution to even humour any other scenario.