Today on Morning Focus we were joined by Dr Michael Harty, Independent TD and Chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee as 15 beds at St. John’s Hospital in Limerick are set to re-open.
The Minister for Health says it’s “inexcusable” that they were closed up until now. The 15 beds are among 190 that are to be opened in the Irish hospital’s network, using funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Minister Harris made the announcement at a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee, which heard the beds at St. John’s were closed because of a “challenge” in securing consultants to oversee them.
The beds will re-open after the HSE asked Hospital Groups if they could be helped to provide additional capacity, but Minister Harris said they shouldn’t have been allowed to close in the first place.
If you missed it, you can listen back below:
Next on Morning Focus, we were joined on air by Barra Roantree, Economist of the ERSI, whose work is focused on taxation, welfare and pensions policy, as last week saw the annual blaze of publicity surrounding the Irish Times’ and Irish Independent ‘Feeder Schools’ tables, which showed that students who attended private fee-paying schools go on to attend third-level education at higher rates than others. Some have taken this as evidence that fee-paying schools perform better than other types of school: a misleading interpretation that risks giving a distorted view of what constitutes a good school.
Next on the show, we heard from our very own James Mulhall as he reported on a Brainstorming Session which took place in the hopes of devising a Niche Destination Plan for Ennis, to ensure that the county town gets its share of visitors to the Banner County and takes advantage of the assets the town has.
Sharon Cahir of Cahir & Co Solicitors joined us in studio next, for our Legal Advice slot. This week Sharon spoke about joint property ownership and wills.
If you missed it, you can listen back below:
Next, the Holy Family School’s Christmas Concert is on the 16th and 17th of December. Producer of the show, Jillian Bridge, Chairman of the board of management for the Holy Family School and students Oscar and Ella joined us in studio today to tell us all about it.
If you missed it, you can listen back below:
To wrap up today’s show we had an Arts Update with Clare County Arts Officer, Siobhán Mulcahy.
