CLLR EMMET DOYLE: Executive Underinvestment Has Ravaged Health Service

Derry Aontú Cllr Emmet Doyle has slammed the Executive parties for overseeing a deliberate underinvestment in the Health Service across the North by cutting beds in hospitals and ignoring the need for ICU beds which has proven disastrous in our managing of the pandemic.

Cllr Doyle:

“Despite spin from all the parties in the Executive, over the last ten years has seen anything but progress in our hospitals. Since 2010 to before the pandemic we lost 887 beds across hospitals in the Health Service. Altnagelvin lost 31 beds alone, whilst Belfast City and Mater hospitals lost 145 and 76 respectively. There is no getting away from these figures, no distraction that they can pull off to hide.

This is a further demonstration of determined running down of our Health Service across the North. To add insult to injury, from 2015 up until October of last year, there was an increase of only two ICU beds across the entire region - including during the first peak of the pandemic.

The wilful neglect demonstrated by all Ministers and especially Health Ministers in recent years beggars belief. Stormont yet again engages in bluff whilst services are cut and they ignore the impact on our people. Aontú is committed to a fully funded Public Health Service that doesn’t run our nurses and doctors into the ground with stress and then glibly stands by and offers applause, we want to see action that will guarantee a long term future that respects staff and enables a robust service that can adapt to society’s needs.”

ENDS

Note to the Editor:

Excel beds spreadsheet attached from FOI, figures quotes in release from 2010-19.

Cllr Emmet Doyle

Aontú, Ballyarnett

Derry City and Strabane District Council

The Irish political system is radically broken

In Ireland the vast majority of elected representatives put a finger in the air to check which way the political wind is blowing. They have one eye on their leaders – seeking brownie points – and another eye keeping their seat safe. If elected reps shut up and do as they’re told, they are promoted; if they stand up for what they believe in, they are demoted. No wonder we have the political class we have. No wonder one point one billion euro is being buried in a hole under the National Children’s Hospital and that Stormont is in stalemate.

Throughout Ireland, many people are now afraid to say what they feel, many are afraid to respectfully engage on a range of different topics. Many feel there is a new censorship and a new political correctness in Ireland, that opposition to the establishment is being deleted.

Respectful opposition is not the enemy. Respectful opposition is a critical element of a functional democracy. Aontú will have the backbone to stand up, without fear, for you.