Health Minister Reilly wants work on children’s hospital to begin immediately
The proposed new National Children’s Hospital above at the St. James’s campus
The Minister for Health James Reilly said he wants work on a new children’s hospital to get under way as quickly as possible after receiving the final report of a review group into potential sites.
The unpublished report has assessed the strengths and weaknesses of various locations around the capital, rather than recommending any single site over another.
The Government will examine the 70-page report and the Cabinet is due to make a decision within a few weeks.
“What I want to ensure is that we get the best result, but I also want to make sure we have it as quickly as possible, in the life of this Government,” Mr Reilly said yesterday.
“We want the best environment for children to get the best treatment in. They deserve no less.”
The review group, which received 30 site offers and met 21 different groups, was charged with assessing options based on a range of factors such as cost, the speed at which projects could be delivered and how they fitted with Government policy on delivery of health services.
The group was established by the Minister following An Bord Pleanála’s refusal to grant planning permission for plans to build the children’s hospital on the site of the Mater hospital in Dublin.
Despite the volume of submissions, many observers still believe a revised version of plans for the Mater is the most likely to be chosen.
Supporters of the Mater’s bid say it would be delivered by 2016 because a new application for planning permission could be lodged within four months. However, this claim has been repeated by the backers of rival bids over recent weeks.
Mr Reilly yesterday said the Government would need to carefully digest the contents of the review group’s report before making a decision.
“This is going to be one of the biggest projects which the Government will be engaged in during the course of its life,” he said. “It is something which will stand to us for 100 or 200 years.”
The review group was initially tasked with producing a report within 56 days. This was extended by a further 14 days because of the number of submissions received.
Group chairman Dr Frank Dolphin said he looked forward to the outcome of the Government’s consideration of the report.
“With the combined clinical, technical, planning and managerial expertise on the group, the options available have been thoroughly examined within our terms of reference,” he said.
“We recognise that this is a hugely important decision and there is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get it right . . . The group will be available to brief the Government on any aspects of the report should that be required.”
In a separate development, the Minister warned that the health authorities would need to tackle overspending in health by addressing issues such as overtime, premium pay and allowances. Latest figures show the HSE has overspent by around €140 million so far this year.
“I’m not prepared to tolerate this situation on an ongoing basis. Transparency, accountability and fairness: that’s the root of what we’re at. Some 70 per cent of the budget is going on pay, and it’s up to 85 per cent in some community services,” he told reporters.
“We spent €800 million on overtime, premium pay and allowances last year. This is an area that has to be addressed. It’s the elephant in the room. We cannot cut services to patients and ignore this other aspect of the budget.”
Gardaí looking for witnesses to robbery of elderly brothers tied up in a house in Galway
GARDAÍ in Galway are appealing for witnesses as part of their investigation into an aggravated burglary in which two elderly brothers living in a secluded farmhouse near Williamstown were tied up and robbed.
Owen (80) and Michael Kelly (82) declined to go to hospital yesterday after their ordeal.
They were threatened and then tied up by two men, believed to be carrying a knife and a gun, who had broken into their home in Ballyroe townland after 11pm on Thursday night – when torrential rain confined many people to their homes in the west of the country.
The two intruders were wearing balaclavas and had Irish accents, Galway gardaí say. They are said to have spent three hours in the house, ransacking it and taking a small amount of cash before leaving the scene at about 2.30am.
The brothers managed to free themselves and raise the alarm at about 6am yesterday. Their house is within 40 yards of neighbours but on a secluded laneway.
The Ballyroe townland is on the Ballymoe side of Williamstown, near the Roscommon border. Ballymoe parish priest Fr Joe Poole said that it was a “very sad day when someone breaks into the home of two old men who have worked all their lives”.
Fr Francis McGrath of Williamstown parish said a meeting had been held just a fortnight ago to try to revive a community alert programme. There had been an incident recently in Ballygar, also near the Roscommon border, he noted.
“The idea of the [community alert] scheme was to prevent things like this happening,” Fr McGrath said.
“People in the area will have to keep their eyes on any strange cars with strange registrations and take note of the numbers.”
Labour Party Senator Lorraine Higgins described the attack as nothing short of “barbaric”.
“A robbery such as this is an affront to all basic human dignity and it offends us all, attacking as it does one of the most vulnerable sections of society,” Ms Higgins said. She appealed to people in local communities to keep an eye on elderly neighbours, particularly in isolated districts.
She was aware of a number of incidents recently in Dunmore, north of Tuam, Co Galway, which were a cause for concern.
Gardaí in Tuam have released a description of the intruders and have appealed to the public for help. One man was about 5ft 5in and of medium build, while the second was taller and again of medium build. Both wore dark clothes and runners.
Tuam gardaí said anyone who may have witnessed anything unusual, or suspicious activity in or around the area, at the time or in the preceding days should phone Tuam station at 093-70840, the Garda confidential line on 1800- 666111 or any Garda station.
INDEPENDENT TD Mick Wallace under fire as 77% want him to resign & Sean Barrett wants investigation
THE CEANN COMHAIRLE of the Dáil above right, Seán Barrett, has asked the Dáil’s committee on members’ interests to meet and consider conducting an investigation into Mick Wallace’s tax affairs and their impact on the reputation of the Dáil.
Recently after he admitting that his construction company MJ Wallace – of which he is the sole director had under-declared its VAT by around €1.4 million.
Wallace has reached a €2.13 million settlement with the Revenue Commissioners over the matter – however he said yesterday that it was unlikely his company would ever be in a position to pay the settlement.
Wallace said he was not proud his actions, but insisted that he had under-declared VAT in an attempt to save his company and jobs in it, with the expectation of paying the money at a later date.
Although Wallace said he does not intend to resign, he could nevertheless either face bankruptcy action or a criminal prosecution over the matter – both of which would see him lose his Dáil seat.
Below are the results of an on-line poll taken on whether Mick Wallace should resign over the matter?
Poll Results: 
Young Mayo Minke whale goes free again & heads back to sea
It’s not your Orca killer whale, but here’s a tale with a happy ending.
A young minke whale like above who became stranded on shingle in Mayo’s Clew Bay earlier this week managed to free itself unassisted and swim away.
The juvenile whale was spotted by Conor McGuire and friends at Berta on the shores of Clew Bay. It was in shallow water, and obviously not there for a quiet paddle.
As the group observed the scene – filming themselves smiling and holding their thumbs up with the whale in the background — the juvenile applied a few furious wriggles.
To the delight of McGuire and company, it then swam away at a brisk pace.
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group’s (IWDG) stranding co-ordinator Mick O’Connell said that such live strandings didn’t tend to have such a positive ending.
He said that Mr McGuire was to be complimented for giving the whale the space to work its way off the shingle. McGuire’s recording is on the IWDG website (www.iwdg.ie)
Beachings can occur due to disorientation or illness, and if the minke whale was in poor condition there was a risk it could re-strand, he pointed out. “So far, so good, as no reports of same,” he said today.
The IWD has “noted with interest” that the stranding coincided with the category 4 earthquake detected on the Slyne basin 60 km west of Belmullet, Co Mayo earlier this week.
The earthquake was the largest recorded on the west coast, and the second largest recorded in both Britain and Ireland.
The IWDG said it would be keeping a “close eye” on the north-west coast in case of an increase in strandings which could be linked to the seismic activity of June 6th.
The IWDG has also marked initiation of Ireland’s whale and dolphin sanctuary 21 years ago this week by calling for a “pan-European” sanctuary.
The IWDG has recorded some 24 different cetacean (whale and dolphin) species in these waters, and the Irish sanctuary, initiated by former taoiseach Charles J Haughey, is “almost absorbed into the national psyche”, according to its co-ordinator Dr Simon Berrow.
His organisation says that a number of small marine protected areas in Europe for cetaceans. and some international sanctuaries such as the Pelagos in the Mediterranean, have important roles to play.
However, cetaceans are mobile and travel large distances.
“A pan-European whale and dolphin sanctuary will help to place cetaceans, and the threats they face, on the political agenda leading to the delivery of effective conservation policies,” he said.
In a separate development, the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) has described as “reprehensible” the pinning of two seal heads to the Dingle Wildlife and Seal Sanctuary in Co Kerry this week.
The incident, which is being investigated by gardaí, “does not have any connection”with the fishing industry, the FIF has said.
However, FIF spokeswoman Eibhlín O’Sullivan said that there was a “clear need” for a “transparent discussion” on management of interactions between seals and the fishing industry.
A working group comprising scientific, industry and non-governmental organisations had been established, she said,which has already met a number of times.
Through this type of “collaborative approach” a solution to the “difficulties currently being experienced” would be found, she said.
Seals, a protected species, are said to be swimming further offshore to take monkfish from gillnets – and even hake from nets of Spanish vessels fishing in Irish waters.
The number of new Irish cars licensed in May falls by 14.7%
A total of 7,986 new private cars were licensed in May 2012, compared with 9,359 in May 2011, showing a decrease of 14.7 per cent, the Central Statistics Office said.
The number of new goods vehicles licensed in May 2012 was 1,049 compared with 1,190 in the corresponding month last year – a decrease of 11.8 per cent.
The brand with the highest number of new private cars licensed in May was Volkswagen (966) followed by Toyota (897), Ford (886) and Nissan (626).
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