Beverley Cooper Flynn Betrays her Electorate Again

national | politics / elections | opinion/analysis

Friday March 14, 2008 10:02

by C Murray

North-Wst Cancer Services have been cut and will be Phased out

The Breast cancer unit at Mayo General Hospital is to be phased out under the HSE
policy of Professor Brendan Drumm, many who travelled to the Breast cancer protest
in buses and stood in the cold to highlight lack of services to the North-West will be heavily
disappointed in the decision for the scheduled phase-out. Mostly they will be disappointed
in the TD whom they elected who upholds the decision of the 'medical men' who know
best. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85161
Ms Flynn was at that protest, she most purposefully strode across the road to listen
to the women speak and then she turned her back on them to support Mary Harney
and the HSE.

Greenink.com image of Flynn

Two evenings ago, Ms Cooper-Flynn was interviewed outside Dail Eireann in her confirmation
type pink suit and sensible shoes saying that she had no option but to recommend the
'Centres of Excellence' because it as considered best practice to accept the words of the
medical men and expert groups.

In practice this means that like Finian Mc Grath and John Gormley this TD will
continue to stand over the privatisation of a public health service led by a woman TD
whom has done nothing for the women of Ireland but to increase the work-load, increase
anxiety and state very clearly to us that what matters to FF/PD/Green is profit, budget,
payroll and maybe in the last analysis -Patient care.

Mc Grath agreed to support FF in a non-confidence motion put down by Labour
in exchange for movement on a dedicated CF unit, whilst knowing that FF policy
is to amalgamate hospitals in Crumlin and Tallaght to a crowded inaccessible site
on the Mater Grounds, thus depriving a large working class area of excellence of
care and CF facilities. Gormley stood over health policy whilst knowing that his
constituency might lose St Lukes. Cooper-Flynn supports a policy of Centres
of Excellence' that deprive the whole North-West from Sligo to Donegal of breast-cancer
services.

What it means , in essence is that clientelist based politicians are greedily
blindspotted by their constituency concerns and do not see the long-term effect of
a national Health policy that is anti-equality.

OECD report on Irish health care:- on the Newswire
PD analysis;- http://www.indymedia.ie/article/4946

Ms Flynn's confirmation suit seems to come out of a similar warehouse concern
that dresses the other Mary's Hanafin, Coughlan) and FF hanger's -on such as
Ms Larkin.

save preference

Comments (10 of 10)

Links

Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:42

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85041
(this is the OECD criticism of http://www.dohc.ie)
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84946
(this delineates current Green/FF/PD amalgamations)

I won't be sitting down waiting for them to take Crumlin Children's Hospital, Health-care
is about community need, not attracting budget and corporate financing. Ms Harney
has refused to look at re-structuring the HSE and Prof Drumm's Policy is supported by
Greens. What was told to me privately at the St Luke's protest by a green does not stand.
If political parties are incapable of forwarding a patient-centred , community - based
national health care service ( without clientelist bullshit) then they do not deserve to seek
mandate from the community they claim to represent.

Women's Work loads

Fri Mar 14, 2008 13:16

RTE did not think to ask Ms Cooper-Flynn about isolation and anxiety being contributory factors to ill-health,
sure as long as the carers can feed themselves on a diet of corporate sponsored food and wall to wall telly
everything will be grand.

Women with query cancer will have to travel away from the elderly they care for.
Women with query cancer will have to travel from the regions in which their children are educated.

Will their be home helps with the heavy lifting?
will there be petrol vouchers?
will there be money given to help with after school clubs and childcare?
will there by funds for dietary considerations?
partners/husbands and kids work loads will increase in the teeth of a national cancer programme
which leaves out the whole North-West.

I personally think that RTE did not ask the questions but instead platformed the woman
kow-towing to the HSE in a shameless display of uncaring and ill-thought out support that
does not attempt to advocate on behalf of her constituents.

One couple I know in Mayo are wrestling with isolation and ill-health in which they get an
entitlement of two half-hours per week of home help, no -one to help with cooking and
shopping.

as I said at top of this piece, Ms Cooper Flynn has put the concerns of supporting a flawed health
policy above the needs of those she purports to represent. Ms Harney has singularly increased
the work load of women (who are in the main carers) and the Green Party with Finian Mc Grath
have unquestionally rolled out support for a two tier health system (budgetted 16 billion)
and 4 more years of this.

http://www.dohc.ie

Sad and bitter news for Mayo and the North West

by Justin Morahan

Fri Mar 14, 2008 22:47

Thanks for highlighting this scandal. I shiver to think what Mary Harney's privatisation scheme will mean for the country's Health services.

Mayo people, and people of the North West and every other disadvantaged area, please stand up and say NO, NO, NO to this retrograde step for our loved ones.

Junior Minister John McGuinness strikes at unemployed opposition in Kilkenny

by Legal Eagle

Sun Mar 16, 2008 02:56

And more corruption in Kilkenny from a Fianna Fail Junior Minister - in fact it could be classed as an Act of Terror.

Some weeks ago my friend Martin Satelle, originally from Dublin and a former Member of the S.W.P., had a letter published in the "Kilkenny Advertiser" newspaper criticising Councillor Andrew McGuinness FF, son of Junior Minister for Trade and Commerce John McGuinness of Kilkenny.

Minister McGuinness lifted the phone, Martin's rent allowance was stopped.

After five week's campaigning, and with the help of socialist friends, Martin's rent allowance was restored.

Martin had criticised McGuinness for appointing his son as his advisor on a large State salary.

Martin, who is not online, wishes to thank all those who helped him.

Mayo Local Papers

Tue Mar 25, 2008 19:01

The Mayo 'Locals' are giving non-stop coverage to the loss of services at MGH (Mayo General Hospital)
HSE has mapped it on their 'find a service page' and Wiki has a short set of links to the services.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_General_Hospital

MGH was designated for many years a 'centre of excellence' and praised as such by Professor Drumm,
in the same breath as his announcement of services rationalisation from Castlebar to Galway..
The day of the Breast cancer services protest the women carried a map, dividing ireland with an arbitary
red line that did not extend beyond Galway.

The Centres of Excellence , therefore are limited to Mhe South of the Island with reductions in
services to women north of this arbitrary line from mayo to Donegal, these areas include two
women TD's (one a Minister) : Mary Coughlan TD and Minister For Agriculture; and Beverley Cooper-Flynn
TD.

HSE Map of Acute Services

invitation

by invitation

Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:33

wikipedia is a contributory service, they look for factaul neutral contributions. I saw a link
to mayo general hospital in the comments above, maybe someone from mayo can go in
and update the political issues and the HSE?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_General_Hospital

Charlie Bird will be pleased

by to hell or to connacht

Fri Apr 04, 2008 09:44

The last act of Bertie Ahern was to give Bev back her FF membership. I personally hope
that Brian Cowen makes her Minister for State at health, she can then aid ms harney in ensuring
the continuance of Govt health policy and of course re-build the grassroot of FF in
the North-west.

http://www.dohc.ie

RTE did not comment very much on the barringtons report, Barrington's is a private
hospital in Cork - unlike Portlaoise where most of the victims of health policy were
public patients or treatment purchase fund patients....

The release of the barringtons report coincided with the departure of bertie who stood over
the privatisation of public health care in ireland.

Resignation Day

by Mariella

Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:08

It was a good day to bury bad news - and the media of course were only too happy to oblige.

Surprised?

by Fred Johnston

Fri Apr 04, 2008 14:16

How can anyone be surprised at this?

the court of Mary's has been imbalanced

by O well

Fri Apr 04, 2008 18:37

now there is a 'Beverley' in FF, which means that they have gone up a syllable,
sure thats progress.
progress is part of the triad which includes prosperity and peace- but does not include
equality or debate.

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Beverley Cooper Flynn Betrays her Electorate Again

Comments (10 of 10)