*Noeleen Moran. Photograph: Martin Molloy
ACTIVISTS WILL continue to “shout loudly” until the message for improved health services in the Mid-West is absorbed.
In their first post-pandemic demonstration, Mid-West Hospital Campaign took to the streets of Ennis on Saturday calling for an end to the trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick with chants of ‘care cannot wait’ and to ‘reopen our hospitals’.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Noeleen Moran of the Mid-West Hospital Campaign admitted she was happy with the turnout that gathered in Ennis. “We’re definitely getting a lot of reaction online, we need to translate that into the streets, that’s where the pressure is put on and that’s what gets the reaction”.
Recognition and awareness of the group doesn’t prove to be too strong countywide but Noeleen is confident that can be changed, she explained how, “You stand in the square and you shout loud about it, the awareness will spread from events like today. We’re getting back up and going after two years of lockdown, I don’t think today was a bad turnout, we’re quite happy with it”.
Coupled with this, she said their message will be heard. “The people of Clare matter, the people of the Mid-West matter and we’re not going to tolerate the conditions down in Limerick, we’re working away in the background”.
To date over 15,000 signatures have been secured calling for the restoration of a model three hospital for Ennis, St John’s and Nenagh, this is to be presented to the petitions committee in the coming weeks “to get this issue raised at national level, bit by bit we will get there”.
She acknowledged the contributions of Ennistymon woman Marie McMahon and Nenagh’s Conor Reidy who addressed the crowd on Saturday. “This can happen to any family member or member of our community, anyone going into or being redirected to that hospital is faced with the same things that Marie (McMahon) and Conor (Reidy) spoke about. We let them tell the story, they are to the fore in this campaign, it is about preventing this from happening to other people, it is certainly something that is felt by people but people who are dealing with sickness within their house aren’t in a position often to come out onto the streets, we’re very lucky to have the likes of Marie and Conor to speak up on their behalf”.
Politicians at a local and national level have not dealt adequately with the matter, the Ballyvaughan woman believed. “They’ve been sidestepping and reopening the prospect of reopening Ennis for some time, we hope they have listened today and that they will come back and do more on this”.
“We haven’t had a whole pile of engagement with them to be honest, they do turn out for days like this but we didn’t give them a platform to speak today because they have platforms like the Dáil, the Seanad and the Council to raise these issues and speak up for us, they came here today, I hope they’ve listened to us and take away the message given to them by the people impacted by the overcrowding”.
