DIRECTLY ELECTED Mayor of Limerick, John Moran has been criticised by Friends of Ennis Hospital.
On Monday, Moran unveiled the Limerick Mayoral Programme 2024-2029, titled More for Limerick.
Visions and objectives for the Directly Elected Mayor’s five year term of office were outlined in the 134-page document as mandated by the Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2024.
There are three key pillars to the Mayoral Programme which focus on affordable housing and quality of life, improved prosperity and health.
Friends of Ennis Hospital criticised the plans outlined by the Mayor. “The Mayor makes no reference to the KPIs which already exist with the HSE for Primary Care, Acute Care, Palliative Care. in fact the words Palliative care don’t even appear in his document so his health care plan is leaving out the most vulnerable in society completely. Neither the HSE nor the CEO of UHL are answerable to the Mayor of Limerick. They are answerable to the Minister for Health & they are answerable to the TDs elected to represent not only Limerick but also Clare and Tipperary in Dáil Éireann. The Mayor of Limerick does not speak for us he has no mandate to speak for the people of Clare or Tipperary,” a spokeswoman told The Clare Echo.
According to Friends of Ennis Hospital attempts by Moran to “dictate health policy” need to be rejected. “HSE Midwest does have a mandate and indeed an obligation to provide healthcare for the entire region not just the most populated part of it. Mr Moran speaks of an ‘Independent Limerick First health Strategy’ with complete disregard for the remainder of the region. The word ‘Tipperary’ appears just once in his 134 page manifesto, the word ‘Clare’ just four times and two of them are in reference to the Clare glens which is a walking trail. As Clare based health campaigners we reject in totality any attempts by the Mayor of Limerick to dictate health policy in the Midwest Region.
“Healthcare in UHL and the Mid-West serves a population far greater than his constituency and must be focused on improving healthcare for all of the Mid-West.Ironically Mr Moran refers to ‘unacceptable outcome variances depending on Eircode’. But apparently he’s fine with those of us with a V95 Eircode being left behind”.
