• Funding to support communities that have welcomed Ukrainians and other nationalities
• Will benefit sports clubs, community organisations, transport infrastructure and local groups

Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe has welcomed the allocation of over €2.9 million in funding for Clare County Council, under the Community Recognition Fund.

The initiative is aimed at communities that have, in recent times, welcomed people from Ukraine and other countries, to support them to cater for their new populations.

“It’s wonderful to see Clare get such a significant chunk of this €50 million national fund,” said Deputy Crowe.

“Communities across the county here have extended the warm hand of welcome to so many people from Ukraine, and indeed other countries, over the past 12 months and while everybody has put their shoulder to the wheel and helped to welcome and integrate them, local resources have of course been stretched.

“This €2.9m funding will be used for a number of projects including the refurbishment of local sports clubs and facilities; the upgrade of community facilities such as play areas, walkways, parks and community gardens; the purchase of equipment to benefit local clubs, festivals, music and arts organisations; the enhancement of school or parish facilities that are open to the wider community after hours or on weekends and transport infrastructure such as community vehicles and bus shelters.

“The significant investment in these projects will benefit all members of the community in each place that is successful in seeking funding.

“The funding will be drawn down over 2023 and 2024.

“Any community or voluntary group that feels it could benefit from this fund is encouraged to engage with Clare County Council directly over the coming weeks to ensure their fair share of funding.”

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• Meeting held between HSE and Oireachtas members
• Number of measures must now be considered

Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe is calling for outside-the-box thinking when it comes to tackling hospital overcrowding in the Midwest – up to and including the use of local hotels for short-term bed capacity.

It follows a meeting held this morning between Midwest Oireachtas members, the UL Hospitals Group and the HSE, attended by an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and chaired by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

“I think the current crisis demands a thinking outside-the-box approach and we saw how successful that worked during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Deputy Crowe.

“There was a time when using hotel bedrooms and larger communal rooms, such as function rooms, to provide public healthcare would have been unthinkable, indeed many would have scoffed at the idea but there is a trialled and tested precedent in recent years.

“Prior to Covid, management at the UHL Maternity Hospital procured rooms at Limerick’s Strand Hotel and during Covid countless sports halls, large public venues and hotels were swiftly converted into acute healthcare environments.

“It is widely anticipated that a further 96 bed block will be applied for UHL this year but the construction and fulfilment of that could take more than 2 years and I don’t think the mid-west region can wait that long.

“Management at Tallaght University Hospital acquired a vacant retail building, across the road from their main hospital building, to open the Reeves Day Surgery Centre in 2020; by the same token, I has suggested to the Taoiseach, Minister Stephen Donnelly and Professor Colette Cowan that the Limerick South Court Hotel, less than a kilometre from UHL, should be considered as an additional capacity building option on an interim basis.

“In terms of other pressure-alleviating measures are concerned, I am becoming increasingly confident that the HSE will enhance operations at Nenagh General Hospital’s Medical Assessment Unit so, like Ennis General Hospital, it will be able to receive ambulances and provide immediate care to patients who have been triaged and screened by paramedics.”

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• Medical Assessment and Local Injuries Units have major role to play
• 2009 decision to close A&E was wrong

Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe is calling on the HSE and the government to ensure 24-hour intermediate care at Ennis General Hospital is prioritised, to tackle emergency department overcrowding in the Midwest.

It comes as a pilot project to bring patients directly to Ennis, as opposed to the region’s main hospital, gets underway as one of the measures to ease severe and consistent overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick.

“The movement of ambulance patients to the Medical Assessment Unit at Ennis General Hospital this week has been a positive step,” said Deputy Crowe.

“I am confident that this intervention will help alleviate the inordinate pressures felt at UHL’s emergency department.

“It makes so much sense for patients in Clare to be treated in Clare where possible, and whilst many people in the south of our county are geographically closer to UHL, this decision is a major boost for those living in the west and north of our county.

“When I meet with HSE and UHL senior management this week, I intend to make the case for this arrangement to become a more permanent one and I also think it’s time to start looking at having the MAU and local injuries unit at Ennis General open on a 24/7 basis.

“This Christmas period once again laid bare how pressurised the public health system is in the Midwest region and the most tragic manifestation of this was the death of Aoife Johnston.

“No action by hospital management or government can ease the pain felt by her loved ones.

“I have now served almost three years as a TD for Clare and it is more obvious than ever that the decision taken in 2009 when my own party was in government to close the 24-hour A&E in Ennis General Hospital was absolutely wrong.

“At the time, it was touted that the closure would help to develop a centre of excellence in Limerick but this has never happened and if anything, things have gotten a lot worse over the past decade.

“Since 2009, various governments have stripped back Ennis General Hospital to the point that now it would be an incredibly difficult challenge to reopen a 24-hour A&E there – however, we should aim to significantly bolster the MAU and local injuries unit there.”

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