Midlands North-West MEP Matt Carthy has blamed he current chaos in the National Broadband Plan on the Government’s ‘ideological obsession with privatisation’.

His comments follow the withdrawal of Eir from the Broadband Plan procurement process.

“Public faith in this government’s ability to provide high speed broadband to rural Ireland is now at an all-time low, following the withdrawal of Eir from the tendering process. Once again, businesses, homes, students and workers across rural Ireland are the victims,” Matt Carthy said.

Opposition parties have warned the Government about the flaws in the procurement system it was following and its determination to hand over control of this project to private interests.

“Eir’s sudden withdrawal follows the withdrawal last year of SIRO. The Government has now completely lost credibility on this issue, with the likelihood of broadband access in rural Ireland now even further away.

“However, it’s a bit rich to hear Fianna Fáil TDs decrying the latest development. In 2009 Fianna Fáil representatives across the state assured us that broadband access to every home in rural Ireland would be a reality within 10 months.

“Communications strategy in this state has been a shambles for decades and Fianna Fáil have been centrally involved in creating the mess.

“Fianna Fáil shares Fine Gael’s obsession with privatisation and abdicating the responsibility of the state to provide essential services,” the Sinn Féin Member of the European Parliament said.

Researchers from NUI Galway have launched the ‘SHEER’  project, an Irish case study looking into important links between our environment, our health and well-being, and our socioeconomic status in Ireland.

Led by the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway, the €175,000 SHEER project will explore the importance of data from different sources in decision making, policy development and the quality of our lives.

Partnering with the Insight Centre for Data Analytics and the HSE, the pioneering project will deliver a case study and a clear road map for the future direction of our environment, our health and our wellbeing in Ireland.

The SHEER project is responding to the European Economic Area (EEA) call for Ireland to be a case study in their 2019 Environment, Health and Wellbeing report.

Dr Christine Domegan, leader of the SHEER project, said: “Over the last ten years we’ve contributed to a growing body of evidence that shows human health and a healthy environment are inextricably linked (WHO EURO EH, 2017; EEA, 2014, EPA Strategic Plan, 2016–2020 and Healthy Ireland, 2013-2025).

“However, without a multi-causal and coordinated approach to data, it is difficult to develop these findings further and use them to inform policies.

“SHEER will help us to link different datasets together, emphasising how important it is to connect national data to regional and local issues.”

SIX HUNDRED and eighty-one people were waiting on trolleys throughout January at University Hospital Galway – the highest number on record for the first month of the year.

January saw sixty-three more people on trolleys than in the same month last year, and it is a dramatic increase from January 2006, when just 155 were on trolleys.

The latest figures released by the INMO show that January was the worst on record for many hospitals around the country, with a national increase of 18% on last January.

Speaking today, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary said: “This is an incredible level of overcrowding and the appalling conditions experienced in Emergency Departments are now beyond anything we have ever seen.

“It now amounts to a humanitarian crisis for patients and a risk rich environment for those trying to work in such chaotic conditions.”

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said that nurses in Emergency Departments and throughout hospitals are now working in appalling conditions.

“Health employers have completely fallen down on their statutory obligation to provide a safe place of work.”

Ms Ni Sheaghdha also pointed out that Section 8 of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act requires employers to carry out risk assessments and put in place mitigating measures to avoid those risks.

“Section 11 specifically describes the duties of the employer in relation to emergencies and serious and imminent dangers to their staff,” she said.