Sinn Féin Limerick City

Great to take part in today’s street stall and experience all 4 seasons in 60 minutes!

Castletroy Road works Notice

Limerick TD says offshore wind energy this generation’s ‘Ardnacrusha moment’

A LIMERICK TD is trying to stir up winds of change in his advocacy for the massive potential of clean wind energy in the Mid West.

Sinn Féin Deputy Maurice Quinlivan said that tapping into the wind and wave energy potential on the west coast of Ireland “can be our generation’s Ardnacrusha moment”, ushering in not only Europe-leading green energy infrastructure, but new jobs and a new lease of life for the region.

“Offshore wind and wave energy have the potential, if harnessed, to make this State a net exporter of energy, the potential to create thousands of jobs. It is an opportunity that must be seized upon,” he said in a Dáil meeting on the renewable energy sector.

“We have the natural resources surrounding our island, I am confident we will have the cooperation of political parties, third level institutions, and private companies, but we need to ensure that these pillars are supported by central government and that it takes preemptive steps to develop the potential of this economic sector.”

Pushing the point home locally, Deputy Quinlivan said that “the port in Foynes has the proximity to offshore wind resources, it has the deep-water port, and it has the necessary development land nearby. It is well suited, with the necessary support, to lead the way in the development of this untapped economic sector.”

FIGURES released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) this week show that 2,153 patients have been treated on hospital trolleys at University Hospital Limerick across July 2024.

The figures for the same month last year were below this at 1,824.

This July’s figure is more than double that of the next most overcrowded hospital, according on the INMO’s Trolley Watch count, with Galway having 969 admitted patients having to wait on a trolley for an inpatient bed.

Reacting to the stark figures, Deputy Maurice Quinlivan (SF) said that “another unwanted historic milestone was achieved at University Hospital Limerick. This is the highest number of people to be treated on trolleys in a summer month at any hospital in the State.”

“A failure to get to grips with rising hospitalisations puts great strain on the hospital. With capacity being exceeded daily, there is an inevitable knock-on impact on elective procedures both for inpatients and outpatients.”

The Sinn Féin Deputy said that more than 14,000 people have already been treated on trolleys so far this year in UHL.

“These are people who are sick and have been assessed, deemed in need of a hospital, and yet no bed is available for them. Minister Donnelly has had ample time to address this crisis and yet, under his watch, things have only worsened. If these figures continue, we will exceed 28,000 patients on trolleys in 2024.”

The Sinn Féin Deputy hit out that “there is a need to deliver 288 acute inpatient beds at UHL, to deliver 24-hour urgent care at St John’s Hospital, and to make the challenges at UHL a priority at all levels of government”.

In response a spokesperson for UHL said “The improvement of Emergency Department (ED) patient experience is a major priority for the HSE, here in the Midwest and nationally.
“In UHL, the current level of inpatient bed capacity presents a challenge in the face of increases in demand for emergency care. We welcome the Minister for Health’s provision of an additional 382 beds for Mid West in the Acute Inpatient Hospital Bed Expansion Plan. More than two-thirds, 282 beds, of this capacity has been allocated to UHL”.

The spokesperson said that in May 2024, the hospital we stood up a regional Programme Improvement Board to oversee a three-year plan to deliver on a number of other supporting projects and initiatives.

These include an extension to 24/7 opening hours of Medical Assessment Units (MAUs) at Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s from autumn 2024, the opening of an acute virtual ward service, initially for cardiology and respiratory patients (underway) the appointment of an Integrated Patient Flow and Discharge Improvement Lead (complete) and the extension of Safer Staffing to all wards in UHL (underway).

Thanks to the Limerick for highlighting this important issue.

Recently we learned that waste collection companies have warned that they may increase prices for recycling bin collections to make up for the loss of plastic bottles and drinks cans to the DRS.

Ordinary workers and families could soon be punished for using the government’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

They claim they have lost revenue due to the decrease in the supply of plastic cans and bottles in recycling bins that they otherwise would have sold back to manufacturers.

“The notion that households could face higher costs to protect the profit margins of private collection companies is absurd.

SINN Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has called on the government to urgently intervene to ensure that households are protected from potential price-hikes in Ireland’s privatised waste management system.

“The unwelcome news that the cost of household recycling could be on the way up brings into sharp focus the contradiction that is at the centre of this government’s approach to waste management.

“Time and time again, they have shown us that they are willing to prioritise private profits over consumers’ interests and recycling targets,” he said.

“Ordinary workers and families could soon be punished for using the government’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

“They deserve a waste management system that doesn’t treat them as the collateral damage in the pursuit of profit maximisation.”

SIPTU WIN! New 21% pay deal for car mechanics, HGV mechanics, agricultural mechanics, light vehicle body repairers, including panel beaters and spray painters, over the next three years.

227 vacant local authority houses in Limerick THERE are more empty local authority houses in Limerick this year than there were 12 months ago, a local senator has discovered.

Exclusive: Workers on BAM project illegally forced to register as bogus self-employees Workers on a major State project overseen by BAM are being illegally forced to register as bogus self-employees.

Reminder of my Clinic this Friday July 19th in the Shannon House Castleconnell @1!

It might be summer but planning for School again in September never ends!
Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance update

Over 126,000 families will receive the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance from today.

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance remains open for applications until September 30th and eligible families are being encouraged to apply. Decisions on these cases will be processed manually and if entitled payment will issue once they are processed.

Further information on the eligibility criteria for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is available at www.gov.ie/bscfa

Castletroy Greenway Camera Plan lacks Ambition
Castletroy Urban Greenway-Public consultation regarding 4 new Camera Locations will commences July 8th-28th. I am urging all users to engage with is as it is a major concern for users presently

This consultation will be available online under the ‘Surveys’ section on our MyPoint platform here on Monday, 8th July. Alternatively, email responses can be submitted to [email protected] with the email title ‘Community CCTV Cameras in Public Areas – Public Consultation’ or written responses can also be sent to ‘Community CCTV Cameras in Public Areas – Public Consultation’, Limerick City and County Council, Dooradoyle, Limerick, V94 WV78 by 28th July 2024.

1st motion in and passed today with my Council Mam Cllr Sharon Benson SF on the control of dogs following a recent spate of incidents in Limerick….

Please share, and hope he is found safe and well.

Limerick we need your help.Has anyone seen Lee around Cappawhite village. He stayed at a friend's house on the main street and left to come home at 8am. Still isn't home.

Please if you can spare 2 minutes of your time to open your doors and look up and down the street if you are living in or around the area.

Update From Donna Crowe..

Due to false information... Lee's last seen location was outside community centre at 3.20am sunday morning walking towards home. Has anyone seen Lee around cappawhite village.

Donna Crowe ❣️❣️

Women have had enough.

It’s time for a genuinely zero tolerance strategy to end violence against women and girls

We cannot control the streets or the courts but we can take control of our bodies…
From today the HSE Free Contraception scheme is available for women,trans and non-binary people between 17-35
www.sexualwellbeing.ie/sexual-health/contraception/free-contraception/

Release of Julian Assange a hard-fought victory for press freedom - Senator Paul Gavan Sinn Fein Senator Paul Gavan has said that the release of Julian Assange late last night represented “a hard-fought victory for press freedom, and a testament to the power of the world-wide campaign…