What’s up doc? Ciara Kelly’s cancer slight is scandalous
NEWSTALK’s talking doc Ciara Kelly has taken a vicious swipe at women affected by the cervical cancer scandal.
Ciara said that women who were given false positive results were somehow out to capitalise on cancer and litigation would jeopardise the CervicalCheck screening programme.
‘It is a public health success story, despite its limitations. If it is sued into oblivion, who will benefit? No one will benefit except those in receipt of legal fees,’ said Dr Ciara.
Firstly, Ciara seems to have missed the myriad reports that Vicky Phelan was initially offered money to walk away and keep schtum about the serious failures within the CervicalCheck programme.
Vicky refused and also, notably, so did her lawyer who at that stage would have received a handsome fee. But they both put principles first and turned down the money in favour of exposing the serious flaws in what Ciara deems a ‘public success story’.
But what is astonishing is Ciara’s claims are devoid of any type of empathy with the women who have suffered so much. And that anyone – never mind a doctor – would even equate health with wealth.
They forgot about the most vulnerable
THE disabled protester’s placard summed up the priorities of a blind and indifferent Government that allowed the country’s only holiday respite centre to close for the sake of a measly €1.3m.
Think about it: €1.3m for rewiring is all the Cuisle Centre in Roscommon needed to continue to provide a vital lifeline for disabled people and their families. A fortnight’s holiday once a year – that’s all many of our most vulnerable citizens had to look forward to, but it has been taken from them. The Cuisle Centre closed its doors on Friday with 48 job losses into the bargain.
Some 1,500 people, many in wheelchairs, had protested at the closure, stressing the importance of Cuisle in their lives, pleading for it to be kept open. It closed anyway.
Because when it comes to throwing taxpayer’s money around, other things are far more important.
Like the Dáil printer that has – so far – cost us €1.8m and climbing because some overpaid, underperforming Government official had neither the wit nor the inclination to bother to check the dimensions to see if the monstrosity would come through the doors before shelling out a king’s ransom for it.
This white elephant will end up costing us almost €2m – and for what? €2m squandered to print TDs’ literature that nobody wants, calendars likely to end up in landfill – because, let’s face it, who wants to look at a TD’s mug Sellotaped to the fridge – and election leaflets dumped in the bin. The powers that be have no qualms signing a blank cheque for a printing machine for the boys and girls in the Dáil. But when it comes to signing a €1.3m cheque to keep the lights on in a holiday respite centre, that’s when they get a fit of the jitters.. Like the woman said: ‘They forgot about us.’
Put a lid on this nutty waste of cash
THE sheer definition of notions gone nuts is luxury jewellery store Weirs of Grafton Street in Dublin proudly displaying an empty Nutella jar with a silver lid.
While you could think this is a decoration or quirky store ornament this empty, ugly jar of Nutella is actually on sale for the princely sum of €350.
As a ‘gift’, this outrageous display of ostentation gone wrong is neither pretty, practical nor purposeful – it is pretentious.
Yet the jarring truth is that there exists out there someone who is silly enough to actually waltz into Weirs and happily hand over their cash for an empty jar. Nuts indeed!
Let’s remember the real victims
WHILE much has been made lately about the Irish ‘compensation culture’, and rightly so, genuine victims have been largely forgotten.
It is undeniable that a lot of claims awards appear arbitrary and in some cases absolutely outrageous, but there are some people who have suffered through no fault of their own. This week a cleaner wiped the floor with her employer and was awarded a payout for a workplace accident.
Mary McKenna suffered a serious arm fracture after falling down a stairs exposed to the rain at Dublin’s Blackrock Market. This week she was awarded €105,000 damages by a High Court judge.
Ms McKenna was aged 74 at the time of the fall in 2014, and she sued businessman Nicholas Roche, owner of Blackrock Market, after the accident had a ‘devastating effect on her life’.
What emerged during the action was that Ms McKenna is no opportunist and was in fact doing backbreaking work cleaning the south Dublin market for a measly €25, for three hours, one day a week.
That someone would pay such a paltry sum for what Mary admitted in court was ‘hard work’ highlights just how inadequate minimum wage levels are.
Not unsurprisingly her employer, Mr Roche, wasn’t in court when the judgment was awarded. So while we can all whinge about compo chancers, I hope Mary McKenna enjoys her money and never has to clean up after anyone again.
Focus on the present, not gifts
‘IT came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?’
– Dr Seuss The bombardment of adverts for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Super Sunday and whatever random moniker marketeers can put on a day to entice us to buy more stuff has reached peak madness.
I, for one, love Christmas but I think that The Grinch really was on to something. It would serve one and all well to take heed of the wise words of Dr Seuss, and enjoy the festive season instead of being frazzled into a shopping frenzy.