A bathtub nearly killed me
After plight of seagulls, FF senator reveals the fear behind that shower curtain
THE colourful Fianna Fáil senator who famously declared war on Dublin’s troublemaking seagulls has now warned a stunned Seanad about the serious dangers to be found in hotel and B&B bathtubs.
Senator Ned O’Sullivan, who has been touted as a possible MEP candidate for the party, revealed he had previously suffered a serious accident in a hotel bathroom where he sustained; ‘very serious injuries, multiple breakages’.
And he later gave more graphic details to the Irish Mail on Sunday.
A need for more safety in hotel bathrooms
He said his fall ‘nearly killed me’, adding: ‘I was in intensive care for three months. I was on a respirator. I broke my sternum. My entire ribcage was smashed to pieces and I lost the lower part of my left lung.’
He now wants embattled Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to deal with the problem.
However, Senator O’Sullivan insists he is not trying to make any personal gain from highlighting this health and safety issue.
He told the Seanad that he hesitated to speak on the matter until the Statute of Limitations had passed, ‘because a few people might think I was feathering my own nest with a claim or something’. He added: ‘Since that accident I was approached by many other people who had similar accidents in hotel rooms where the shower and bath were combined in one.’
And he said that many hotels had improved their bathroom facilities, and best practice in new-build hotels is to ‘either put in a separate walk-in shower or, if necessary, a custom-designed low-wall bath with anti-slip devices in it along with the shower’. However, he was shocked recently when he stayed in a ‘very wellknown and relatively recently refurbished hotel – I will not name it’. He added: ‘I found myself climbing into a bath, the walls of which were as high as Becher’s Brook with a very narrow base. It was not designed as a shower, it was designed as a bath with a very narrow V-shaped bottom on it. To get purchase it would take someone, especially of my years, to stand legs akimbo in order not to fall.’ While he was supported by former Attorney General Senator Michael McDowell, Senator David Norris was less kind, picking up on Senator O’Sullivan’s comment about Becher’s Brook, the famous Grand National jump, to make a quip about, ‘the water jump’ in that race. He called on Minister Eoghan Murphy to say what plans the Government has to introduce regulation for hoteliers’.
He was also supported strongly by the Leader of the Seanad Jerry Buttimer, who said he had raised a very important point and added: ‘I would be happy for the minister to come to the House to discuss health and safety.’