A protest in response to the overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick has been planned for this month.
The “Feet On The Street” protest is calling for the reopening of A&Es across the region in Nenagh, Ennis, and St. John’s, in a bid to alleviate hospital waiting times and end the ongoing trolley crisis.
Protestors will take to the streets of Limerick on Saturday, January 21st, starting at the Old Court House and marching through the city to UHL.
Speaking to Tipp FM, organiser of the protest, Michael Daly said that the recent death of a young girl at the hospital was one of the main reasons for organising the protest:
“It came to a head with me when there was a recent death out there, in relation to the waiting times. That’s just not acceptable and I was sitting back thinking ‘what’s going on here?’ and to be honest, I didn’t see anyone jumping up and down, screaming and shouting about it, meaning TDs or anyone else, people should have been taking to the streets for what happened – that young girl’s passing and the reason behind it. When I saw that there was nothing happening I just said ‘look, I’ll maybe try and do a protest’, I’m pretty sure that everybody in Limerick feels the same as me.”
Michael Daly went on to say that enough is enough:
“There has been a few untimely deaths out there, that’s the main and most important thing. I’ve heard it firsthand from people on the street, I’ve heard it from people that I’ve met at meetings and now I’m hearing it from nurses coming out in disguise – not saying who they are. There’s needless deaths in this hospital, I mean that’s absolutely crazy, we live in Ireland, it’s a rich country and our hospital in Limerick is like a third-world situation.
