Uploaded February 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Despite the so-called ‘lifting of restrictions’ announced by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on January 21, the appalling situation at Mayo University Hospital continues.
All staff at Mayo University Hospital were under a Covid gagging order since March 2020 – the workers are still under that threat of disciplinary action if they talk about ‘hospital business’ outside of the hospital.
The draconian visiting restrictions in place at MUH before the Taoiseach’s announcement have not changed and are still in force. The vital level of transparency that visiting facilitates has ceased to exist. The decision on when to allow visiting, if ever, lies entirely with the same hospital management who have gagged their staff.
The deafening silence from our elected representatives on this issue also continues. We are living in the ‘new normal’ – where normal means all those who work in your hospital are under a vow of silence, you are unable to visit your loved ones who at the mercy of a gagged staff, and those who are paid to represent your interests refuse to speak out.
In recent days families gathered outside Ballynoe CareChoice Nursing Home in Co. Cork in remembrance of loved ones who lost their lives there since March 2020. No elected representatives were present at the gathering. Family members were present who had endured the unspeakable ordeal of watching outside windows while their loved ones took their last breaths inside. One family spoke of watching through a window as their loved one died, then having to go around to the front of the nursing home to notify the staff.
This inhumane, cruel and criminal treatment of the most vulnerable has been for the most part ignored by our politicians. The so-called ‘Opposition’ party, Sinn Féin, has shown no energy whatsoever in pursuing justice. Rose Conway-Walsh TD was happy to come to the hospital to support the nurses on their recent INMO protest, but when asked on the same day by a journalist about the plight of the elderly in the hospital and whether she supported their families, she would make no reply.
We call attention again to the strange silence of the Church in these days of crisis. Archbishop Michael Neary spoke recently on Midwest Radio on how he was going to ‘reflect’ after retiring from his position. Could Mr Neary perhaps reflect on the perilous plight of the elderly and vulnerable at Mayo University Hospital? Could he reflect on the scandal of a gagged staff?
The Church is silent because it has shown itself to be arm-in-arm with the government. Just as the Church knew about what was happening in the mother and baby homes, so it knows now about the cruel deaths of so many in hospitals and nursing homes. It was silent then; it is silent now. A true Christian church follows the instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ in the parable of the Good Samaritan – it gets involved.
We encourage you to call on those in positions of authority and demand that they address this situation.
Despite the so-called ‘lifting of restrictions’ announced by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on January 21, the appalling situation at Mayo University Hospital continues.
All staff at Mayo University Hospital were under a Covid gagging order since March 2020 – the workers are still under that threat of disciplinary action if they talk about ‘hospital business’ outside of the hospital.
The draconian visiting restrictions in place at MUH before the Taoiseach’s announcement have not changed and are still in force. The vital level of transparency that visiting facilitates has ceased to exist. The decision on when to allow visiting, if ever, lies entirely with the same hospital management who have gagged their staff.
The deafening silence from our elected representatives on this issue also continues. We are living in the ‘new normal’ – where normal means all those who work in your hospital are under a vow of silence, you are unable to visit your loved ones who at the mercy of a gagged staff, and those who are paid to represent your interests refuse to speak out.
In recent days families gathered outside Ballynoe CareChoice Nursing Home in Co. Cork in remembrance of loved ones who lost their lives there since March 2020. No elected representatives were present at the gathering. Family members were present who had endured the unspeakable ordeal of watching outside windows while their loved ones took their last breaths inside. One family spoke of watching through a window as their loved one died, then having to go around to the front of the nursing home to notify the staff.
This inhumane, cruel and criminal treatment of the most vulnerable has been for the most part ignored by our politicians. The so-called ‘Opposition’ party, Sinn Féin, has shown no energy whatsoever in pursuing justice. Rose Conway-Walsh TD was happy to come to the hospital to support the nurses on their recent INMO protest, but when asked on the same day by a journalist about the plight of the elderly in the hospital and whether she supported their families, she would make no reply.
We call attention again to the strange silence of the Church in these days of crisis. Archbishop Michael Neary spoke recently on Midwest Radio on how he was going to ‘reflect’ after retiring from his position. Could Mr Neary perhaps reflect on the perilous plight of the elderly and vulnerable at Mayo University Hospital? Could he reflect on the scandal of a gagged staff?
The Church is silent because it has shown itself to be arm-in-arm with the government. Just as the Church knew about what was happening in the mother and baby homes, so it knows now about the cruel deaths of so many in hospitals and nursing homes. It was silent then; it is silent now. A true Christian church follows the instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ in the parable of the Good Samaritan – it gets involved.
We encourage you to call on those in positions of authority and demand that they address this situation.
