Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
BREAKING: No Public Support for Sham COVID Ceremony in Castlebar
Over the past week local and national media heavily publicised a Government event organised to 'remember those who died during the pandemic' and 'pay tribute to all those who helped tackle the virus'. The Mayo version of this event took place on the Mall in Castlebar on Sunday March 20, where a tree was planted, and speeches made.
It is important to note that this event was directed and organised by the Government, not by members of the public. A ‘spokesman for the government’ told RTÉ News last week that the government had ‘requested’ that all local authorities hold an event to mark the occasion. The event in Castlebar was directed by Mayo County Council, the order including a ‘reading’ from a representative of the ‘Covid Response Unit’, another organisation run from Mayo County Council.
Upon arriving at the Mall it was immediately apparent that, despite the extensive previous advertising of the event, there was almost no members of the public present. The small group on the Mall was largely made up of local councillors, TDs, Mayo County Council personnel and photographers/members of the media.
The nation has just endured two years of unspeakable carnage. We are all familiar with the horrific stories from nursing homes and hospitals across the nation where the elderly, vulnerable, and voiceless were cruelly abandoned and left to die in unspeakable conditions, all with the full knowledge and tacit approval of the HSE and the Government. We have heard the countless accounts from Mayo University Hospital of vulnerable patients being abused and shamefully treated, with many losing their lives as a result. This situation in mirrored in hospitals all across the nation where thousands have died, with no answers forthcoming from the HSE or the Government to grieving families.
We have heard from the recent inquest into the death of Sally Maaz at MUH in April 2020 that palliative care was initiated the very next day after she was admitted to the hospital. She died some eight days later after being transferred to a Covid ward and being administered a powerful sedative which induced a major allergic reaction. Her family were never informed that she was on ‘palliative care’, in other words that the hospital had decided within hours of admission, and while she was testing negative for Covid, that she was to be put on the ‘Covid pathway’ and that she was going to die.
We also know that all staff at Mayo University Hospital were gagged by the HSE management in March 2020, threatened with retaliation if they spoke of “any hospital business” outside of the hospital.
Every politician in Mayo knows the above. They know what has happened in our hospitals and nursing homes. They know the staff are gagged. When we contacted councillors such as Michael Kilcoyne repeatedly over the past two years asking them to question why the HSE were gagging their staff at this time, they did nothing, while people continued to die in unspeakable circumstances at Mayo University Hospital. Their presence at this state-sponsored whitewash of an event, lauding the ‘healthcare workers’ and making empty platitudes about sacrifices made, is nothing more than a disgrace.
We attended the event on Sunday to register a protest against this hypocrisy.
As the politicians stand for photographs, fly the flag at half-mast and make empty speeches about the past two years, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is "not convinced" that a commission of inquiry is the best way to investigate the circumstances leading to the deaths of 23 residents in Dealgan House Nursing Home in Dundalk. He has also said that he “does not expect HSE chief Paul Reid or chief medical officer Tony Holohan to be called as witnesses during a Covid inquiry.” According to the Irish Independent (20.03.2022) health chiefs who played a central role in Ireland’s pandemic response will not be in the witness box at Dublin Castle as part of the national Covid inquiry.
For politicians to then participate in the charade that we saw on Sunday is shameful. People know a set-up when they see one, which is why there were almost no members of the public present.
We continue to call for criminal investigations by An Garda Síochána into hospitals and nursing homes where the most vulnerable were led to their deaths.
Please share this video.
Present at event:
Politicians: Michael Kilcoyne (IND), Blackie Gavin (FF), Martin McLaughlin (FF), Alan Dillon TD (FG), Dara Calleary TD (FF), John Caulfield (FF)
Mayo County Council: John Condon (Director of Services), Tom Gilligan (Director of Services for Housing), Catherine McConnell (Director of Services)
See full report here: facebook.com/JosiahEBurke/videos/1327904521047808
BREAKING: No Public Support for Sham COVID Ceremony in Castlebar
Over the past week local and national media heavily publicised a Government event organised to 'remember those who died during the pandemic' and 'pay tribute to all those who helped tackle the virus'. The Mayo version of this event took place on the Mall in Castlebar on Sunday March 20, where a tree was planted, and speeches made.
It is important to note that this event was directed and organised by the Government, not by members of the public. A ‘spokesman for the government’ told RTÉ News last week that the government had ‘requested’ that all local authorities hold an event to mark the occasion. The event in Castlebar was directed by Mayo County Council, the order including a ‘reading’ from a representative of the ‘Covid Response Unit’, another organisation run from Mayo County Council.
Upon arriving at the Mall it was immediately apparent that, despite the extensive previous advertising of the event, there was almost no members of the public present. The small group on the Mall was largely made up of local councillors, TDs, Mayo County Council personnel and photographers/members of the media.
The nation has just endured two years of unspeakable carnage. We are all familiar with the horrific stories from nursing homes and hospitals across the nation where the elderly, vulnerable, and voiceless were cruelly abandoned and left to die in unspeakable conditions, all with the full knowledge and tacit approval of the HSE and the Government. We have heard the countless accounts from Mayo University Hospital of vulnerable patients being abused and shamefully treated, with many losing their lives as a result. This situation in mirrored in hospitals all across the nation where thousands have died, with no answers forthcoming from the HSE or the Government to grieving families.
We have heard from the recent inquest into the death of Sally Maaz at MUH in April 2020 that palliative care was initiated the very next day after she was admitted to the hospital. She died some eight days later after being transferred to a Covid ward and being administered a powerful sedative which induced a major allergic reaction. Her family were never informed that she was on ‘palliative care’, in other words that the hospital had decided within hours of admission, and while she was testing negative for Covid, that she was to be put on the ‘Covid pathway’ and that she was going to die.
We also know that all staff at Mayo University Hospital were gagged by the HSE management in March 2020, threatened with retaliation if they spoke of “any hospital business” outside of the hospital.
Every politician in Mayo knows the above. They know what has happened in our hospitals and nursing homes. They know the staff are gagged. When we contacted councillors such as Michael Kilcoyne repeatedly over the past two years asking them to question why the HSE were gagging their staff at this time, they did nothing, while people continued to die in unspeakable circumstances at Mayo University Hospital. Their presence at this state-sponsored whitewash of an event, lauding the ‘healthcare workers’ and making empty platitudes about sacrifices made, is nothing more than a disgrace.
We attended the event on Sunday to register a protest against this hypocrisy.
As the politicians stand for photographs, fly the flag at half-mast and make empty speeches about the past two years, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is "not convinced" that a commission of inquiry is the best way to investigate the circumstances leading to the deaths of 23 residents in Dealgan House Nursing Home in Dundalk. He has also said that he “does not expect HSE chief Paul Reid or chief medical officer Tony Holohan to be called as witnesses during a Covid inquiry.” According to the Irish Independent (20.03.2022) health chiefs who played a central role in Ireland’s pandemic response will not be in the witness box at Dublin Castle as part of the national Covid inquiry.
For politicians to then participate in the charade that we saw on Sunday is shameful. People know a set-up when they see one, which is why there were almost no members of the public present.
We continue to call for criminal investigations by An Garda Síochána into hospitals and nursing homes where the most vulnerable were led to their deaths.
Please share this video.
Present at event:
Politicians: Michael Kilcoyne (IND), Blackie Gavin (FF), Martin McLaughlin (FF), Alan Dillon TD (FG), Dara Calleary TD (FF), John Caulfield (FF)
Mayo County Council: John Condon (Director of Services), Tom Gilligan (Director of Services for Housing), Catherine McConnell (Director of Services)
See full report here: facebook.com/JosiahEBurke/videos/1327904521047808
![ELDERLY PEOPLE JUST CARTED AWAY TO THE [COVID] WARDS - Nurse reveals inhumane conditions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a9aucI2KYn0/mqdefault.jpg "ELDERLY PEOPLE JUST CARTED AWAY TO THE [COVID] WARDS - Nurse reveals inhumane conditions
A nurse from Mayo University Hospital has spoken of the inhumane treatment of elderly patients at MUH. All staff at the hospital were gagged by management in March 2020, at the beginning of the first lockdown.
🔴 The nurse from MUH said in an interview in July 2020 that elderly people were just carted away to the [Covid] wards, and we wouldnt even know...what became of that old man or woman.
🔴 The nurse also revealed that If they went to the [Covid] ward they were left all day behind a curtain until somebody – nurse or doctor – had to go in and give them some kind of care.
The same nurse featured prominently on local and national media in recent days, speaking on the Mayo News, Midwest Radio and RTÉ Drivetime. It is alarming that none of these media outlets had any questions for her regarding the gagging of all staff at Mayo University Hospital over a year ago.
Many elderly and vulnerable people, often with underlying conditions and without any close relatives, have died sudden and unexpected deaths in the Covid ward at Mayo University Hospital since March 2020. They were dealt with by staff who were and are under a vow of silence. This is the mother and baby homes of the modern day.
We cannot, and will not, move on to other things while the staff at Mayo University Hospital are gagged. We strongly encourage you to contact your elected representatives and demand that they address this intolerable situation.")
