Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
'THREATENING AND SINISTER': Nurses Gagged at Mayo University Hospital, Councillors Silent on HSE Forum
Martina Burke raised the scandal last week on Midwest Radio.
Catherine Donohoe (General Manager at Mayo University Hospital) sent a letter to all staff at the beginning of the first lockdown, on 16 March 2020, threatening disciplinary action if any of them spoke about “hospital business” outside of the hospital.
This is extremely serious as the vast majority of 'Covid' deaths occur in hospitals under the operation of the HSE.
In our local hospital in Mayo over 1200 staff are gagged. We have no reason to believe that this is not the same situation all over the country and elsewhere. It is unacceptable that staff are under a vow of secrecy.
Vulnerable lives are at stake. We must get to the root of what is happening in our hospitals/nursing homes. We need answers.
_______________________________________________
News of the gagging letter broke on RTE Drivetime on 20 May 2020 and was subsequently read out on Midwest Radio causing alarm across the nation.
However the gagging of hospital staff has never been raised by Mayo County Councillors with hospital management at the HSE Regional Health Forum.
Four Mayo councillors sit on the Forum: Michael Kilcoyne (IND), Blackie Gavin (FF), Martin McLoughlin (FF) and John O’Hara (FG).
Published minutes from the Regional Health Forum meetings show that no questions in relation to the letter or the gagging of hospital staff have ever been raised by any of the four Mayo councillors.
Just six weeks after the letter was issued in March last year, Sally Maaz (17) was admitted (wrongfully) to a Covid Ward in the hospital - where she died in tragic circumstances.
Why are the councillors who we pay to hold the HSE to account keeping silence on this matter? It is shameful and unacceptable.
'THREATENING AND SINISTER': Nurses Gagged at Mayo University Hospital, Councillors Silent on HSE Forum
Martina Burke raised the scandal last week on Midwest Radio.
Catherine Donohoe (General Manager at Mayo University Hospital) sent a letter to all staff at the beginning of the first lockdown, on 16 March 2020, threatening disciplinary action if any of them spoke about “hospital business” outside of the hospital.
This is extremely serious as the vast majority of 'Covid' deaths occur in hospitals under the operation of the HSE.
In our local hospital in Mayo over 1200 staff are gagged. We have no reason to believe that this is not the same situation all over the country and elsewhere. It is unacceptable that staff are under a vow of secrecy.
Vulnerable lives are at stake. We must get to the root of what is happening in our hospitals/nursing homes. We need answers.
_______________________________________________
News of the gagging letter broke on RTE Drivetime on 20 May 2020 and was subsequently read out on Midwest Radio causing alarm across the nation.
However the gagging of hospital staff has never been raised by Mayo County Councillors with hospital management at the HSE Regional Health Forum.
Four Mayo councillors sit on the Forum: Michael Kilcoyne (IND), Blackie Gavin (FF), Martin McLoughlin (FF) and John O’Hara (FG).
Published minutes from the Regional Health Forum meetings show that no questions in relation to the letter or the gagging of hospital staff have ever been raised by any of the four Mayo councillors.
Just six weeks after the letter was issued in March last year, Sally Maaz (17) was admitted (wrongfully) to a Covid Ward in the hospital - where she died in tragic circumstances.
Why are the councillors who we pay to hold the HSE to account keeping silence on this matter? It is shameful and unacceptable.
