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GARDA REFORM WAS the topic of conversation at cabinet this morning, and that was on the agenda for Leaders’ Questions today.
Opposition deputies also pushed the Taoiseach on the ongoing Bus Éireann strike, and the case of a vaccination that may have given some who received it debilitating diseases.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin up first.
He starts with the Bus Éireann dispute.
People are “frustrated, annoyed and angry” with the government, he says.
“If this was Dublin, it would have been sorted now” is what people are saying, according to Martin.
Bus Éireann is not getting its fair share from funding, the Fianna Fáil leader says.
The bottom line is that Bus Éireann gets a lower subsidy per passenger than Dublin Bus does, he adds.
“Why won’t the government make an intervention on the policy front that would facilitate the resolution of this dispute?” he asks.
“I condemn the wildcat strike,” Taoiseach Enda Kenny begins.
The Minister has intervened in respect of policy decisions, Kenny adds.
He also tells Martin that: “You say it’s possible to cross-subsidise it, but my information says different.”
The place to settle the issues is at the table, facilitated by the WRC.
“Minister Ross has been more than encouraging,” the Taoiseach says.
An anomaly has arisen in the subsidy paid to two semi-state companies, the Fianna Fáil leader responds.
Dublin Bus got 11 times more than Bus Éireann, he claims.
Martin says “if the government was serious about this, there are ways and means of contributing to solving this dispute”.
“There’s an obligation this gets solved quickly.”
The Taoiseach says that the workers won’t bear the brunt of this by themselves, once the unions agree a deal at the WRC.
“The government is expanding the public bus service in rural Ireland through expanded PSO funding,” he says.
“In terms of policy, these are matters the Minister has been very active on.”
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald up next, and she wants to talk about An Garda Síochana.
She says there’s a “detached arrogance” at the top of garda management.
“People are left scratching their heads” as to why Nóirín O’Sullivan is still the Garda Commissioner, McDonald claims.
She accuses the government of refusing to act decisively.
No inquiry will be satisfactory while the commissioner remains in charge, she adds.
“Her position is untenable.”
“Are you okay that this may not be the end of the garda scandals?” she asks the Taoiseach.
This is all about trust, confidence, respect and pride, according to the Taoiseach.
“The government treats this with the utmost seriousness,” he says.
He says that Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald briefed cabinet this morning.
The cases have been referred to the independent Policing Authority, he says.
The Tánaiste will work with opposition TDs to conduct this reform of An Garda Síochana, Kenny says.
“You will have involvement,” he tells McDonald.
He says he has received the final report from the Fennelly Commission.
It is extremely lengthy.
“I’m statutorily bound to give that to the Attorney General,” he says.
Its publication will come shortly.
“You are still wedded to the old way of doing things,” McDonald accuses Kenny.
She says Micheál Martin fears an election and that is why Fianna Fáil won’t take a stronger stance against the Garda Commissioner.
“The position of the Garda Commissioner is untenable. Sin é.”
Work is being done in exceptional circumstances in many places around the country, according to Kenny referring to An Garda Síochana.
“You focus on one person only. It’s a lot bigger than this,” Kenny says.
Clare Daly is next.
She says it’s a shame Kenny didn’t have such an appetite for change to the gardaí a few years ago.
But, she wants to talk about a young teen who suffers from narcolepsy.
“He wasn’t born with it. This was an avoidable catastrophe,” she says.
He received the vaccine for swine flu. The HSE distributed a “dangerous, untested” drug, Daly claims.
“Ireland gave GSK full indemnity” for this drug”, Daly says. She wants to know why this “unsafe” drug was distributed among the general public.
The Taoiseach thanks Daly for bringing the matter forward.
The Minister for Health has sanctioned the go-ahead for a sleep disorder centre at St James’s Hospital.
You make very strong claims here about Pandemrix, he says.
He says Daly’s claims deserve immediate analysis.
Daly replies that this is a “massive public health scandal”.
Health authorities were aware of the dangers around this drug, Daly says.
She says there are 80 people so far diagnosed with difficulties after being given this drug.
Rural independent TD Michael Collins is next.
He’s talking about the disabilities’ protest that took place last week.
He says there are many difficulties for parents of children with disabilities.
“There are a huge number of people in Cork and Kerry driving their children to disability day centres for four hours a day,” he says.
He wants transport services for disability organisation more synchronised, and more funding to be provided.
Kenny says that Minister for Disabilities Finian McGrath takes his role very seriously, and his department do great work.
“I suggest you talk directly to the Minister”, Kenny suggests.
McGrath has a pretty serious budget, he adds.
These services should be available already, Collins responds.
People with disabilities over the age of 18 are not entitled to this transport service, he says.
“We have situations where buses are travelling with just one or two people on them.”
Set out your problem, and set out your proposition, and tell it to the Minister, Kenny reiterates.
Ebola, Isis beheadings, planes going missing or being shot down, hundreds of lives being lost for countless of underhand reasons both in this country and overseas. I think I’ll build an ark
All steaming from the spineless chickensh*t sitting in the Oval Office.
Blaming Obama for Ebola?!
No everything other than Ebola. Worst President in History. At least Bush had some cojones.
You said everything. You lied, just like Obama!
Seriously Darryl, Bush has balls??? Tiny little shrew balls maybe, at a stretch….
Balls? I have balls! Now watch this drive.
Sean
It will contravene EU health & safety regulations, never be allowed.
I think I might book a ticket on your ark, Sean!
2 of everything. Except of course the political species
Guide to Treating and Preventing Ebola…
http://www.arhf.nl/docs/Amma4Africa_Ebola_Manual_Aug_2014_en.pdf
Maybe if he had been treated the FIRST time he presented at the hospital with symptoms he may have had a better chance.
RIP.
And obviously RIP to the thousands of African citizens who have met their fate with this terrible disease…. lest anyone think i am concerned only with westerners.
I doubt anyone cares what Mary Carey cares about.
Jesse Jackson would turn up to the opening of an envelope
You mean African American envelopes
Start restriction air travel between infected countries and European countries only way to controll the situation ! You don’t need to be in government to realise what the best solutions are
Ireland has no air travel to or from Africa. The recent epidemiological studies show France has a 75% chance of Ebola spreading there, UK 50%, Ireland it’s 5% because of that lack of indirect flights. The US has already started exit and entry screenings by ICE border guards.
We can’t terminate air travel or sea travel to the countries because their economies would collapse without trade and aid, followed my political collapse, and the virus spreading exponentially. Stopping casual travels with non-essential business is just a band aid really. There are 600 people from Africa flying into the UK every day and most of that is NOT casual stuff it’s business, trade or aid related. Even shutting off nonessential travel there is still thousands of people moving back and forth.
The best way to be ready is to have entry and exit screening and have proper protocols in place for hospitals and isolation, and we have already got that set up. We’ve had a National Pandemic Plan for years, we have stockpiles of adult and pediatric preparations of all the antivirual drugs and stockpiles of protective suits.
Locking down an entire country is not possible.Look at the US border with Mexico for example.Do you honestly think that this guy wouldnt have gone to a neighboring country and caught a flight from there.Short of stopping all flights from Africa landing it’s not possible.The best that can be done is to try and detect it at the airport.
Ryan,that actually makes it worse. Because if someone is coming to Ireland from West Africa they have to take at least two flights and come in contact with a lot of people. Someone in an earlier article said it’s relatively easy to retrace the steps of someone who is infectious, but this assumes that the person has perfect recall of all those he/she has met over the past number of days and that they have no reason to hide details of their journey.
This is the link to an article I read in the Guardian today. It’s worth reading in its entirety:
http:// http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak
“Peter Piot was a researcher at a lab in Antwerp when a pilot brought him a blood sample from a Belgian nun who had fallen mysteriously ill in Zaire
‘In 1976 I discovered Ebola – now I fear an unimaginable tragedy’
‘In large cities – particularly in chaotic slums – it is virtually impossible to find those who had contact with patients, no matter how great the effort. That is why I am so worried about Nigeria as well. The country is home to mega-cities like Lagos and Port Harcourt, and if the Ebola virus lodges there and begins to spread, it would be an unimaginable catastrophe.’ ”
I agree with you Ryan that we should have rigorous screening of people coming in to the country, and not just those whose point of origin in West Africa.
Apologies for the length of this comment.
I’m not saying we should not take major precautions. I actually wish the govt would let the emergency managers do more, I’d terminate all travel to and from the region indirectly to Ireland, since it would leave no real footprint on them economically for us cos were so small, I’d ask the HSE and OEP to come up with an Ebola specific pandemic plan, I’d distribute the protective gear from the warehouses to the hospital basements so it’s ready to hand.
It’s easy to retrace someones steps through contact tracing if you know what major waypoints they’ve hit, they might not remember every single person they touched against but if you know they were at the airport you can run through the CCTV, its harder with pandemic flu but with Ebola they have to exchange body fluids and you do remember who you did that with, if someone bleeds or pukes on you you will remember it.
I’m not trying to say it’s not a threat, it’s a MAJOR threat, I’m just trying to keep the threat in proportion. The odds are 5percent of it getting here, that is TINY. People who shared a lift with the Spanish nurse were panicking in Spain, people in the UK were canceling school visits by a guest speaker from Africa because they were Afraid she might infect their kids, the hysteria is getting really out of hand and someone needs to be keeping the threat in proportion to counter all the people posting hype and conspiracy theories.
Hi Ryan. I’d hazard a guess that way more then 600 people from Africa fly into the UK every day. Maybe you meant 6000? There are several flights a day from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, on at least 3 airlines (BA, SAA, Virgin)….there is a daily flight from Harare, and Windhoek and more than one a day from Nairobi and Mombasa…regular flights from most countries every day…most of these long haul flights….I know that Ebola isn’t present in any of the places I mentioned but just felt it necessary to correct the 600 number. Thanks
Hi again Ryan…whereas Ireland would be in a very good position to treat any Ebola patient in isolation it isnt true that we have stockpiles of adult and pediatric preparations of all the antivirual drugs, one antiviral drug absent from the stockpile is a drug specific to Ebola. Thanks for your comments.
Hi Daniel – Just to correct you, mayybe you didn’t know that there are already restrictions in place which are working……most airlines that had flewn to the affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone) stopped flying months ago…eg British Airways which extended the flight ban and cancelled all flights/bookings up to January 2015. …..in addition all departing (and arriving) passengers are screened at all airports in the countries affected (for the flights that still operate) …. also this is screening is happening in neighbouring countries where there is no infection (eg Accra, Abidjan)….The Ivory Coast closed it’s borders and closed all air and sea links with affected countries.
God help us when this hits Ireland.
Yeah. VPN in from home. Nobody needs to visit me, don’t even ring me. Texting could be dangerous too!! Whatsapp me ok?
Time to start buy your P100 compatible face masks before the panic.
It’s probably not going to hit Ireland Peter, the odds of it getting here are 5%. 80percent of the infections in Africa are a result of death rituals that are not practiced in the west, the other 20percent is the poor hospital set up and lack of proper containment protocols and finally the belief in conspiracy theories that WHO are spreading ebola or it’s not real, you have things like people breaking into quarantined hospitals and looting bloody sheets, no wonder it’s spreading so fast ffsake.
People need to stop listening to quacks and conspiracy theorists and start focusing on objective facts. It’s not airborne, it is hard to spread, and this outbreak has a lower fatality rate than previous ones, and were working on 4 separate vaccines.
People think but we can’t handle the Winter Vomiting Bus how could we handle this, the Norovirus is airborne and aerosolized, it can live on a flip-up bin top for hours and be whooshed into the air from a toilet flush then breathed in, Ebola does not work like that. Outside a human hosts body fluids it dies very quickly, it does not sit on surfaces or float in the air and while it’s theoretically possible to get it from saliva the concentration is not v high and your odds of surviving and inversly proportionate to how many virus particles you take in.
It’s quite simple, if you see sick Africans who are running a major fever and bleeding from the eyes, mouth or broken skin, call for help, short of that you have nothing to worry about.
What about the incubation period, when there are no symptoms, Ryan?
Someone infected with Ebola who is not showing symptoms is not contagious, the first symptoms are a burning fever (above 38.6′C), muscle pain, headaches and sore throat.
These are also the symptoms of many other conditions so the only way Ebola should be considered is if they have been in one of the hot zones (which now includes Spain and the US just to be on the safe side) within the last 21 days.
Ryan
15 year old refugee from liberia quarantined since monday in salzburg…his whole family died from it in liberia….that’s less than 2 hours drive from me.
If he made it over surely there are more in Europe but just not found yet…
God only knows if someone was to take a boat to Ireland and be sick with ebola….vomit in the bathrooms on the toilet for example…how do they trace anyone who has used the same toilets as this person. That person is hardly going to leave a note saying watch out I puked and have ebola.
Checking ports in Ireland is too late…they may have already had contact with Irish people en route and infected them.
Stats mean nothing….it only takes one case to prove them wrong. People need to be prepared and not take the attitude…it will never reach us we are ok.
Russia is making antiviral drug to treat Ebola.
Russia is beginning the production of an antiviral drug it has approved for the treatment of Ebola, a news report said, while a senior World Health Organization official urged stronger international efforts to contain the virus outbreak in West Africa.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-making-antiviral-drug-to-treat-ebola/507286.html
# You better be nice to Valdimir Putin.
Why is Vlad not part of your big conspiracy theory then ? Like to get your villains clear in my head
Frank only believes in western villains.
Valdimir Putin Is certainly on the defensive in this day and age and his patients is very quickly running out with the West’s dirty lies, cheating and warmongering.
The West may criticize Putin on his prompt decision to annex Crimea, but if one digs a little deeper one can see a justification for this. NATO’s made a promise not to advance eastwards going back to the break up of the Berlin Wall, NATO has broken this promise and is now sh**ting on Russia’s doorstep. .
Russia is also wide awake to the fact that the West has been arming Jihad terrorists to the teeth right across the middle east in its effort to destabilize and overthrow governments. Libya, Iraq, and now Syria an Ally of Russia. We can already see the US and its allies futile attempt to attack these so terrorists who are also fighting the same cause (Joke in itself)
Barack Obama is pushing the limit too far and its only a matter of time before Russia will take so much.
If you like the east and detest the west so much Frank then why don’t to move there?
Ablitive
Not a chance in hell that a simple antiviral developed by the Russians for the treatment of influenza and simply a molecular twist on Relenza or Tamiflu is going to do anything against Ebola.
These drugs belong to a class known as neuraminidase inhibitors and are used in the treatment of both Influenza A and B.
I think you will find that this is a Russian boast that was influenced by that other favourite Russian drug called vodka!
David Ronan. What would be the point of moving to Iran or Russia if the Psychopaths in Western powers intend on bombing them to oblivion..
Richard Rodgers, Wait and see what the West comes up with, a damned if you do and damned if you don’t vaccine and may be a microchip implant to finish it off.
The Ebola Vaccine is here. Consult your doctor and get vaccinated today!
What’s ironic in all this is it was actually the Russians who had a real (not a conspiracy theory fantasy) bioweapons programme with BioPrePerat in the 60s-90s they made everything in weaponized form, Smallpox, Botulism, Anthrax the works.
Ryan Carroll .. The tables have turned 180°, its the West that are now playing about with biological weapons. Its all about population control for its rising empire.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm was written as a satire against the corrupt elite of Soviet communism.
The book could now be applied to the West.
Fox News are gonna have a field day with this. At least the Daily Show will be entertaining.
And any other mainstream US cable news station.
Fox asked the CDC administrator yesterday why we don’t just shut down and isolate the affected countries by closing their borders…he actually had to pause for a few seconds in amazement at the stupidity of that question before going on to explain how without open borders no food or medicine is coming in winch would = total anarchy and the virus spreading way more.
No need to shut the African borders just stop all US bound flights from Western Africa, seems like common sense to me. What fox host said this might I ask or did you just pick it up second hand?
Megan Kelly . If you stop all US bound flights from west Africa you also stop doctors, trade missions and businessmen without whom the countries would not function.
If you only stop casual travel that’s only a tiny % of the problem anyway
This guy lied about being in close contact with victims at an airport health screening.He is at least in someway to blame for what happened to him.
Allegedly.
No allegedly about it. Coming from West Africa he would have been asked if he had visited or stayed in an area where there had been cases of Ebola. Do you think they would have just waived him through if he had said yes ?
Its not that I’ve no sympathy, nobody DESERVES the ebola death, nobody DESERVES to have their organs liquify…but I don’t have A LOT of sympaty He lied during his exit screening saying he had not been in contact with ebola patients when he had, and his casual lies put the entire North American continent in danger.
He played with fire and got burned for it. If he had told the CDC/WHO people at the exit screening that he’d been in contact with EBola infected directly (he’d helped transport his landlords infected daughter to hospital) they would have done blood tests on him, found the virus and begun treatment much earlier, he might have got into one of the trials and survived.
So sick of the authorities they had the chance to contain this while it was in Africa they should have put those countries on lockdown nobody in nobody out they shouldnt have brought infected patients out and treated them there its not rocket science just common sense.
Putting entire countries on lock down is not only far from common sense, it’s not really possible.
Yes it is possible they has restricted travel to war torn countries before.
Ebola, not covered under Obamacare.
It seems that Ireland is in love with Obama. Why?
We are perhaps the only country in Europe with a shrine dedicated to him.
Because he is the messiah of course. Given to us to heal the masses and part the rising sea…..I hope you sense the sarcasm in my tone.
Nobody’s in love with him, we just don’t believe in either reactionary right wing nutcases who are so far to the right that Obama looks like the radical left, or conspiracy theorists who think he is a cartoon villain.
By “reactionary” you mean someone who actually reacts, takes action? Sounds like exactly what we need now. The Middle East is in far worse condition now than it was the day Bush left office.
No I mean people so far off the fringe that Obama who is a centrist at best (by Europes standards he’s very conservative) looks like a raving lefty. The middle east is in this condition as a DIRECT result of decisions Geroge Bush made in 2003-2007 period, disbanding the Iraqi armed forces and dumping thousands of weapons trained p___D off men onto the streets, invading without a post-war plan and with less than half the troops the military told him they needed.
This is all on him and history will recognize that.
Obama might be a bad president but Bush will definitely take the prize as the worst president in US history, his deregulation (and Clintons) caused the biggest crash since the great depression, his foreign policy has destabilized the entire middle east, and he destroyed the bill of rights creating a big brother state that is now out of control
And why are people voting down a genuine enquiry?
People are still flying out infected countries now an Australian nurse I been tested for Ebola will people ever learn to stay away from infected countries ,
Guide to Treating and Preventing Ebola… must get some of these…
http://www.arhf.nl/docs/Amma4Africa_Ebola_Manual_Aug_2014_en.pdf
have your say