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PROTESTS AND VIGILS are to take place around Ireland today in the wake of the news of the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar.
The 31-year-old died at University College Hospital in Galway last month from from septicaemia contracted during a miscarriage. She had been refused a termination, her husband Praveen said afterwards.
An investigation is now underway into her death, with the HSE saying today that an international expert has joined the inquiry.
In Dublin, around two thousand people were said to have attended a demonstration, organised by the pro-choice campaign, outside Leinster House on Wednesday night.
Today, a number of protests and vigils are due to take place around the country in response to situation, with some calling for legislation for the X Case.
Dublin
In Dublin, a march and candlelight vigil will take place at 4pm. The organisers said:
People are invited to respectfully honour the memory of Savita and to demand publicly, and together, that enough is enough. Never again should a woman die in these circumstances.
The march will commence at 4pm in the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square. Those assembled will arrive at Merrion Square, where candles will be lit and a co-ordinated minutes silence will be held in solidarity with vigils in Galway and London at 5.20pm in remembrance of Savita Halappanavar. Attendees are encouraged to bring candles.
The groups taking part include: Choice Ireland, Action on X, Irish Choice Network, Cork Women’s Right to Choose, Irish Feminist Network, Feminist Open Forum, Irish Pro Choice Campaign, National Women’s Council of Ireland, and RAG.
Galway
In Galway City, a vigil will be held for Savita today at 5pm, in Eyre Square. A large turnout is expected. Galway Pro-Choice has put forward four demands in relation to the current situation with abortion in Ireland:
We must legislate on the X Case immediately; Minister Reilly must instigate a fully independent public inquiry now; the expert group report should be released to the public immediately; the only way to safeguard the health of pregnant women in Ireland is to guarantee free, safe, and legal abortion for all women.
Other vigils and protests:
In Sligo, a march for women’s right to healthcare and choice will take place on O’Connell St at 4PM, meeting at the GPO end.
A vigil will take place at the Town Hall in Kilkenny at 4pm today for Savita Halappanavar. A vigil will take place in Carlow at 4pm at the Liberty Tree for Savita Halappanavar. A show of solidarity with Savita will take place at Ennis in O’Connell Square at 5pm today.
A vigil/protest will take place at 4pm at the Irish embassy in London (17 Grosvenor Place, London) to show support for women.
In Limerick, a protest will take place at 3pm calling for legislation for the X Case. In Clonakilty, a vigil will take place at 5.30pm in Astna Square.
In Letterkenny, Donegal, a march will take place at 3pm today, leaving from Market Square. In Cork, a protest march was held yesterday.
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Absolutely disgraceful treatment of people under going life saving treatment, Simon Harris should be ashamed of his policies targeting those with so much worry and ill health.
@Honeybee: They’ll soon be sending in the security firms from the North to collect
@Honeybee: they could just pay?
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: have you not heard? Everything should be free. Everything.
@Honeybee: so if you have cancer you don’t have to pay your bills? No evidence of these non-payers enaging with the HSE and claiming hardship which would get a sympathetic ear. Debt collector letters are only issued where people don’t engage but cue the usual clueless outraged here
@Seamus G: I have no problem paying for my chemo. I had 6 weeks of it but when I was on week 4 I got a call from the debt collector so please don’t think cancer patients don’t want to pay but believe me when you have chemo once a week and radiation 5 days a week paying a bill comes way down on the list of stuff to do. All we ask is a little understanding and give us time to pay the bill before we get calls from the debt collector.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: , @ Chin feeyin – People who are being treated for cancer generally have to stop work, especially for Chemo, where are they supposed to find the money to pay for life saving treatment when there is no money coming in from work?
Surely at the very lest these bills should be held back until AFTER the person is able to return to work and earn the money to pay for there life saving treatments – 2 absolute gobshytes, who in your rush to ridicule, completely forget to be human, Fair play lads.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: They have. Their taxes built the hospitals and pay medical personnel, cleaners, administrators and doormen alike. Under a humane form of government, such as one with a socialist aspect, private medicine is optional, since that is not funded by taxes but here, you are likely to get treated by the same medical professionals whether you go with a medical card or private. It’s called eating everyone’s cake.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: You obviously don’t pay attention if someone is receiving chemo most likely they are not working and are very ill adding a cost to that beyond caring. Please don’t make thoughtless statements
I honestly thought cancer care was free in ireland. Im ashamed its not.
@Jonathan Kerr: no hospital treatments are free there is a day rate you pay upto a max of 800 euro per year and they bill you quick once you’re out even if you’re not working.
I’ve even been charged for half a day for a colonoscopy.
You can write it off against the lower rate of tax so you get a bit back that way.
@Jonathan Kerr: it’s abhorrent that state funded hospitals can constitutionally chase fees from citizens. these hospitals are fully owned and operated by the state (with the horrid “ethos” that parisitically infects schools as well), and as such, in lieu of universal health, get their act together to manage themselves on state funds, and be explicitly barred from debt collection.
@ed w: yes, but Medical Card holders pay nothing.
https://www.irishtimes.com/…/medical-cards-what-do-they-give-you-and-how-do-you…
Sep 12, 2017 – The number of medical card holders has grown rapidly in recent years, up from about 1.2 million in 2012 to 1.6 million as of July 2017.
Nearly two million if you add in GP-only cards.
@Gulliver Foyle: what a clueless comment
@ed w: Mary harney with ff brought in this stealth tax it was originally sold as a deterrent to stop drunks coming to a&e should never have being extended to cancer as it causes are prevalent in the environment and hereditary .
@Gerard Heery: actually she didn’t. She brought in the A&E charge of €100. Hospital charges have been there since the 1970 Health Act.
Sadly I went through this during my early days of chemotherapy and can attest to the fact that the added stress was unrelenting. These debt collectors chased me as I waited weeks for the approval of a medical card. Nothing would stop them, phone calls and texts almost daily. I understand they have a role to play in securing monies for the HSE but the lack of compassion and understanding was frightening. To me just another example of the lack of joined up thinking in our Government Services.
@Howard Myers: 100% head up and push over the line with the chemo ,keep pushing for the card that’s what you do in-between sessions of chemo ,let them know your not going away best of Luck and health to you.
@Howard Myers: Sounds nightmarish. Hope you’re doing better now and obtained your card?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Doing OK getting the best of treatment from the world class staff at St. James’s Hospital. Yes got the card………eventually.
Re: Debt Collection agency
Debt collection agencies have no powers in Ireland. They cannot take a person to court, they have to refer back to the creditor if the debtor does not pay up after their approaches. They cannot put stuff on the ICB or affect credit ratings. They are basically a big loud barking dog with no teeth.
If you get a phone call from a debt collection agency, tell them to clear off and hang up immediately. Bin or burn any postal correspondence from them. Do not engage in any way with them. If they harass you call the Gardai.
Better off asking Michael Martin is this what FF supports, because FG survives because FF supports them
This has always been the HSE and Health Boards of Old way of sending out bills
@William Bryan: While it’s disgraceful, and arguably immoral, to hound anyone seriously ill, it’s worth noting that there are also other serious illnesses besides cancer.
I seem to remember Averil Power represented the Asthma Society of Ireland not so long ago, perhaps she could also have a word for those with chronic respiratory conditions forced to pay similar fees.
Re: Debt Collection agency
Debt collection agencies have no powers here. Ignore all verbal and postal correspondence with them. If they harass you call the Gardai.
We can leave the door wide open for alleged asylum seekers, mostly economic migrants put them up in hotels up and down the country and then, on the other hand, hound our own citizens at probably the most distressing times in their lives .absolute thundering disgrace .the government continue to get the priorities all wrong.
@Anthony Gallagher: Agree , When the government used taxpayers money to bail out the banks, pay the bondholders who gambled and lost, allowing the banks to be exempt from paying tax on their profits. Creating a health system the ensures you pay or die. Every worker contributes to the health service, everybody should be entitled to treatment.
Nothing new with this incompetent government…
@dublinsnap: This government is far from incompetent when it comes to looking after FG’s prime interests. Ordinary people have to take “personal responsibility” and “pay their way”. That’s neoliberalism.
In the meantime it’s Free profits for Vulture funds and banks.
Cancer patients don’t automatically get a medical card??
@niamh ryan: medical cards are means tested.
@Chin Feeyin: I always assumed certain illnesses would be exempt
@niamh ryan: MC is means tested.
Absolutely disgraceful i had 3 heart attacks in 2006 was in intensive care for more than a week. When i was allowed to go home, I received a bill for my stay and a few days later the threatening letters started to appear. Not right for this to happen no compassion
In recovery now,and back at work tg,and think i should pay the few quid i owe,they the system got me back working 6 weeks after a transplant,only because im able to pay it now,the people who cant cant,let us be thankful for the service we have,couldn’t fault it.(stem cell)
Since FFG, this country has been run by elitist parasites for elitist parasites.
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