On 23rd May the Save Our Lady’s Hospital campaign held a protest at ward closures at the hospital. Over 200 people turned out in support of the protest calling for a reversal of the decision.

Councillor Joan Collins, (People Before Profit Alliance candidate in the Crumlin area), said “It is an outrage that the HSE spent €17m on private advisors and spindoctors last year while it will not provide the money to protect our childrens’ health. It is a disgrace that because the State’s largest children’s hospital will not be open for our children this summer. Wards and operating theatres are to be closed because of a €9.6 million short fall yet nearly €17 m is spent on advisors. Spending on advisors has been cut by €150,000 in the last year but Our Lady’s is to have a cut of nearly €10 million.”

Click HERE to watch Councillor Joan Collins of People Before Profit speak about the problem and offers some solutions.

Click HERE to watch Theresa Shallow speaking on Saturday 23rd May at a protest outside Our Lady’e Hospital in Crumlin. Theresa is a co-founder of Save Out Lady’s Childrens Hospital Campaign.

FOR ALMOST A DECADE, Tim Stevens has worked as a nurse at the Sacred Heart Hospital, providing residential care for Roscommon’s older citizens.

A dedicated health professional, Tim knows what it takes to raise standards and improve services. He understands the suffering that cutbacks cause.

Tim is standing as your People Before Profit candidate because he firmly believes that together we can change our society for the better.

THE PROBLEM: SYSTEMIC FAILURE
The centralisation of government in Kildare Street ensures that local council proposals to meet current economic challenges, howsoever laudable, represent no more than a shifting of the deck-chairs aboard the Titanic. Centralisation overburdens national decision-making, weakening the government’s capacity to decide national policy whilst simultaneously depriving local councils of the authority to determine local priorities [See The Barrington Report (1991)].

CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT
Now is the time to challenge decision-making based on ‘friends, family and favours’. In order to meet the current dilemmas facing our society, local government in Roscommon requires real participation. To this end, Tim stands for:
· regular public meetings with popular involvement in all council decisions
· a directly elected Mayor with a cap on the salaries of public officials