St Vincent’s Hospital is a County Issue – Daly

Raising the issue of the diminishing beds at St. Vincent’s Hospital at Kildare County Council Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael said that the issue is not just an Athy one but a county issue

“St Vincent’s Hospital has been providing service to the people of the county for the past 170 years and in recent years we have seen bed numbers diminishing by stealth. The closure of St Camillus’ ward was the only closure which was obvious but continuously the number of beds has been diminishing.

While I am not being critical of the level of care in our private hospitals I am calling on all of the County Council representatives to support our public hospitals which are under threat as more and more step down patients are being directed towards the private sector.

Assurances have been given that the hospital will be protected but indications are that in order for that to happen that there could be a further diminution of bed numbers. This will not be tolerated by the people of Athy and Kildare in general. If the number of patients per ward is to be reduced then we must develop new wards.

Following representation St Vincent’s was last week readded to the list of step down facilities for Naas General having previously been removed. This is to be welcomed but only if beds are available so I am asking Kildare County Council to demand of the Minister of Health that the lost beds are restored to St. Vincent’s Hospital for the sake of the county in general”

Daly praises forward thinking Kildare VEC

Multi denominational and none, inclusive, co-educational and non selective were the terms used by Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael to describe Kildare VECs remit to Kildare County Council this week

Kildare VEC must be congratulated for doing so many things so well. Because of the wide remit of our VECs it is hard believe that it can be expert at all things but it can. From the traditional Second level school to providing PLCs. From evening classes to language support for Non nationals, from community education to adult literacy, from VTOS to Youthreach the VEC is the body which responds to the educational demand of the community and proactively introduced new initiatives.

As public representatives it is important that we support our public education system but as parents we must also take advantage of the VEC schools in offering the best education for our young people.

Never more in our history was there as significant a role to be played by our VECs as now when the enrolment policies of some schools can be divisive and exclusive within our communities

Significant capital investment by VEC and DES in Kildare is to be welcomed with state of the art campuses in Naas and Athy recently completed. The construction of the new IVEA headquarters in Piper’s Hill is a welcome addition and most significantly the development of one of the first community primary schools in the country.

VEC a significant employer in Kildare over 900 on payroll and nearly 5000 second level students alone.

Kildare County Council needs to facilitate the zoning of lands for education to cater for growth in many towns throughout the county. It must ensure the broadband infrastructure is adequate to provide for high speed delivery of broadband connectivity to all schools and Communities. There are still pockets of the county where broadband is still not available and this must be immediately addressed if we are to advance education and the knowledge economy

The Council should take a proactive and positive approach to ensuring speedy granting of planning to education authorities and further ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to support our educational establishments ( roads, sewage, water, traffic control, etc)

Kildare can be very proud of its VEC and must support it to keep it to the fore of education provision within the county said Cllr Daly