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The removal of services at St Brigid's Hospital in #CarrickOnSuir is a significant blow to the morale of the town. If you're not familiar with Carrick, a town all too associated with asset stripping, you probably don't understand why feelings are running so strongly about it...
The convalescent, respite and palliative care provided at St Brigid's was literally a walk away for relatives of patients at St Brigid's, whether you lived up the road in Dunbane or down the road in Clairin. The proximity provided solace for patient and relative alike...
When I was 16, a Grandaunt of mine from Kilcash (eight miles away) had an extended stay in St Brigid's. I visited her regularly; my school was only up the road. It's my main experience of the hospital. She didn't want to be there, couldn't understand (while in her mid-70s)...
...why she was "in with all these old people" (!) but she was so grateful for the kindness and the care she benefited from. As her relatives, we were equally grateful. There was a very calm and reassuring atmosphere there. I've little doubt she benefited from that atmosphere...
...my late father suffered a heart attack at the opposite end of Tipperary just over 29 years ago. He was 43, not much older than I am now. He was brought to Nenagh General Hospital and received brilliant care. Nenagh General's 24-hour A&E service is no more...
...and when you lose such services, you generally don't get them back. The same applies for effective Garda Station opening hours or Post Office services. Once the frittering away starts, the powers that be tend to keep chipping until there's nothing left at all...
...it's not as if anyone in Carrick had been clamouring for an increase in services at St Brigid's prior to Covid. And all anyone has sought since is a return to the facility's traditional role, a hardly extravagant request. But once again, Carrick is suffering, I suspect...
...primarily due to geography. With South Tipperary General and UHW on either side of the town along the N24, with greater population centres, Carrick is bearing the brunt yet again. It's less than 20 beds, someone from miles away might say regarding St Brigid's. But that's...
...only part of the picture. Carrick has effectively had the same unemployment rate for 35 years. That's right. Thirty-five years. It has been poorly advocated for in the Dail for successive decades. It now has only two County Councillors for a population of 6,000...
...it has undoubtedly suffered by being at the periphery of the old Tipp South constituency and is now part of the wider Tipp constituency which extends all the way to the border with Galway. Tipp itself has not benefited by being multi-regional either...
...the overall intent of Project Ireland 2040 is admirable. The scope of its ambition is huge. But if centralising all services in regional cities, including those provided in St Brigid's for so many years, where does that leave us when we have one of Europe's largest...
...populations aged 60 and over coming down the line, when I myself (if my health holds up) will be among such a cohort? I was educated in Carrick, I lived just outside Carrick for five and a half years. I have acted, sung and played rugby in Carrick. It's a town I have...
...huge affection for. It's a town whose residents have never sought special treatment. But what they have sought and continue to seek, is fairness. And that is surely not too great an ask.
Here's an old piece I wrote about #CarrickOnSuir and #NewRoss, two towns which have been traditionally underrepresented in national politics. http://www.munster-express.ie/front-page-news/secondary-stories/voiceless-in-the-dail/
