Mr. Lawlor said: “The loss of these beds has led to elective surgery places being cut, with patients having treatment postponed and being pushed back onto the waiting list. These lists are already unacceptably long. This move will mean more stress and worry for patients and their loves ones, and could potentially lead to lives being lost. And this is just one example in a brutal swathe of attacks on health services in the Belfast Trust area, thanks to the Assembly’s agenda of cuts.”
“The Socialist Party has been campaigning against these cuts on the streets. We are hearing horror stories from health workers, and there is huge anger in the community on these issues. We’ll be doing our bit to help ordinary people fight back. Again, we call on Councillor Tom Hartley, who sits on the Belfast Trust’s Board of Directors, to explain why these cuts are necessary.”
Mr. Lawlor also refuted the Trust management’s suggestion that the closure of the Elliot Dynes Rehabilitation Unit would not have an impact on services to patients, stating: “There are currently 48 beds at Elliott Dynes, which is a purpose-built unit for rehabilitation. After its closure, there will only be 14 beds for this service, based on general wards without the necessary facilities. And there is no indication that any provision is being made for community-based services. We challenge the Trust management to make public the details of any such provision. In reality, two-thirds of the service is being cut.”
‘It’s only €2 per week.’ Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, was speaking on RTE’s Six One News on Tuesday about the new Household Tax which the Fine Gael/Labour Party Government had agreed at Cabinet earlier in the day. Then in that interview of a few minutes he repeated four more times, ‘It’s only €2 a week.’ Had Hamlet been listening, he might have declared, ‘The Minister doth protest too much.’
Across Europe governments are pursuing the same policy of savage cuts
According to the Police Federation of Northern Ireland, dissident republican groups have been responsible for carrying out an average of two attacks a day since the beginning of the year. These attacks range from high profile car bombings targeted against the police and army to so-called punishment shootings in Catholic working class areas. Regardless of how “successful” they are in the attacks they carry out they have nothing to offer but a return to sectarian killings.