
‘Fear and distrust': why children's healthcare is in crisis
And that's before the not so little matter of the massive budgetary and time overruns that plague the unfinished national children's hospital.
The body tasked with overseeing the healthcare of the nation's children is Children's Health Ireland.
It was founded in 2019 and in just six years has faced a mounting number of controversies and scandals.
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Questions are now being asked about the ability of CHI to do its job.
And that's a job that will get all the more complicated when the children's hospitals, each with their own culture and way of doing things, have to merge under one roof when the new hospital opens.
CHI is funded by the HSE and answers to it, so what role does the State's healthcare body play in all this? And what is Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill going to do as CHI lurches from crisis to crisis?
Irish Times health correspondent Shauna Bowers explains.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Monica Seles faces yet another challenge: living with an autoimmune disease
For several years, one of the great tennis champions of the modern era has existed as a kind of ghost. Monica Seles won nine Grand Slam tournament titles, seven of them before her 19th birthday. With her two-handed groundstrokes from both sides and her ability to paint lines from anywhere, she defined the term 'phenom'. She spent 91 consecutive weeks at No 1, playing 34 tournaments in that time. She reached the final in 33 of them. In April 1993, Seles and Steffi Graf were duelling for supremacy at the top of the sport when a fan fixated on Graf stabbed Seles at an event in Germany . She came back from over two years of physical and mental turmoil and promptly won another Grand Slam tournament title, even as the place where she displayed her tennis skills no longer felt safe. Seles, in a word, reset, while carrying the weight of what had happened. She retired from tennis in 2008, continuing to play exhibitions alongside other luminaries, including John McEnroe and Chris Evert. She played regularly, mentoring younger players. READ MORE But since 2019, Seles (51), who was born in Yugoslavia, has largely disappeared from public view. Around that year, she started experiencing double vision and extreme weakness in her arms and legs. She would see two balls coming at her on the tennis court instead of one. 'I thought, 'okay, just push through it',' Seles said in a video call from her home in Florida . 'But a couple of instances happened when – on court and in daily life – I realised there was something going on.' After a time, she sought medical advice, which was not easy to come by as 2019 turned into 2020 and the Covid pandemic began. Her doctor referred her to a neurologist. After two years of tests and scans, she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, or MG, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects 150 to 200 people per million worldwide. The immune system attacks the neuromuscular junction – the pathway through which nerves and muscles communicate. Monica Seles was a generational talent who won seven Grand Slam titles before her 19th birthday. Photograph:Its symptoms, which include the double vision and muscle weakness Seles experienced, can come in phases, making an accurate diagnosis hard to obtain. 'Patients can present with fatigue and then healthcare providers have no idea what to do with that,' Beth Stein, director of neuromuscular diseases at St Joseph's Health in New Jersey, said in an interview. What ensues is a kind of reverse scavenger hunt, where physicians conduct a series of tests that eliminate mortal threats such as brain tumours. Antibody tests can confirm MG, but some patients do not possess them. 'When I first got my diagnosis, I'd never heard of it in the news or from anybody else,' Seles said. For Seles, MG has brought on another reset — the process tennis players go through from point to point, game to game, set to set and match to match throughout their careers. Her return to competitive tennis after her stabbing came at the 1995 Canadian Open. She won the title, losing 14 games along the way. She lost a titanic US Open final to Graf before resetting again to win the Australian Open in 1996. The process, in the micro and macro, defined her career and, to some extent, her life. 'After coming out from my former country to the IMG Academy, I had to totally reset,' she said. Monica Seles in action during the 1996 Australian Open final against Lindsay Davenport, her sole Grand Slam win after returning from a 1993 stabbing attack. Photograph:'When I became number one, it was a huge reset because everybody treats you differently. Then obviously when I got stabbed, that was a huge reset. And then when I was diagnosed, it was a huge reset. 'The day-to-day part of managing it, depending on my symptoms, is really adjusting, you know. I think anybody else who has myasthenia gravis knows it's a continuous adjustment.' Some days, Seles can play tennis and pickleball and walk her dogs. She makes sure to play with people who understand what she is living with. Still, 'some days are very extreme,' she said. [ Johnny Watterson: Don't cast Emma Raducanu as the villain in crying-child debate Opens in new window ] That can be hard to take for a world-class athlete. Sports are a part of her DNA and Seles wondered who she would be if she was not able to train and compete. Again, she drew on her experiences in tennis and some of the challenges she has faced in life. 'After my stabbing, I had to deal with that internally for quite a few years to process it, and my MG diagnosis was kind of very similar,' she said. 'I had to understand my new normal of day-to-day life, what I can do workwise and different things.' She would like to do some television commentary. She has done some previously, and loved it. 'I personally love listening to Chrissy, obviously,' Seles said of Chris Evert, 'because she can cover so many different generations and the expertise. She has so much life experience, which I think for the younger generation is so important to hear.' Indeed, she does. Still, there may be no one in tennis who has more life experience than Seles. — The New York Times 2025 The New York Times Company


Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Heather Humphreys v Sean Kelly: Strengths and weaknesses of rival Fine Gael candidates
Heather Humphreys Who is she? She retired in November 2024 after 13 years in the Dáil, 10 of which she spent as a senior minister. Born in 1963, she lives in Newbliss, Co Cavan, and was a bank official and credit union manager before becoming a TD. She is a Presbyterian. Humphreys had an unsteady start as the new minister for arts in 2014 after being catapulted into the role from the backbenches by then-taoiseach Enda Kenny. Her political naivety showed in her poor handling of a controversy over the party's backing of a Donegal businessman and Fine Gael activist in a byelection to fill a vacancy in Seanad Éireann. Despite having no experience in the area, John McNulty was appointed to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art so he could show he was a qualified person for the Seanad's cultural panel. It was a ready-up, and Humphreys, as arts minister, had to deal with the flak. She floundered in the early interviews. READ MORE She learned a lesson from that and never repeated the mistake, being careful and prepared in all subsequent public interviews. Over time, Humphreys became an indispensable ally to three taoisigh: Kenny, Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris. Her ministries were in areas where she had a strong suit. She was minister for enterprise during Brexit and had to work to ensure the North-South hard border did not re-emerge. She was minister for social protection during Covid. Her other brief in rural and community affairs saw her visit virtually every community in the country. Strengths Humphreys is one of the few Fine Gael politicians who is popular across party lines. Her time in the rural affairs brief has made her a familiar figure in virtually every hamlet in the State. That popularity is reflected in the fact that three Independent Ministers – all from the Fianna Fáil gene pool – have backed her. They are Michael Healy-Rae, Seán Canney and Noel Grealish. Fine Gael candidates have not traditionally had a broad appeal, but there is hope that Humphreys, like Mairéad McGuinness, can change that. That she is a border politician and member of a minority religion would be a boon for North-South relations. From a republican perspective, she was the minister who oversaw the successful Decade of Centenaries, including the commemoration of the 1916 Rising. Potential weaknesses Opposition parties have zeroed in on her role in Enda Kenny's 'austerity' government and her policies when minister for social welfare that affected people with disabilities. She told two reporters from the Ditch to f*** off outside her constituency office. That is similar to Michael D Higgins using an expletive during a radio row with a right-wing American commentator, when he was still a TD. It's not something that will affect her chances. She would be seen by others as an old-school, establishment and veteran Fine Gael grandee even though she is 10 years younger than Seán Kelly, and six years younger than Catherine Connolly. Having had an antagonistic political relationship with Sinn Féin during her Dáil career, Humphreys would need to convince its supporters she would represent them while not sharing their views. She is associated with rural Ireland and may struggle to attract non-Fine Gael votes in Dublin. Her Irish language skills are poor. Possible political banana skin? No particular skeletons in the cupboard. She is seen as a 'safe pair of hands' and is unlikely to take risks or push boundaries in the same way Higgins has done. Some voters may look for more 'vision' for the presidency and find her to be too conventional a candidate. Seán Kelly Who is he? Seán Kelly is now 73 but the Kerryman is still an energetic presence in Irish politics. A former schoolteacher in St Brendan's Killarney, he came to national prominence as a GAA administrator, first in Kerry and then nationally before making the transition into politics. He has been involved in GAA administration since his 20s, first in Kerry, then in Munster. He was elected president of the GAA in 2003, the first person from Kerry to hold the office. His greatest achievement during his term was overseeing the change to Rule 42, which prohibited the playing of non-Gaelic games in GAA stadiums. It paved the way for rugby internationals and soccer internationals to be played in Croke Park from 2007. [ The presidency is not a Rose of Tralee contest for over-35s Opens in new window ] Fine Gael made a number of approaches to him before he accepted an invitation to stand for the party in the European elections in 2009. It followed a trend of parties, particularly Fine Gael, seeking high-profile candidates outside conventional politics to become candidates. His Fine Gael EU parliamentary colleagues Mairéad McGuinness and Maria Walsh came into politics in the same way. Kelly's candidacy put some noses out of joint internally in Fine Gael. Simon Coveney had been elected to the parliament in 2004 but stood down in 2007, being replaced by Colm Burke. Supporters of Burke were resistant to a two-candidate strategy. In the event, Kelly finished second to Brian Crowley, winning almost 20 per cent of the vote. He has performed strongly in the three subsequent elections. Strengths? Kelly's great strengths are as an organiser, networker and communicator, as well as his willingness to travel far and wide. He is a very active politician in Brussels and the constituency. His extensive GAA experience, especially in Munster, has given him a strong base and network of support, outside of Fine Gael. He is a fluent Irish speaker and often speaks as Gaeilge in parliament. He has had a special interest in energy policy. Weaknesses? He could be considered too Munster. While amassing an impressive 123,000 votes in last year's European election, his appeal outside his southwest base is limited. Having spent his entire career as an MEP, it has put him at a disadvantage with parliamentary colleagues based in Leinster House, who would have closer connections to Heather Humphreys. Both of those factors are reflected in his struggle to reach the threshold of 20 parliamentary nominations, where most of his backers are Munster-based. Having demonstrated in his GAA career that he is a moderniser, he is nevertheless seen as a traditional Fine Gael politician in terms of outlook. Possible political banana skin? Some controversies from his time in the EU parliament. He was one of four Fine Gael MEPs, including Mairéad McGuinness, who voted against a non-binding motion in parliament that proposed increasing, improving and better organising search-and-rescue missions for migrants and refugees setting out in boats from North Africa to cross the Mediterranean. He defended the stance saying that, under the proposal, people traffickers could have gained access to information being shared by rescuers. 'It would lead to more lives being lost and more money for people smugglers who would now have carte blanche to do what they like,' he said at the time.

Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
State to levy fines on drone operators for breaches of new regulations
The State will levy fines on drone operators for regulatory breaches as part of a new framework to guide regulation of the sector published on Wednesday. The National Policy Framework for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) – commonly called drones – sets out a set of 16 actions under the new framework announced by the Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien. Mr O'Brien said the field of UAS presents 'exciting opportunities for business and the public sector to boost productivity and improve service provision' but noted that the 'rapid pace of expansion' of its usage has left communities with 'real concerns and uncertainty'. He said that the framework would be a 'living document' in order to keep pace with the evolution of the sector and had been informed by consultation with the public and the drone industry. READ MORE As part of the framework, the Department of Transport will introduce fixed charge offences for breaches of drone regulations. Responsibility for the implementation of these fines, will fall on an 'inter-agency mechanism' established between the Irish Aviation Authority, An Garda Síochána and the Data Protection Commission, which will investigate drone offences. The Irish Aviation Authority will train members of An Garda Síochána to enforce the legislation for the sector, while the Garda will publicise the conviction and enforcement actions relating to these offences where possible to act as a 'deterrent'. 'I don't think the Department of Finance have any respect for the tourism industry' Listen | 41:44 A steering group has been established to develop a national plan for the implementation of 'rules of the road' for unmanned aircraft traffic management, dubbed U-space by the sector, in Irish airspace. A working group on UAS geographical zones – restricted airspace for drones – will also be created to 'develop transparent processes and procedures' and to aide the 'integration of UAS into our airspace and the impact on society and the environment'. 'Concerns in respect of privacy, safety, security, and the environment (including noise) will need to be mitigated in order to support societal acceptance of a UAS services sector in Ireland,' the framework says, while 'public buy-in and support for UAS technology is hard won and easily lost.' The chief executive of Manna, the leading Irish drone delivery company, Bobby Healy, said the company welcomed the publication of the framework. 'This is a pivotal moment by establishing a clear, forward-looking regulatory foundation, the Government has laid the groundwork for a safe, innovative, and globally competitive drone economy,' he said. He said the policy signals that Ireland is 'ready to lead in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) innovation, attract investment, and foster high-tech job creation – powered by responsible regulation and collective ambition.' Mr Healy said 'the Government has also signalled its intention to support the infrastructure needed for drone services to thrive.' Labour Party Dublin West councillor John Walsh said the Government had stalled the framework for three years and response was 'not only belated but inadequate' and said it focuses on promoting commercial opportunities whiling paying 'only lip service to genuine public concerns'. He described the public consultation as 'ludicrous' and suggested it was a 'box ticking exercise'. 'Every stakeholder seems to have had their say, other than members of the public who will be directly impacted by commercial drone flights.'