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Irish Post
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Post
Irish healthtech firm partners with NHS trusts to improve radiology services
AN Irish healthtech firm will partner with three major NHS trusts to improve access to radiology services for their patients. xWave Technologies has agreed the partnership with the trusts in the Greater Manchester region who will use their clinical decision support (CDS) tool to streamline access to medical imaging procedures. Led by the Greater Manchester Imaging Network, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust and the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will all begin rolling out the new scheme, titled GP Direct Access, later this year. It will allow GPs to directly order CT scans of the chest, stomach and hip areas of the body and MRI scans of the brain, in addition to the x-rays and ultrasounds they can already order. Mitchell O'Gorman, CEO at xWave (Pic: Nick Bradshaw) The software provides guidance to doctors in ordering the most appropriate scan for patients as it integrates with the Royal College of Radiologists' iRefer guidelines. 'We're incredibly excited to work with such forward-thinking trusts to deliver clinical decision support at scale,' xWave Technologies CEO Mitchell O'Gorman said. 'At a time when radiology waiting lists are growing and workforce shortages are intensifying, tools like ours can help trusts deliver faster, smarter, and more equitable access to diagnostic imaging.' He added: 'The rollout of xWave's platform comes as NHS England is making additional funding available for NHS trusts that have not yet adopted clinical decision support solutions. 'This funding is intended to support broader adoption of CDS technologies, such as xWave CDS, to reduce unnecessary imaging, alleviate pressure on radiology services, and ensure patients receive timely and accurate diagnoses.' The technology is set to be rolled out across Greater Manchester throughout 2025 and 2026. 'We are delighted to be introducing this innovative technology across three of our NHS Trusts,' Catherine Walsh, Associate Director of the Greater Manchester Imaging Network, said. 'These tools will not only improve outcomes for patients by ensuring they get the right scan at the right time, but they will also support our hardworking GPs and radiology teams by streamlining workflows and optimising use of limited resources,' she added. See More: Greater Manchester, Ireland, Nhs, Radiology, UK, XWave
Irish Times
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Denis Walsh: This photo strips the camogie skorts controversy back to its absurd essence
Matchday shots of referees and captains have been a staple of sports photography for generations. Once upon a time, those photographs had a certain currency, like a ribbon-cutting ceremony, or communion pictures with the bishop. Newspapers were suckers for ceremony. Those kinds of photographs are rarely published now. Nick Bradshaw's picture from the Kilkenny v Dublin camogie match eight days ago, though, discarded the usual protocols. Absent were the plastic smiles and the prompted handshake between the captains. Instead, the image was arresting and lucid. Bradshaw took the shot from a distance and from behind the referee's back. Nobody is posing for the camera or pretending. You can tell from the expression on the captains' faces and from the referee's hand gesture that their conversation has gone beyond small talk . At the heart of the image, though, the story was stripped back to its absurd essence: a person wearing shorts is telling two other people that they cannot wear shorts. On whose authority? The person in the middle, wearing shorts, enforcing rules dictated by the Camogie Association. READ MORE The hand-me-down photographs of the referee and the captains through the decades never had anything to say, but this one screamed. The picture was a portal into a mixed-up world. What the events of the last week have exposed, yet again, is a dysfunctional relationship between the officer class of the Camogie Association and its elite players. The delegates who voted a year ago to exclude shorts as an option wilfully ignored the wishes of their players, just as they might do again at the emergency Special Congress in a week's time. But this is not an isolated occurrence. It belongs to a pattern. Four years ago, the Camogie Association tried to ram through a fixture schedule against the wishes of its intercounty players. The association's proposal was that the intercounty season would be split in two, with the leagues run off in the spring and the championship staged in the autumn and early winter. It was approved by Central Council and rejected by the players. In a snap poll of its members by the Gaelic Players Association (GPA), 84 per cent voted to boycott the National Leagues if the proposed fixture schedule was adopted. Eight days after the outcome of that poll was communicated to the Camogie Association, its president Hilda Breslin gave an interview to the Irish News. In it, she extolled the virtues of the original proposal. City Hall had no mind to back down. Ultimately, the issue was decided by a referendum of the clubs, which, by a narrow margin, supported the intercounty players. But why should the players have been forced into conflict? At the end of the previous year, 2020, the Women's Gaelic Players Association (WGPA) merged with the GPA. Until that point, however, the Camogie Association had very little truck with the players' representative body and effectively only dealt with them in relation to state funding. At the time, grants from Sport Ireland required a memorandum of understanding to be signed each year by the Camogie Association, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and the WGPA. That was the only context in which the Camogie Association was prepared to do business with the WGPA – when they had no choice. How did that make their players feel? Valued? Heard? No? Two years later, the Camogie Association flew into turbulence with its elite players again, alongside the LGFA. Neither federation had a player charter in place to meet the kind of basic welfare provisions that their male counterparts were guaranteed. [ 'Scant regard' for players: Cork and Waterford express disappointment over Munster final postponement Opens in new window ] [ Girls' participation in sport falls off a cliff in their teens. The skorts row shows why Opens in new window ] Pre-match, sit-down protests started in mid-June. They continued, with incremental escalations, until mid-July. At that point, the Camogie Association and LGFA relented to the pressure. The players charter that was agreed in 2024 is far from ideal, but it was a start. But why should the players have been forced into conflict? Why was there resistance from the officer class? Should they not have wanted the best for their players? The Kilkenny camogie team in shorts ahead of their Leinster semi-final against Dublin on May 3rd. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw The Munster final was postponed on Friday evening, with less than a day's notice. On Saturday afternoon, the Cork and Waterford players issued a joint statement expressing their anger at how the situation was handled. 'As a united group we want to express our bitter disappointment,' it read. 'It shows scant regard for the preparation of players both mentally and physically to be ready for a provincial showpiece to make this decision just 16 hours before the scheduled throw-in … We feel completely let down.' Between camogie's elite players and the game's officer class, the breakdown in trust is absolute. The responsibility for that lies with the game's leadership. In Gaelic games, this is the era of player power. If a manager has 'lost the dressingroom', county boards or club executives won't close their eyes and ears and hope it goes away. A change will be made. If they have a new manager in mind, senior players will be discreetly consulted. That is accepted as best practice now. On Thursday night, members of the Cork county board executive tried to persuade their players to back down The management of the Waterford camogie team changed in recent weeks. The players influenced that turn of events. Now, intercounty players expect to enter partnership arrangements with intercounty managers and county boards. They expect leadership groups within squads and open channels for dialogue. They're not afraid to ask for whatever they feel they need. The days of autocratic rule are gone. Since the fixtures stand-off in 2021, intercounty camogie players have found their voices. It is strange, perhaps, that it took a year from when Congress rejected two motions on shorts for the kind of uprising that we have witnessed in the last week. But there is no turning back now. On Thursday night, members of the Cork county board executive tried to persuade their players to back down and wear skorts in the Munster final. The players refused to buckle. If delegates at Special Congress vote once again to reject shorts as an option, all the indications are that the players will simply not accept it. This is not a battle that the Camogie Association and its officer class can win. It is not a battle that the players can afford to lose. The bolshiness will prevail. It must.
Irish Times
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Skorts controversy: Dublin and Kilkenny camogie players may be sanctioned for wearing shorts
A protest move by Kilkenny and Dublin senior camogie teams at the Leinster Senior Semi Final who wore shorts instead of the regulatory 'skorts' almost saw the match being completely called off. The 30 women, 15 from Kilkenny wearing black shorts and 15 from Dublin kitted out in navy shorts, may still face sanctions after they stood determinedly on the pitch at St Peregrine's GAA club, Blanchardstown as the national anthem started at the kick-off time of 3.30pm on Saturday. The move was part of a campaign to allow women the choice to wear shorts instead of the obligatory skorts, which are skirts with shorts underneath. Referee Ray Kelly from Kildare, told the teams, Kilkenny managed by Tommy Shefflin and Gerry McQuaid for Dublin, that they would have to get changed in skorts or the match would be abandoned. READ MORE [ Skorts: What are they and why are we suddenly talking about them? Opens in new window ] As Amhrán na bhFiann was being played , the Dublin team walked off while the Kilkenny side stayed standing shoulder to shoulder until they too left the pitch after the anthem finished. Confusion reigned with hundreds of onlookers wondering if the game would go ahead or what was happening as many did not notice the women wearing shorts. Several minutes later, the Kilkenny team came back onto the pitch wearing their skorts while the Dublin side seemed to be making their minds up as to what they would do. Players in their camogie skorts during the match. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw About five minutes later the Dubs came out of the changing rooms, now wearing the mandatory skorts. Eventually it was game on. Aoife Lanigan, Kilkenny PRO said she believed that the plucky move by the players will certainly make GAA management take note. But there could still be sanctions to face. 'They could face big fines and the players having their names written in a match report by the referee. The players were making a point for all to see (within the Camogie Association). When all three associations combine, the question will surely be why do women have to continue wearing skorts?' [ Camogie Association 'committed' to players after proposals to allow shorts fail Opens in new window ] Many camogie players find the mandated skirt-short hybrids restricting, but it seems they will be stuck wearing them until 2027 at least. The Camogie Association, the GAA and the LGFA previously revealed that 2027 was the proposed date for their plans for full integration between the three. Camogie players are obliged to wear skorts as under rule 6(b) of the sport's code ordains that playing gear must include a skirt/skort/divided skirt. The issue is that most players hate wearing them, arguing that they restrict their freedom, largely because the shorts are of the 'compression' kind, and they would prefer to wear regular shorts. Kilkenny captain Katie Power in shorts with referee Ray Kelly and Dublin's Aisling Maher again in shorts ahead of kick off. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Secondary school Kilkenny supporter Tara Kelly believes the women 'should be allowed to have a choice of what they wear whether it is skort or short. It should be about comfort not having to be kitted out in one or the other.' Numerous other female supporters agreed with one teenager who did not wish to be named adding: 'I think the shorts look good and the women certainly look much more comfortable'. A number of men did not even notice they were wearing shorts instead of skorts at the start of the game. Kilkenny ultimately picked up a 4-11 to 2-12 victory over Dublin. A Gaelic Player Association (GPA) spokesperson said: 'The GPA fully supports players having the right to choose between shorts or skorts and our position on this will not change. 'It is unacceptable that female athletes are being compelled to wear gear that they believe compromises their performance and well-being. We stand firmly with any player or team who opts for shorts and commend the Dublin and Kilkenny players for asserting that right today. 'These athletes were put in an impossible position — wear what they believe is right or face the prospect of the game being abandoned. As always, players chose to compete. 'We now call on the Camogie Association to listen to players and respect their autonomy'. Last year London club Thomas McCurtains launched its 'Shorts Not Skorts' campaign, and it all came to a head last weekend when two proposals were put to camogie's congress calling for the rule to be changed. Both proposals were defeated. And the issue cannot be up for discussion again until 2027. More than 60 per cent of the delegates vote against Tipperary and Kerry's motion that wanted the skirt/skort/divided skirt wording removed completely and replaced with 'shorts', while 55 per cent said no thank you to Meath and Britain's proposal that shorts be offered as a choice alongside skorts.
Irish Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Muslims locked out of Clonskeagh mosque for Friday prayers issue ‘reopen' plea
A group of Muslims pleaded at a press conference in Dublin on Friday for the reopening of the mosque at the Islamic Community Centre of Ireland (ICCI) in Clonskeagh. They described it as 'the heartbeat of our community'. The centre closed abruptly last week following a bitter internal dispute and an alleged physical altercation at a meeting there on April 19th. The Muslim National School and creche reopened last Monday morning but the rest of the campus – including the mosque, which is the largest in Ireland – remains closed. The group, describing itself as the Muslim Community Ireland, held the press conference at the ICCI gates calling for the mosque to be reopened. It described itself as 'a grassroots, community-led initiative formed to peacefully advocate for the reopening of the Masjid [mosque] at the ICCI'. It represented 'Muslims from across Dublin and beyond, from many backgrounds and walks of life' who 'were united by the shared belief that the Masjid is not just a place of prayer, but the heartbeat of our community'. READ MORE Among 10 speakers at the press conference, group chairman Abdul Haseeb insisted they had gathered 'not in protest, but in pain, and in hope'. They were there 'to raise urgent concerns about the emotional and spiritual impact this closure is having on thousands of Muslim worshippers' as 'for the second Friday in a row, gates of this blessed place remain closed'. The mosque was 'not just a building', it was 'where thousands of us find comfort, strength, and a sense of belonging to help cope with the hardships of daily life.' Its closure 'has left a deep void in our lives,' he said. Expressing gratitude to the Al Maktoum Foundation, 'which has served the Irish Muslim community with generosity and vision for more than 28 years', they were 'shocked by this sudden and total closure, especially in the absence of open communication, consultation, or a timeline for reopening'. He said: 'We understand institutions face challenges. But we ask, humbly and urgently, that the mosque itself not be the price. Our plea is simple, open the Majid for the five daily prayers, for Friday prayers, and for Eid.' This could be done 'while other matters are dealt with separately. 'We respectfully call on all stakeholders, including the respected leadership of the Al Maktoum Foundation and the ICCI management, to engage in open, transparent dialogue with the community.' A petition signed by more than 2,000 people had shown 'overwhelming support' for reopening the mosque and had 'given us the strength to stand here and speak, not just on our own behalf, but on behalf of every person who misses this place', he said. Abdul Haseeb issued an appeal for the centre to reopen. Photograph Nick Bradshaw After the press conference Mr Haseeb explained that 'following the closure of the mosque, members of the community had lots of conversations over what had been happening, separate conversations, in different groups. Eventually we merged into one big group'. They set up a committee and organised a petition. 'We have over 2,400 signatures, and decided to hold a press conference.' They had sent proposals to the Al Maktoum Foundation, 'saying we are prepared to work with whatever needs to be done, whatever your concerns are – we are prepared to work with that ... but the mosque should be open.' The Muslim community 'shouldn't have to experience the closure of the mosque ... It should have been closed, maybe one or two days, maybe a week, this is the second Friday. It should have been open by now,' he said.
Irish Times
02-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Times
Ireland's weather in pictures: Swimmers, sunbathers and those socialising at the Barge
Irish people took to beaches, parks and back gardens this week to enjoy some of the hottest weather on record for this time of the year. A high for the month of 25.9 degrees was recorded at Athenry in Co Galway on Wednesday afternoon, breaking a 40-year-old record, while 17 official Met Éireann weather stations had their warmest April day on record. The forecast is for conditions to stay largely sunny over the weekend and into next week although temperatures will be closer to normal. Here are some pictures taken by our photographers over the last number of days: READ MORE Buí (Bramble) cooling off in the sea, at Sandycove, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph Nick Bradshaw Sup boarders off the coast at Sandycove, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph Nick Bradshaw A swimmer at the Casement statue, Dun Laoghaire on Wednesday. Photograph Nick Bradshaw Ada from Dublin enjoying the sunshine and a book in Dublin's Phoenix Park on Tuesday. Photograph: Alan Betson Enjoying the sunshine in Dublins Phoenix Park. Photograph: Alan Betson Sunrise on Killiney beach, Dublin. Photograph: Collins Cian (6) from Dublin enjoying the sunshine on Dollymount Stand, Dublin. Photograph: Collins From left: students Katie Killarney from Dublin, Penny Morris from Dundalk and Niamh Murray from Dublin enjoying the sunshine on Dollymount Stand, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph: Collins Clarissa and Roberto with their son Henrique (2) enjoying the sunshine on Dollymount Stand, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph: Collins 30/05/2025 People out enjoying the good weather at Vico Co Dublin this afternoon. Pic Stephen Collins/Collins Photos From left, Erin Farrell, Katie Kelly and Orla Murphy enjoying the sunshine on Dollymount Stand, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph: Collins Shirlaine Corrigan from Donaghmede, with her son Fionn (4) on Dollymount Strand, Dublin on Tuesday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill People sitting outside and socialising by the Grand Canal at the Barge Pub in the Portobello, Dublin near Charlemont Street Bridge. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien Saileog (3) Cunnane from Rush enjoying the glorious weather on the South Strand in Rush Co. Dublin 1. Photo: Bryan O'Brien Warm weather by the sea in Sandycove, Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph Nick Bradshaw Walking the dog at King's Inns Park, Dublin, on Monday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Colm Meyler from the boat Carrigeen, one of the approx 16 flotilla boats on the Royal Canal which were heading to Dublin for the Dublin Boat Rally but have were stopped at Confey, near Leixlip on Wednesday. The boaters were told Irish Rail will not be able to lift the Newcomen Bridge (between the Conventions Centre Dublin and Croke Park) , to enable the flotilla to enter the city centre, the Liffey, Grand Canal Dock and back to the Shannon via the Grand Canal. The route around the Royal and Grand Canals via the Liffey is know as the Green and Silver. Photograph: Alan Betson The flotilla boats stopped at Confey, near Leixlip on Wednesday. Photograph: Alan Betson Students from Maynooth College enjoying the glorious weather on the South Strand in Rush Co. Dublin. From left: Kyle Griffin with Ben Blackwell on his back, Daniel Jordan with Teddy Coghlan on his back and at right Kaylan Doyle carrying Rebecca Cannel. Photo: Bryan O'Brien
