Voters believe Harney can’t fix A&E before election

MARY HARNEY is not expected to get a handle on the crisis in hospital A&E rooms before the next general election, according to an Irish Examiner poll.

In a dismal showing for the Minister for Health, just over two-thirds of voters say they have little or no confidence that she will be able to remove the spectre of overcrowding in A&E rooms, and patients on trolleys, before she has to go before the electorate next summer.

Even more astonishingly, those who might have been expected to talk up her chances of success express similarly grim views with just over half her own party faithful saying they have some or much confidence in Ms Harney’s ability to resolve the crisis.