Family attacks Harney’s legacy

THE family of a woman whose death following a late cancer diagnosis touched the nation has accused retiring Health Minister Mary Harney of leaving a legacy of “broken promises”.

Susie Long died from bowel cancer in 2007 after waiting seven months for a diagnostic test when she became ill in 2005, and her husband and children said yesterday they feel “utterly betrayed” by Mary Harney’s “broken promises”.

Conor MacLiam and his daughter Áine, 22, and son Fergus, 17, said a planned endoscopy unit for St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny is no closer to delivery, while the people of the south-east remain without a hospice — three years and three months after Susie’s death.