Taoiseach hits out at top doctor’s comments

Enda Kenny has launched a personal attack on a senior doctor who spoke out against cuts to maternity services.

The Taoiseach branded comments by Dr Gerry Burke, consultant obstetrician at Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick, as “outrageous”.

The Dáil attack followed warnings by Dr Burke that mothers and babies were being put at risk by the Government’s fast-track retirement scheme, which he said will see almost one quarter of Limerick maternity hospital’s 200 midwives leaving the HSE.