No care service while millions are wasted

THE news that the chaotic and botched PPARS health computerised payment system has cost nearly a quarter of a billion euro is galling for hard-working taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill with nothing at all in return.

However, it is much more distressing for some 200 elderly people in Cootehill, Co Cavan, who cannot avail of a day-care service at their local state-of-the-art health centre all for the want of €250,000 per annum, loose change in the context of Government waste.

What about the scandalous cost of €2 per visit for relatives and friends who wish to provide comfort and company for the sick of Cavan hospital?

While parking meters around the country shut down by 6pm most evenings and at the weekends, the barriers in Cavan hospital remain firmly down at night time and on Sundays.

Furthermore, parents conveying a sick child from far-flung corners of the county to the Doctor on Call (DoC) after-hours should remember to bring change for the stealth tax barriers which one must pass to the DoC facility.

And while civil servants cannot be blameless either, the buck stops with the ministers - the CEOs - and of course the chairman of the board, our Taoiseach.

They have failed, so it’s time to bring about change.

Sean McKiernan (Jnr)

Trinity Bungalow

Virginia Road

Bailieboro

Co Cavan