Latest news with #JohnOMahony
Irish Times
26-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Limerick hospital apologises in High Court for baby's death at 16 weeks old
University Maternity Hospital Limerick has apologised after acknowledging it breached its duty of care to a baby boy who died following a delayed diagnosis. The apology came as the infant's mother settled her High Court action against the HSE over his death at 16 weeks old. 'We are deeply sorry for your loss and for the profound sorrow of being denied the opportunity to watch your beloved son grow and thrive,' the hospital said in a letter read to the court. Dr John O'Mahony SC, for the family, said the baby was doing well when he was born at Limerick hospital in January 2021. READ MORE However, when he was two weeks old his condition deteriorated and tests showed he had an E. coli meningitis infection. He was given antibiotics, the court heard. Dr O'Mahony said the baby's condition later deteriorated suddenly and he had a fever. He further deteriorated, requiring intubation and ventilation, the court heard. An MRI scan showed global ischaemia, which involves a reduced blood flow to the brain. The baby received palliative care, but died when he was 16 weeks old. In the letter, Ian Carter, the chief executive of HSE Midwest Acute Services Limerick, offered 'sincere and heartfelt apologies' to the mother and wider family 'for this failure'. The letter, written on behalf of the hospital and its staff, acknowledged a 'breach in our duty of care to your baby which resulted in a delayed diagnosis with devastating consequences'. In the family's case it was claimed there was a failure to take proper action in response to the baby's condition. The family also claimed there was a failure to recognise the baby's obvious signs of sepsis when he was moved to intensive care on February 19th, 2021, and a failure to ensure appropriate antibiotics were administered urgently. The claims were denied. The mother and the child cannot be identified by order of the court. Noting the settlement and the division of the statutory mental distress payment, Mr Justice Paul Coffey extended his sympathy to the baby's mother and extended family.
Irish Times
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Plaque to mark Charles Stewart Parnell's anti-eviction meeting in Co Kerry
A roadside plaque commemorating a large-scale public gathering to hear Charles Stewart Parnell advocate for an end to eviction and the right to own land is to be unveiled on Friday near Killarney . An estimated 3,000 people, most of them tenant farmers at risk of eviction, turned out on a field in Beaufort to hear Parnell, a founder of the Land League, speak on Sunday, May 16th, 1880. The Co Kerry meeting was the biggest such meeting nationally in 12 months and Parnell had arrived by train to Killarney to speak. The meeting was held in Patrick O' Sullivan's field, south of Beaufort Bar. Anne O'Sullivan, daughter of Patrick, later gave an account of how Parnellites canvassed local tenants for a suitable site. READ MORE John O'Mahony, the landlord at the time, who resided in nearby Dunloe Castle – now a five-star hotel – let it be known that any of his tenants who facilitated the meeting would be evicted from his lands. Despite this, her father Patrick O'Sullivan made his field available, Anne recounted. The turnout being so high, O'Mahony allowed the matter to rest. Organiser Padruig O'Sullivan said the idea of the commemoration was to mark the meeting but also to recall the struggle for land and home ownership. Mr O'Sullivan is a descendant of the family that opened its lands to host the meeting. 'We take many things for granted in today's modern world. Parnell's efforts in ensuring that we Irish have ownership of our own lands needs to be recalled,' Mr O'Sullivan said. The gathering took place at Beaufort, Co Kerry, on lands owned by the O'Mahony landlord, resident in Dunloe Castle. Photograph: Don MacMonagle A report of a meeting with Parnell was carried in the Dundalk Democrat on May 22nd, 1880. It details how the 'land meeting' drew 3,000 people who 'assembled to proclaim to the world that the present land laws required a change and to punish the men who attempted to drive the people from their homes (cheers)'. Parnell was described as 'the leader of the Irish people', again to cheers from the crowd. Daniel O'Donoghue, known as The O'Donoghue and then-MP for Tralee, thought the scene of landlord tyranny was the proper place to hold a meeting, the report said. 'Mr Parnell, who was received with vociferous cheering, said it was the largest land meeting he had attended since in the County Mayo 12 months ago. They initiated the land agitation which will swap the vital system of landlordism. The people of Ireland were now united in a great movement – the greatest undertakings that anyone could engage in – the task of obtaining for the people the land of their native country. 'But in this work they were beset by difficulties and dangers of no ordinary character. Famine had come upon the country – the laws the landlords made gave them the right of exacting any rent that they please, of seizing the food upon which the tenant is to rely for his existence in satisfaction of that rent and finally in driving the tenant from his holding if he fails or is unable to pay this rent (cheers)'. The meeting ended with a resolution 'the eviction of occupiers of land for non-payment of rent arbitrarily fixed by the landlord is unjust, subversive of the true interests of the country and calls for the emphatic condemnation of all lovers of justice,' according to the report.
