Orla's appeal for help should make Harney and Drumm ashamed
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The voice of Orla Tinsley on the radio should make Mary Harney and Brendan Drumm squirm.
Don't get me wrong -- the articulate, passionate, intelligent young woman makes for gripping listening for the rest of us.
She's the person who, more than a year ago, used words to paint a graphic picture of just how appalling facilities for people with cystic fibrosis are in this country.
Exploring
She told how CF patients fear going into hospital because there's a real chance they'll come out worse than when they went in.
Orla, like any college student , has enough to be doing with study, exploring new interests, meeting new friends, without having to campaign for what should be a right for people with a dreadful, life-threatening condition.
We though she'd be able to get on with her life -- and very precious every minute is too as Orla herself has CF -- once the HSE set to work on providing the absolutely essential single rooms needed for CF patients at St Vincent's hospital in Dublin. They agreed to it after a campaign in which Orla played a vital role.
But no, the cutbacks have hit and, surprise, surprise, the plan for proper facilities for CF sufferers has had to be put on hold.
Oh, some single rooms have been built, but not nearly enough.
So Orla was back on Liveline on Friday with the sort of powerful stop-what-you're-doing radio that Joe Duffy often produces.
Notoriously
Two previous contributors to the show on the subject could not speak out -- Louise Cooney and Heather Dolan have died since their interviews with Joe. (Ireland has a notoriously high incidence of CF and a notoriously low life-expectancy for sufferers).
But Orla spoke eloquently and many listeners would have shared her anger, frustration and fear.
And if the Minister and the head of our health service were listening, they should be ashamed of themselves.
- Sinead Ryan
