Naughten slams further rehab unit delays

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Deputy Denis Naughten says a Rehab Unit for Roscommon Hospital which was first promised over a decade ago has been further delayed.

The Independent TD says the proposed 25-bed regional rehabilitation unit at Roscommon University Hospital won’t even be considered again until later this year.

Deputy Naughten has slammed the HSE over the latest delay for a project which first received government backing over a decade ago, after the closure of Roscommon A&E Unit in 2011. He said this week that plans for the unit, which would act as an outreach facility for the National Rehabilitation Unit in Dun Laoghaire, were put on hold since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 and won’t be considered again until later this year.

“This admission by the HSE that it has long-

Fitzmaurice on election expenses row ‘shenanigans’

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Local TD Michael Fitzmaurice has branded the recent row over historic election expenses as ‘shenanigans’ and says he believes the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) should be allowed to do its job.

Deputy Fitzmaurice was speaking on the political fallout following former Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s failure to declare some poster-linked expenses relating to his 2016 and 2020 General Election campaigns and Sinn Féin’s failure to declare certain 2016 expenses.

fingered Roscommon’s rehabilitation unit is not the first time this project was delayed,” he said. “Back in 2016 I discovered that the funding for the unit had been dropped from the capital plan even though it had been on the HSE list 12 months earlier”.

The TD said despite commitments in 2011, the HSE “continues to find reasons to delay the planning for the project”. He said further delays to the project were completely unacceptable.