Our son has been suspended from the active CHI spinal waiting list twice since November 24.
1st suspension was incorrect,only came to light because we asked his status.
No written notification.
Years of reports, reviews & recommendations, nothing has changed.
@CarrollJennifer
'I blew the whistle on Harvey case at CHI' ✍️ Maeve Sheehan
A former manager at Children's Health Ireland (#CHI) has revealed she is the whistleblower who flagged concerns around Harvey Morrison Sherratt's care.
Anita Little, a former spinal services business manager, who settled a legal employment dispute with CHI last week, told the Sunday Independent: "Yes, I can confirm I am the whistleblower."
She said she made a protected disclosure to the Health Minister after it came to her attention that Harvey who suffered from complex scoliosis and spina bifida, had been inexplicably removed from the waiting list. He died, aged nine. last July.
"I felt the Minister for Health had the power to find out what happened with Harvey" she said. "I was also aware that his parents did not know he had been removed from the waiting list which is just absolutely outrageous."
Standing by the allegations she made in a protected disclosure, which was sent to the minister last August 31, Ms Little said she is willing to testify at the statutory inquiry or any inquiry.
"There are patients at risk due to suboptimal processes, lack of transparency, communication and waiting-list management practices at CHI."
In a statement to the Sunday Independent, Ms Sherratt [@GillSherratt23] said the family still has no answers, two years after Harvey was removed from the waiting list.
Ms Sherratt added the scope of the inquiry must be “wide” and “deep” enough “to truly uncover everything that’s been allowed to go on at CHI”.
#PublicInquiryCHi #Whistleblower #JusticeforHarvey #CHI #HowIrelandWorks
*Edited Front Page*
https://t.co/kRPLRYx4V7
EXCLUSIVE: "I told her personally" - An ex-Fine Gael Justice Minister said that in 2023 he privately raised a number of controversial books with then-Education Minister Norma Foley, including "What's the T?", telling Gript "I even named the books for her":https://t.co/5MldGKgw6R
The EU Migration Pact will shortly come into operation.
FF, FG, and Independent TDs have handed over the power to control immigration to the EU.
#aontú
👇 Cannot build a children's hospital. Cannot build houses for the Irish people forced to live on the streets, in their parents home or families firced into one room in some hotel. But these data surveillance farms will be built on every inch of spare land.
Alex Coughlan's Sister Holding His Hand As He Dies In Hospital
Zara said she heard her mam shout
"don't you tell me my son is dead" when she was delivered the news that Alex had died from his injuries.
In a heartbreaking interview with the Irish Mirror, Alex Coughlan's mother Brigid and sister Zara spoke at length about the kind and caring son and brother they knew - and how they want him to be remembered 'for who he was, not just what happened to him'.
He loved a little party and loved being with people. Loved telling his little jokes and making us all laugh. There’s no words to describe how much Alex is missed. There never will be. It’s very quiet now without him.”
They also recalled the harrowing moment gardaí called to their Dublin home after Alex was found in a critical condition on May 17th.
“I heard my Mam shouting ‘don’t you tell me my son is dead,’ Zara said.
“There were two police officers asking ‘is your son Alexander Coughlan?' And they wouldn’t tell us any more than that. They just said we need to get all of you to the hospital as soon as you can. When they got us to the hospital they told us that we needed to gather any other close family member. We just knew that when they wanted all the family together that it wasn’t looking good.”
Alex was a lover of his walks, she said, and his calm nature made everyone who knew him feel welcome.
“He walked everywhere. There’s a forest area that came from his house in the Mills by the 12th Locke and he used to walk down there and come up through Blanch village. He cleaned out the whole forest during covid and he used to just walk through there all the time to make sure it was kept tidy and looked after,” Zara explained.
Speaking about that horrific moment and ultimately seeing her son in hospital Brigid added: “It was shocking. It was one doorbell ring no one ever wants to get. No mother ever wants to see her son battered.”
As the family await the court's process, they are now trying to come to terms with what happened to Alex - who they believe was making his way to the local Tesco when he was assaulted.
The always caring “gentleman,” was in the process of planning a night out for his mother’s birthday before the tragedy occurred.
“We are finding it very difficult to get our heads around it. He was just a healthy young man minding his own business and a very welcoming person to everybody. For him to be taken in such a cruel way, for someone who hadn’t a cruel bone in his body, is very hard to comprehend,” Zara said.
He had it planned that while my Mam was away for her birthday that when she came back he rang her to say ‘look I didn’t see you for your birthday, we’re going to go to the Thai Garden in Blanch village and I’m bringing you out. That was supposed to happen the Thursday after he was found.”
Zara told how her brother was always planning family events - and the happiness of others was constantly on his mind.
“Him and my cousin Rachel grew up together. It was her birthday there on the 10th of May. So he went to Tesco and he got two barbecues, loads of food, a few drinks and he called up here and we all had a big barbecue. That was the last time I saw him,” she said.
When talking about her older brother, Zara told how he taught her so many things.
“He was the funniest person that I knew. I feel like a lot of my humour comes from just being around Alex. He was very witty, quick with his wit and he was very clever. He knew everything about everything. He loved history. He brought me and my brother into town one year during Easter Sunday to see the parade and just bring us around and show us all about the Irish history of town. He loved being knowledgeable about everything and teaching other people.”
"He had two housemates. He was the lease owner but he had been living there for about 15 years. He was just very welcoming, funny, and calm. He had just such a calm presence about him and made everybody feel welcomed.”
Continued in comments
Portlaoise Exposed: Why Ireland Must Reduce Its Dependence on Overseas Healthcare Workers
The latest fitness-to-practice inquiry by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland has exposed serious lapses at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. Indian-trained nurse Jinimol George admitted multiple failures in 2022 affecting nine patients. These included incorrect early warning scores that delayed care, one patient suffered a cardiac arrest, wrong ambulance handovers, failure to administer prescribed medications such as Xanax and painkillers, and inadequate observations.
This is not an isolated case. Other inquiries involving foreign-trained staff include medication record falsification by Carmelita Bacani, chart falsification by Mark Lester Ordonez, poor performance findings against Ken Principio Zerna, Ana Raquel Batista Trindade and Joanna Izabela Szafraniak, and Ilankathir Sathivel’s admission of misconduct linked to a patient’s fatal brain injury.
A more disturbing case involved Nigerian-origin healthcare assistant Emmanuel Adeniji, who was jailed for raping a 73-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in a Kildare HSE nursing home in 2020. In 2024, Zimbabwean carer Precious Moyo received an eight-year sentence for stealing €34,000 from elderly clients she had previously nursed in Athlone and for carrying out violent burglaries.
These incidents understandably alarm families who entrust vulnerable loved ones to the system. Ireland’s elderly and frail patients deserve the highest standards of competent, compassionate care, ideally delivered by our own empathetic, highly trained Irish healthcare professionals.
Recent revelations from India highlight the global scale of credential fraud. In late 2025, Kerala Police dismantled a major fake degree racket, seizing over 100,000 counterfeit certificates linked to 22 institutions, with estimates of more than one million fraudulent documents, many in medicine and nursing, in circulation throughout the world.
In Ireland, Dr. Amir Taherzadeh’s case shows the risk is real. In 2025, the Medical Council found him guilty of professional misconduct for submitting fake diplomas from Charles University in Prague to register as a specialist cardiologist. He had worked in several Irish hospitals before the forgery was uncovered.
Ireland’s health service has become heavily dependent on overseas recruitment, with over 50 percent of nurses and around 43 percent of doctors foreign-trained, among the highest rates in Europe. While many foreign staff provide dedicated service, thousands of highly Irish-trained nurses and doctors continue to emigrate annually to Australia, Canada, the US and the Gulf for better pay, conditions and work-life balance. Real challenges arise from differences in training standards, protocols, communication and cultural familiarity, particularly when caring for elderly patients with dementia. We are constantly told these are the doctors and nurses who take care of us when we are sick, yet the lived experience of many service users reflects a very different story.
The long-term solution must be greater self-sufficiency: a predominantly Irish-trained workforce that is stable and accountable in Ireland.
By tackling root causes through targeted policies, we can deliver safer, more empathetic care for our most vulnerable, prioritise our own highly trained professionals, and create incentive packages for the thousands abroad to return home.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has recently echoed this sentiment, calling for prioritising Irish workers by restricting work visas for roles that can be filled locally. He highlights a clear mismatch between the government’s visa policies and the available domestic labour supply, arguing that employment permits should only be granted for genuinely essential positions where no suitable Irish candidates can be found.
@indepdubnrth It’s very difficult for those that fell for the scamdemic to admit that excess deaths & turbo cancers are a direct result of multiple vaccines. There’s enough evidence out there now. The Irish Times will never admit the truth and will continue to lie at your expenseto save face.
Sixteen people eight Roma women and eight Roma men, aged 18 to 60 have been charged with 24 offences linked to a Garda investigation into retail theft in Dublin.
The charges stem from Operation Táirge, Gardaí’s ongoing effort targeting theft, handling stolen property, criminal damage, and assaults on staff in retail premises, mainly in the Dublin 7 area.
All 16 individuals are scheduled to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice on Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. One additional person received an adult caution, and another was referred to the National Juvenile Diversion Programme.
Gardaí noted that the Bridewell Community Policing team has worked with local businesses to provide reassurance and crime prevention advice, with investigations continuing.
My 2yr old son getting notice hes on a 3yr waiting list. Thank you @HSELive , im sure when hes 5 this will be really useful. Let's bring in another couple 100 thousand and get the waiting lists up to 5yrs!
🤡 country.
Today I was invited to the European Parliament to deliver a speech about being banned from the UK and freedom of speech.
Turns out, I am banned from the European Parliament as well.
This is not democracy, but a tyranny in action.
An Indian business student who was in Ireland one month when he went on a masturbation spree has had the final 12 months of his 16-month sentence suspended.
https://t.co/JSfAe5clBf
They have absolutely NO RIGHT to make this decision. This is OUR decision to make as per democratic process. Same goes for the Triple Lock. What affects us should be decided by us.
Lawless said that the Dáil should be allowed to vote on EU Migration Pact before it comes into effect, saying it was passed by a tiny margin, and that the mandate has changed since 2024
https://t.co/2yeF5e2qeZ
My son started his Leaving Cert today. Like every parent, I wish him and every student the very best.
But no matter how well he does, he's already planning to leave Ireland.
His brothers have gone before him.
Think about that for a moment.
Three Irish sons, forced to build their futures on the other side of the world while politicians congratulate themselves and tell us everything is fine.
It is not fine.
What is the point of encouraging our children to study hard, work hard, and achieve their dreams if they have to leave their own country to have any chance of a decent future?
Ireland is losing its young people. We are losing our sons and daughters.
I oppose the EU Migration Pact and I believe the Irish people should be given a referendum. Let the people decide the future of their country.
Good luck to every Leaving Cert student today. You deserve more than a certificate. You deserve the chance to build a life in the country of your birth.
The case against me and my colleagues was not really about the Medical Council or Government Policies or Vaccines, is was about RTE and the Irish Media = cutting out our tongues and making sure we would not be heard.
"A Ukrainian woman accused of welfare fraud in Ireland flew in and out of the country to collect thousands of euro in benefits she was not entitled to, it is alleged.
Tetiana Stakhiv (51) had temporary protection because of the war in Ukraine but was living there when she returned to Ireland to fraudulently claim the payments, gardaí said.
She was refused bail at Dublin District Court and her case was adjourned for DPP directions.
Ms Stakhiv, a divorced mother of one of an unknown address, is charged with three counts of stealing jobseekers' allowance of €845 at Swords Post Office on March 31, April 13 and April 27 this year.
She is further charged with stealing €7,200 in Accommodation Recognition Payments (ARP) in Dublin on "numerous dates” between November 6, 2025, and March 24 this year.
Objecting to bail, Garda Louise Keane told Judge Michele Finan the accused had been receiving financial assistance from Ireland's Department of Social Protection since November 2023.
It was alleged Ms Stakhiv had claimed jobseekers' allowance while residing outside the State, in Ukraine.
She was allegedly seen on CCTV collecting the payments at the post office on three occasions.
The accused had flown to Ireland on Ryanair flights on those dates, then flew back to Poland after each collection, Gda Keane said.
Her passport showed immigration stamps into Ireland.
In relation to the ARPs, the court heard a claimant must be a resident in Ireland but when gardaí called at the two addresses in Swords provided by the accused, she was not known at either.
The accused had obtained temporary protection status when she came to Ireland in 2023 to collect her under-age daughter.
She lost that status on March 31 this year. Her current status was a 90-day holiday visa.
The garda said she believed the accused was a flight risk as she had no permanent residence or family ties in Ireland and would flee at the first opportunity if bailed.
The court heard that over a six-month period between October last year and April this year, it was alleged, the accused received €11,785 in jobseekers' allowance. The ARPs brought the total involved to €18,985.
The charges before the court related to specific dates when the accused was allegedly not a resident.
Applying for bail, defence barrister Paddy Flynn said the accused, who was presumed innocent, had a Ukrainian friend in Ireland who could provide an address for her.
Gardaí already had her passport and she would abide by bail conditions, he said.
Judge Finan refused bail and remanded Ms Stakhiv in custody."
I absolutely don’t want this. Its something I feel very strongly about and I’d imagine I’m not the only one. This is too important of a decision to be taken by anyone other than the people. This should be decided by a Referendum.