Chaotic scenes as Fermanagh school children left on the side of the road without a bus service as Ulsterbus schools’ contract is not brought forward to cover August reopening

Drivers express concerns that they have been instructed to refuse fare-paying passengers on bus routes from next Tuesday

Stormont Executive must commit to return of suspended bus services and end cuts agenda which is impacting bus provision across Fermanagh and Tyrone

Cross-community Labour councillor Donal O’Cofaigh expressed his disgust at the fact that children in Fermanagh were left without any way to get to school on their first day back.

“Children who were meant to have a first day at school today were left on the side of the road after the bus they were expecting simply didn’t show. I contacted several bus drivers to find out the story and they confirmed that services weren’t operating as the Ulsterbus schools contract only starts at the beginning of September and hadn’t been brought forward. In other areas of Northern Ireland, I understand school children were charged to go to school on operating Ulsterbus services.

“This is a totally shambolic situation – children’s education and safety have been impacted. Let’s call out what happened here – Ministers in the Stormont Executive thought that children being left without any form of transport to school, on a timetable for reopening that they themselves set, was a price worth paying in order to cut public transport budgets.”

NI Executive blasted for failure to put in place adequate infection controls ahead of schools' reopening

Peter Weir, Stormont Education Minister

Education workers have the right, indeed the responsibility, to stand to protect themselves and the wider public health from serious and imminent risk

Donal O'Cofaigh, Cross Community Labour councillor for Enniskillen encouraged workers to stand ready to demand and secure basic infection control regimes should schools reopen next week without adequate protections in place.

"As the recent exams fiasco demonstrates, it is vitally important for our young people that we see the reopening of schools but it is also vital that this occurs safely with adequate infection controls to protect children, their families and the staff working in schools and in public transportation. The total inadequacy of the infection controls put in place to date in schools by the Northern Ireland Executive has been highlighted by a recent statement of all four unions representing education support staff, NIPSA, Unison, GMB and Unite.

"Just like in any other workplace, workers in schools and on the buses at risk of 'serious and imminent' risk have legal protections in withdrawing themselves to a safe distance, raise their concerns with management and return only when the situation has been remedied.

"The responsibility for this looming crisis lies wholly at the feet of the Northern Ireland Executive who have completely failed to put in place basic infection control measures but if next week when pupils begin to return or indeed after that if workers feel that they are putting themselves at serious and imminent risk then it is their legal right, indeed responsibility, to protect themselves and the wider public health. 

"The continued absence of perspex screens from Education Authority vehicles is a cause of grave concern to many drivers, as is the unwillingness to put in place adequate cleansing regimes. Drivers have highlighted the fact to me that the social bubble model being applied within schools is unlikely to survive contact with reality on buses. There are genuine risks to drivers in this rural area - many of whom tend to be older and have higher incidences of underlying conditions risking more serious impacts should they be infected. 

Welcome for Health Minister u-turn to keep open Emergency Dental Treatment Centres in face of dental PPE crisis

Health Department must now directly source appropriate PPE for dentists and bring forward investment in NHS dental services

90 percent of dentists reported to be without the right PPE to conduct Aerosol generating procedures such as fillings

Cross-community Labour councillor Donal O’Cofaigh welcomed the last minute u-turn by the Health Department to avert a crisis in dentistry in Northern Ireland but called for more investment in NHS provision.

“I wrote to Minister Swann yesterday to demand he urgently review the pending closure of the five Emergency Dental Treatment Centres which risked leaving patients, in particular NHS patients, facing only one option when it came to a toothache – that of having their tooth removed.

“The plans to close the emergency treatment centres, which have provided access to ‘aerosol generating procedures’ or AGPs such as drilling for fillings during the Covid lockdown, were timed to coincide with the full reopening of dentists across Northern Ireland. But a major immediate problem was that these dentists had not been issued with or able to obtain privately the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to conduct AGPs - meaning that the only treatment that could be offered for the more serious complaints was tooth extraction.

“Today’s decision comes only on the back of mounting media coverage of the crisis but whatever the reason for this belated action, I wish to welcome it as it averts the immediate prospect of a major dental crisis – in particular impacting children, the elderly and the most vulnerable.

“I also understand from dentists that have been notified that they will be provided a payment of £500 per practice to fit staff for PPE and again while this is welcome it doesn’t address the pressing supply problems – either in terms of appropriate PPE or specialists to do the ‘fit-outs’. The Department has a responsibility to conduct this work and source the appropriate PPE.

RQIA board resignation shows a failed system - care homes must now be brought back into public ownership and control

The Chief Medical Officer, and any senior officials in the Department of Health or in the NI Executive, who ordered reduced inspections of care homes during Covid crisis must now resign

Cross-community Socialist councillor for Enniskillen Donal O’Cofaigh responded to news that the entire board of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) had resigned by calling for those responsible for the Covid scandal in care homes to follow suit and for the sector to be brought back into public ownership.

“The resignation of the entire RQIA board - the body meant to oversee care homes in Northern Ireland - shows just how bad things have become. The resignations are certainly not before time but are probably only a precursor to another changing of the deck-chairs on the Titanic. Will anything really change?

“The RQIA has been failing long before the Covid-19 pandemic. For at least 18 months it has been clear that the RQIA is another shining example of ‘regulatory capture’. Some privatised care home sector operators have been able to act with impunity when it comes to basic standards of care. Like an iceberg, the public are only aware of a small proportion of the difficulties in the sector - which extend across the region.

O'Cofaigh seeks date for return of full-time fire service for Enniskillen

Cross-Community Labour Councillor for Enniskillen Donal O'Cofaigh has written to the Chief Officer of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service to obtain a date when a full-time fire station will return to the county.

"I have written to NI Fire and Rescue Chief Officer Michael Graham to ask him when the full time complement will return to Enniskillen Fire Station.

"At the commencement of the COVID-19 lockdown, the full-time team based in Enniskillen was moved to Omagh. From firefighters themselves I understood this to be a short-term measure related to contingency planning around the pandemic. We recognised that there was relatively less risk on being dependent on part-time firefighters when most on-call firefighters were already at home but nonetheless it has been an issue that I've been closely monitoring.

"

Given that now many more workers are returning to their workplaces continued reliance on part-time, call out responders poses very significantly more risk. Fermanagh is the most rural county in Northern Ireland - the distances involved can be huge. Reliance on part-time call out results in extra seconds and even minutes of delay for these workers to get to the station - that can mean all the difference. Like anywhere else, Fermanagh needs a full-time fire station. 

"There was no explanation or even notice offered to the public around the original decision but even less why and how long this measure needs to continue.

Only a few months ago I had to raise a defence of our full time service in the council - proposals to slash full-time cover were being brought forward at that time because of NI Executive cutbacks - we can’t want allow even deeper cuts to come through the backdoor with Covid-19 used as the excuse!", Cllr O'Cofaigh said.

Welcome for WHSCT Chief Executive's commitment to reopen Paediatrics Department and Neonatal unit at South West Acute Hospital

WHSCT decision follows success of lockdown measures in lowering Covid-19 initial infection peak which has freed up hospital capacity allowing services to reopen

Health Minister must now immediately authorise Trust plans to reopen SWAH facilities in order to remove huge pressures on rural dwellers forced to travel to Altnagelvin to access vital children's health services

Cross-community Labour councillor for Enniskillen DEA, Donal O'Cofaigh, revealed detail of communication from Western Health and Social Care Trust CEO Anne Kilgallen which confirmed the Trust's intention to reopen children's services at SWAH commencing May 25th. 

"After councillors were provided a copy of the briefing of WHSCT CEO Dr Anne Kilgallen to the Trust board on May 8th, at which she indicated her intention to move to swiftly reopen both the Paediatric ward and Neonatal unit but pointed to the need for regional authorisation, I wrote to Dr Kilgallen yesterday afternoon [May 12th] to confirm the status of this report. I also requested guidance on whether the authorisation required was to come from Ministerial or Health Board (HSCT) level. 

"In the evening I received a response from Dr Kilgallen in which she confirmed that plans were at an advanced state to reopen these facilities on May 25th and that she was simply awaiting authorisation at regional level to proceed; authorisation she expected to come later by today. 

"I would like to thank Dr Kilgallen for her responsiveness to my communications on these matters; and indeed the way in which she intervened decisively when the plan to close was made public. She communicated clearly at that stage both the rationale for the decision to close these facilities and her commitment to reopen them as quickly as possible - and this provided much needed assurance to both staff and the local community.