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Rent freeze and temporary ban on evictions to be introduced during Covid-19 crisis

The emergency measures for renters were agreed at a Cabinet meeting today.

LAST UPDATE | 19 Mar 2020

THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced plans for a temporary ban on evictions for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis.

The proposals also include a temporary ban on rent increases for those whose incomes have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Tens of thousands people have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis, with a large number of businesses closing temporarily or permanently.

The notice period for tenancies of less than six months is also being increased from 28 to 90 days.

The emergency measures for renters were agreed at a Cabinet meeting today.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy intends to publish legislation next week to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2004-2019 to give effect to these changes.

It is expected the legislation will amended over one day when the Dail returns next Thursday.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, Murphy said landlords cannot impose a rent increase on their tenents during the crisis, and if a person has received a notice request to leave the apartment or home they are renting that process will now be suspended. 

He said the government wants to ensure that during these uncertain times, peoples’ homes are protected. 

Other issues that will arise after this period will have to be dealt with adding: “We can see what else needs to be done. As we move through this period of emergency, we don’t yet know how long that will be, we don’t yet know what other problems might arise in the interim.”

In a statement, the Department of Housing said the emergency rental measures “complement those announced by the five main retail banks yesterday, in relation to the flexibility – such as three-month mortgage breaks – which will be offered to those with buy-to-let mortgages whose tenants have been impacted by the virus”.

“It is the government’s expectation that landlords will pass that flexibility on their tenants. Tenants are encouraged to engage with their landlords as quickly as possible if they are facing difficulties.”

The statement added that while tenants “will be expected to pay rent during this period, income supports and Rent Supplement is available to those struggling to do so”.

“These supports are provided by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Any rent arrears built up will be payable, but landlords have been asked to show forbearance and reach local arrangements in such circumstances.”

‘People are worried’

Speaking today, Murphy said he knows that “many people who are renting are worried about their living situation”.

“I want to assure them that over the emergency period they will be able to remain in their homes. Today the government approved new measures to give the strongest possible protection to all renters at this time of national emergency.

“A moratorium on notices to leave rental accommodation is being introduced as is a moratorium on rent increases so that people will be safe in their homes during this period.”

Murphy said he is aware that some renters will find it very difficult to pay the rent due to the impact that Covid-19 is having on businesses and jobs, saying there are “supports in place for people through the Rent Supplement”.

He thanked landlord and tenant organisations for their “engagement and support in these measures”.

The minister added that in terms of a rent break for all renters, that’s not necessary because the majority of people are still going to be at work.

“Yes, people are losing jobs for on reduced hours, and it’s very difficult for them. But a number of people will still be working in our economy and will still be able to pay,” he said.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien said he wrote to Minister Paschal Donohoe about supports for renters last week and he is pleased that ideas he had put forward in his letter had been announced today. 

He said a rental and housing crisis that already existed has been made more difficult with the outbreak of Covid-19. O’Brien added that he has heard positive stories from landlords in recent days who have already been in touch with their tenants to work out deals.

Today’s announcement follows engagement in recent days by Murphy with such organisations as well as charities and NGOs in the housing sector.

TDs are today debating emergency legislation that deals with a number of issues including social welfare payments and detaining people who have Covid-19 if needed.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney earlier confirmed in the Dáil that renters will be “protected”, stating: “We will legislate to ensure that there will be no evictions during this period.”

‘Absolute panic’

Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said “no threat of eviction should hang over anybody’s head” during the crisis.

“Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, many more will lose their jobs in the days and weeks ahead, as businesses have had to close their doors.

“And for these families, the fear of the virus is now matched by the fear of bills that cannot be paid, rents that cannot be paid, mortgages that might go into default.”

Catherine Murphy, co-leader of the Social Democrats, said a number of people who have received eviction notices recently have been in touch with her office and are in “an absolute panic”. 

Labour’s Alan Kelly echoed this sentiment, saying any rent that people cannot afford to pay because of the pandemic “cannot be crystallised”.

“This is not like dealing with mortgages. The debt cannot be crystallised. They can’t put it off, they can’t pay it, so the State has to intervene. I cannot be any clearer than that.”

Responding to earlier comments by Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe about potential evictions, Stephen Faughnan, chairperson of the Irish Property Owners’ Association, said the assumption “that landlords will automatically seek to evict tenants in financial difficulty is grossly unfair and serves to portray property owners in a very poor and cynical light”.

Faughnan said the vast majority of property owners “treat their tenants very fairly and enjoy an excellent relationship with their tenants”.

He called on the government “to move quickly to put in place the rental supports necessary to allow the tenants to continue to pay their rent”.

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    Mute orb7eckn
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 12:48 AM

    I have four kids who live and one little girl who didn’t make it. It was the worst experience in my life and would break a relationship. I took a white coffin out the back door of holles street and as much as they were sympathetic it felt like nothing. We travelled with my little girl to glasnevin and I handed her into an open grave, it sticks to me this day. I have never really gotten over the trauma nor has my wife. We are lucky we have three healthy kids and my heart goes out to everyone that loses a child. Support Feaileacain

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    Mute Michale Kane
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 1:04 AM

    @orb7eckn: My deepest sympathies .. sorry have no other better words ..

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    Mute marie lynch
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 1:12 AM

    @orb7eckn: Heat broken for your loss

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    Mute aeX06eDn
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 1:25 AM

    @orb7eckn: Thank you for sharing your story a wonderful Lady and forever in my heart.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 9:59 AM

    @orb7eckn: omg this is heartbreaking

    39
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    Mute Mindful Muinteoir
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 11:38 AM

    @orb7eckn: So very sorry for your loss Joe. Condolences to yourself & your wife.

    42
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    Mute Michael Fehily
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 12:17 PM

    @orb7eckn: So sorry Joe. Heartfelt condolences to you and your family. My wife ( before I met her ) suffered the loss of her 10 day old Baby. She had a husband whom she was in the middle of divorcing. She told me she had a social worker and a language interpreter by her side who offered whatever comfort they could. The hospital staff and medics just wanted them out. I hope your family are doing well.

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    Mute sakk sa
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 12:38 AM

    Savita Halappanavar …..

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    Mute Be Lucky
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 1:19 AM

    In all walks of life there good and bad. The problem now days is there to much box ticking and appearances the new nurses have no empathy or emotion or told not to then you have the others the only reason they choose health care was to get a visa so they have no interest at all added with overworked is what we see now.

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    Mute Dee Deee
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 3:40 PM

    @Be Lucky: As a patient in st James and st Vincent’s . Care was so bad,, couldn’t call it care , I felt like a criminal who didn’t deserve kindness .. nurses , it was rare to find one nice nurse .. if you cried or anyone saw you crying you got worse care .

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 12:16 AM

    I well.believe these horrible le stories I had the worst nightmare myself 23 years ago in the Rotunda hospital

    187
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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 10:11 AM

    @Karen Marten: I was so scared having my second child but it was the easiest birth out of 3 . 3hours from checking in to delivery was home 12 hours later .
    3rd child in drogheda dirtiest hospital I’ve ever been in .

    55
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    Mute Josie Rosie
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 11:20 AM

    @Karen Marten: Same, but only 5 years ago.

    35
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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 6:26 AM

    I don’t think this is limited to birth, but is more widespread.

    Maybe the problem is with how medical staff are selected.

    There is a certain segment of the population that is psychopathic, or of similar psychological makeup.
    People who lack empathy.

    Yet the presence or absence of empathy is not a factor in who gets to become a medical professional.

    Shouldn’t it be?

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    Mute Athena
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 6:21 AM

    “… people giving birth …”?

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 6:27 AM

    @Athena: Yep!

    We’re not discussing pigeons here.

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    Mute Athena
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 1:10 PM

    @Jimmy Wallace: Yes, as it is part of the root cause of the problem.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 1:35 PM

    @Athena: You mean the root cause of the problem is people in the medical profession who seem to lack empathy?

    Is there anyone commenting here that shows that same lack of empathy, do you think?

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    Mute Regular John
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 3:13 PM

    @Jimmy Wallace: Of course it is a dreadful story but calling out the Journal when they publish woke nonsense is important too. People don’t have babies, women do. To ignore this nonsense is to allow it to become normalised.

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    Mute Mike B
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 8:49 AM

    Any wonder birth rates are falling with no proper health or housing

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 9:56 AM

    It was better in the times of “call the midwives ” my mother had some stories of the midwives calling when the younger kids came home from school they were told look what the mid wife brought a new brother /sister .

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    Mute Alex
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 2:37 AM

    Even with paying private you aren’t guaranteed to have a private room. It’s bonkers. You spend 5 to 7000 and you aren’t even sure not to end up in an overcrowded public hospital room.
    Doctors aren’t qualified, nurses have 0 empathy. If you can avoid giving birth here. Do.

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 7:19 AM

    @Alex: A lot of them were not qualified. My older brother was delivered by a trainee doctor in July 1973. Due to a lack of oxygen he suffered brain damage. He is 52 next month has the mental age of a 8 year old. God help him, he never stood a chance with the backwards system we had then.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 10:03 AM

    @David Corrigan: that’s awful your poor mother and brother

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 2:59 PM

    @Karen Marten: It’s not simple Karen. My mother took great care of him until she passed away. Her attitude was that it was her problem. They were chased by the solicitors in the 70′s but they would have nothing to do with that. It’s not going to fix him is what they would say.
    I reckon he would have been a solitcitor or something. A big strong man denied everything by a system not fit for the stone ages.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 3:44 PM

    @David Corrigan: iys just awful the way women were and still are being treated so badly during childbirth . And then theres no support or services for children or parent .

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 3:57 PM

    @Karen Marten: We had A LOT of problems getting my brother care after my mother passed away. Escalated it to the highest ranks politically and in the HSE. Might as well be talking to a stone bloody wall. One HSE executive got angry at me because I emailed her. I told her to go and get a fecking real job and cut out her nonsense.
    As far as I am concerned, the state put my brother into the condition he is in so they state will definitely provide a little support or whatever he needs.
    Like you said, there’s no support for a lot of people. First world taxes for third world services.

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    Mute Roman Walczak Sadlowski
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 10:22 AM

    I can’t actually fathom this is still ongoing. We had very good care.. apart from one nurse in her early 20s who decided that our 12 hour old little one should be woken up by rubbing an wet towel soaked in ice water on her back to shock her awake… If I had been less sleep deprived I’d probably have rammed the towel somewhere else.. but to see the horrors written above is painful to read.. it should be a wonderful memory not scarred by the traumas as described..

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    Mute Nicola O'Leary
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 11:03 AM

    What a horrific read. Those poor women. I’ve only recently had experience of medical professionals not believing a patient crippled with neuralgia pain. Every single one of those women should be taking a Medical negligence claim against the HSE or a Human Rights action against the state for abuse.

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    Mute Steve O'Hara-Smith
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 10:56 AM

    I have to wonder how much of this horror is down to being understaffed and overloaded.
    There should be enough staff of all levels in every hospital that they work the same kind of hours as everyone else.
    There should also be enough facilities that nobody is on trolleys.
    Exhausted overworked staff pretty much guarantees poor care and bad mistakes.
    How do we get there from here?
    We can’t start somewhere else.

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    Mute Ruth Bourke
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    Jun 29th 2024, 2:28 PM

    @Steve O’Hara-Smith: I remember midwives chatting and laughing away at the workstation for most of the night 1 night after I’d had a section it wasn’t busy. I had to ring the bell for painkillers that were due as they weren’t giving them to me routinely and she was irritated when she came in, gave me the drugs and I asked when the next one was due. She told me the next one was due at 5 am and if I wanted it, to come out to the nurse’s station to get it I was still struggling with walking. They were definitely not rushed off their feet. This was holles street and it was rife with this culture so much treatment like this it was disgraceful. I was private too not that it should make a difference.

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    Mute Fiona Wyse
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 11:49 AM

    Stories like this make me even happier with my decision to not have children.
    Absolutely despicable women are bring treated like this when they are at their most vulnerable point in their lives.
    They deserve better!

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    Mute Michael Fehily
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 12:12 PM

    Oh but we’re a ” rich advanced country ” so we should be happy

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    Mute John D Doe
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 8:20 AM

    Private is the only way, no one wants to be around medical card riff raff

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    Mute Joe Kelly
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 10:22 AM

    @John D Doe: typical snobbish remark. Who ever reared you must be so proud

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    Mute John D Doe
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 11:05 AM

    @Joe Kelly: class is very important in life

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    Mute Alex
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 12:21 PM

    @John D Doe: Even with private you are not guaranteed a private room. It’s one of their policy.

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    Mute Regular John
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 2:04 PM

    @John D Doe:
    Yes, class is important, it’s a pity you have none.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 7:11 PM

    @John D Doe: you could ne treated just as badly in Holles Street or any other private maternity hospital as you could be in a public one actually

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    Mute John D Doe
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 1:51 AM

    @Regular John: as a members of the elite I find your comment amusing

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    Mute Regular John
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 3:43 AM

    @John D Doe: You claiming to be “elite” whilst unable to write a single sentence without multiple mistakes is amusing. You’re fooling nobody.

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    Mute Boyne Shark
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    Jun 22nd 2024, 6:16 PM

    This sounds quite barbaric and I’m sure everyone can sympathise for all these women and their families however can I ask if an organisation like the Journal, which prides itself on factchecking, has checked the facts of all these experiences or to play Devils Advocate, if there may possibly be reasons for some of them.
    I know when I was a small child and spent a considerable amount of time in hospital I found out it was a training hospital, I honestly thought every injection, every poke and prod was someone practicing on me. I hated them.
    The facts are Ireland is one of the safest countries in which to give birth, clearly not one of the most pleasant, as your own statistics show a small, but significant, amount of women have a negative experience.
    I suspect questioning this is any aspect will invite certain wrath but is it possible that in the hectic environment of a labour ward certain births become more difficult or confused than others and during these births ideal communication is not always possible. During these births the midwives and doctors present may be focused on delivering a healthy baby and ensuring the new mother is kept well too. This sounds quite barbaric and I’m sure everyone can sympathise for all these women and their families however can I ask if an organisation like the Journal, which prides itself on factchecking, has checked the facts of all these experiences or to play Devils Advocate, if there may possibly be reasons for some of them.
    I know when I was a small child and spent a considerable amount of time in hospital I found out it was a training hospital, I honestly thought every injection, every poke and prod was someone practicing on me. I hated them.
    The facts are Ireland is one of the safest countries in which to give birth, clearly not one of the most pleasant, as your own statistics show a small, but significant, amount of women have a negative experience.
    I suspect questioning this is any aspect will invite certain wrath but is it possible that in the hectic environment of a labour ward certain births become more difficult or confused than others and during these births ideal communication is not always possible. During these births the midwives and doctors present may be focused on delivering a healthy baby and ensuring the new mother is kept well too.

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    Mute Caroline Walsh
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 11:46 AM

    @Boyne Shark: my story is one of them above and everything written was my own words. Yes midwives and doctors are there to ensure the safety and birth of a baby but mistakes happen and they did. But not being honest to a mother is not good enough. Yes giving birth is an unknown esp as a first timer but honesty is easier to deal with hiding information.

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    Mute IMHO
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 2:43 PM

    @Boyne Shark: I wouldn’t rule out a certain degree of exaggeration in some cases, in the hope of generous compensation. Let’s face it ,it happens.

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    Mute Boyne Shark
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 4:41 PM

    @Caroline Walsh: I don’t doubt that you recounted your experience accurately and honestly and can only sympathise with you for what you went through. What I asked is if the Journal performed due diligence and checked if there may have been a genuine medical reason or mitigating circumstances that could explain your experience. If they haven’t carried out due diligence then, unfortunately, we will never know.

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    Mute Margaret Gallagher
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    Jun 23rd 2024, 6:17 PM

    Terrible reading all this unnecessary suffering of women I could write a book on my very traumatic births which depend on sympathetic and caring doctors and nurse who listen to women .The culture in some hospitals mitigate against this happening and no-one is ever brought to account for mistreating patients .And nothing excuses these inhumane careless so called professionals

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