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TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has said an apology should be issued to the family of a young boy who was removed from Children’s Health Ireland’s urgent scoliosis surgery waiting list without being informed.
Martin described the incident as “shocking” and added that this “simply should not happen”.
He was referring to the case of Harvey Sherratt, who first came to public attention in February after his parents Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison shared a video of their eight-year-old son struggling to breathe due to his condition worsening.
They explained that Harvey was one of hundreds of children waiting years for surgery, despite his spinal curve continuing to twist his ribcage around his heart and lungs.
Harvey’s parents revealed yesterday that he was taken off Children’s Health Ireland’s (CHI) active waiting list for surgery, despite three surgeons telling them that Harvey should have surgery to implant growth rods in his spine.
At the end of August, when Ms Sherratt questioned CHI in an email as to why she had not received any correspondence from the health group in respect of a surgery plan for Harvey, she was informed that Harvey was actually “not on an Active Spinal Surgery waiting list”.
A CHI official told Ms Sherratt in an email dated 30 August that Harvey was no longer on the list “as per the Consultant’s clinical input from his previous appointments”.
In response, Ms Sherratt wrote to CHI that she found it “incredibly concerning that Harvey was removed from the active list without our consent or even us being formed of such” and she asked, “had I not raised the question, when would I have been informed?”
Ms Sherratt yesterday told a reporter: “If I hadn’t emailed CHI, how long would we have gone without knowing that Harvey had been removed from that list.”
Speaking today, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said it’s “shocking that any child would be taken off a list like that, without any communication to the parents”.
“That simply should not happen,” said Martin, “it’s not good enough and the authorities, and the hospital authorities in particular, need to apologise to the family and facilitate surgery.”
He said the “prerequisite is that the child is provided with the means to get the surgery”.
Martin added that he favours a “combination” of providing surgery in Ireland while having “structured agreement with overseas facilities and hospitals to make sure that children get timely interventions” in instances where “existing capacity here isn’t sufficient”.
He said this should particularly be the case “for scoliosis or urgent spinal and orthopaedic surgeries”.
He added: “Twenty years ago as Minister for Health, we sent 100 children to Johns Hopkins Hospital in America to get heart surgery and it worked very well.
“We did that because the theatres in Crumlin (Children’s Hospital) were being refurbished at the time.
“It’s not ideal for some families, but fundamentally, if it’s what is required for the child’s health – and the timing is very important in terms of scoliosis – then I think we should do everything we possibly can to make sure the child gets that surgery.”
-With additional reporting from David Raleigh
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Reality check: if you buy a brand new EV from an authorised dealer, that same dealer won’t take your EV back as down payment after 5 years, the value of your EV will be next to nothing, why? Because EV batteries, like all batteries have a lifespan of 5-7 years, changing these batteries costs as much or even more than the brand new value of the car.
You’re essentially buying a €50K disposable car made to last 5-7 years.
People working in the automotive industry saw it coming years ago.
Why would someone spend their hard earned cash on a disposable car?
@J Ven: absolute rubbish on the 5 to 7 year battery life point.
What about all the 2014 ,2015 teslas,Nissan leafs, Have they all been binned around the world ?and just stopped working. ?
@J Ven: batteries also usually have a long warranty, 8 years for Tesla for example. And they don’t cost the price of a new car.
@J Ven: you’re peddling the complete misinformation that has been the other cause as to why EV sales are down. None of what you just said is true, but people like you lap it up and spread it. Or worse, deliberately misinform people.
@Dave Desmond: and what happens after the 8 years, these cars are essentially worthless. Not only that they lose 15-30% of their range by this time, the battery is on it way out soon and these EVs become worthless.
It’s not wrong to be calling these cars disposable
@Jef Gert: firstly, it is not 15-30%. 15% at most after 8 years. Secondly, ICE cars also lose range over time. They also experience significant wear-and-tear, which EVs don’t to the same extent. Even at 85% range, any car is not “worthless”. It is perhaps not worth what it was, but still very useable (esp looking at the prices 10yo second hand EVs go for). Finally, battery swaps are becoming cheaper by the minute if they are needed.
@Name: Agreed. 85% is what is showing in surveys so far which in plenty of cars means 200+miles without needing to charge
@Rory Burns: they don’t have hair the charge capability after 6 yrs or so, I learned from bitter experience. With a combustion engine I’d need an engine fix maybe but I’d be sorted for 1k or so. Not the case with battery cars. A huge scam and not green at all.
@Name: he is right, electric cars have no longevity and will die. Look at the resale market, practically being given away.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: well I had a combustion engine that won the euromillions, jumped up out of the car, slapped me across the face and ran off with my wife and kids. Every 6 months or so I get a postcard signed by a smudge of oil, I know well who’s sending them. The car industry keeps that kind of thing very quiet. I for one would have got a Nissan Leaf if I knew the risks of owning combustion engine cars.
@mani mus: you are very odd indeed.
@Name: who is making these Batteries ?where are they coming from ?
@J Ven: I agree. I had to replace just one hybrid battery cell at the end of last year at a cost of €3000 and was told I could potentially have to replace one every year for the next few years. I had no option but to go back to full petrol.
Vested interests want to keep all this quiet. Battery depletion, replacement costs and depreciation are the real issues.
@J Ven: What you are saying is just completely untrue and I am saying this as someone who won’t be buying an EV for a fair while yet so I don’t know why you post things like this when you clearly know nothing. The battery is guaranteed for 7-8 years or 160,000km. That doesn’t mean it just stops working at that point. It’s just out of warranty like lots of things you might buy. Batteries can now be replaced in modules in the unlikely event that anything does go wrong with them so you wouldn’t even have to replace the whole thing anyway. A friend of mine has a Nissan leaf which is a 2015 model and the battery is still charging at full capacity on it. So there is no point in ranting and scaremongering with drivel posts based on nothing.
@Sheila McNulty: and where are they going?????
@J Ven: Why people upvote your misinformation?
@Colm McGahern: Range Therapy and similar would swap out a whole battery for similar prices
@Rory Burns: Would you but. 2014 Leaf?
@Name: It’s not misinformation when a well known car dealer goes on RTE and says she can take the risk of accepting an EV as a trade in. Most dealers are of the same view. That’s why second hand EVs are worthless
@J Ven: I bought an EV and while it was a brilliant car to drive it wasn’t suitable for me. When I went back to buy a PHEV one dealer declined to even quote me on a trade in. I ended up losing 30 percent on the deal, an expensive lesson.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: Silly comment. After 6 hard years my EV is showing 92% of original battery capacity.
@J Ven: one rarely has to replace the full battery only cells contained in it. So it’s not doom n gloom
@Colm McGahern: yes it was on joe, seems the cells are the problem and not covered under warranty. And there are 100s of cells in the battery.
The main reason is due to the fact they are inferior to what cars with combustion engine had to offer.
@Fintan Stack: nah they’re great. You should drive one. You’ll never want to go back.
@Name: Agreed. The torque is amazing
@Name: when it’s all electric I’ll miss the manual gearbox. I already drive automatics now and again, but they don’t have the same feel as manuals, they are more robotic
@Fintan Stack: volks pd engine. Bulletproof
@Jerry LeFrog: Except they are not automatics.
There is simply no gearbox at all, and no need for one.
Whereas the ICE has a very narrow torque band, which requires a gearbox to keep the engine speed within the range at which it can produce a reasonable amount of torque, the electric motor produces torque right across its speed range.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: I already understood this, but I rest my case: I will still miss the gearbox.
Thanks for taking the time to post the explanation though.
@Jerry LeFrog: stop and go traffic. Auto makes total sense.
What a load of nonsense saying that a reduction of a €1500 grant is the reason EV sales are down 25%
The general public do not have trust EVs. Don’t get me wrong they suit a certain cohort but do not have the same ease of use as a trustworthy ICE car.
@Jef Gert: there was actually quite an in depth IT podcast on this that described in detail that a drop in incentives led to a slump in sales in countries where that drop occurred.
@Jef Gert: Making the item more expensive probably does have a detrimental impact on sales to be fair. How would it not? Electric cars are the way things are going whether people like it or not. It just needs more of them with good range to hit the second hand market.
@John Moore: But new EVs have dropped hugely in price even allowing for the grant decrease. The main reason for a drop in EV sales is all the FUD circulating (see comments above) -EVs will go on fire, batteries fail after 6 years, there aren’t enough public chargers, my ma didn’t trust them, EVs depreciate quickly. Only the last point has any relationship to the truth and that is because new car values have dropped. If new car values go up in future (e g. due to import tariffs) you’d see a reversal of that depreciation trend
Or could it be the fact they go on fire
@mr algae: and crap
@mr algae: Insurance industry statistics from arounds the world show that, per 100,000 vehicles, fossil fuel cars are 80 times more likely to catch fire than EVs, so stop with the nonsense.
@mr algae: petrol/diesel cars are 20X more likely to catch fire. But please continue spouting your nonsense
@jak: they aren’t banned in Scandinavia ferries, what are you on about?
@jak: They also aren’t banned in underground car park in the USA????!!! I rented a Tesla for 4 months in the USA and never had any issue. I also travelled by ferry with an EV to Norway.
I bought an electric car and while nice and quiet to drive. It is absolutely more expensive to run. My new electric car is no way as good or as economical as my old 1.6 diesel .
@ian: Are you using night rate charging at home? With a smart meter you can charge for 4 hours at 8cent a kilowatt instead of the day time cost. It should work out about 20% of cost of petrol
@JC O’Connachain: 4 hours at 8c per Kw is the EV plan from Energia. You might as well give them a plug. You dont have to have an EV either.
@ian: That’s a lie.
@Kangaroo Kev: Cheers, you maybe know already but if not check out energy pal.ie to get best rates based on your smart meter data, great website
No fuel excise duty being paid to the state coffers at the pump if someone changes to electric, so why would the Government want to encourage people to switch? They all bang on about reducing emissions and doing our bit to be greener, but if it’s actually going to cost money, forget about it.
@ChrisF: Probably the reason for the roll out of these Smart Meters.
Wouldn’t take one for free.
@M G: How they Puffed their chests proclaiming zero Irish VRT on electric vehicles when only the elites could afford them, now that the price is favourable to their livestock the Irish VRT is restored to all it’s illegal glory… *slow hand clap for our leaders
EVs are great if you can afford to take the initial hit of depreciation on a new one, I bought one second hand and the brakes failed, was quoted €4300 for the parts alone from Nissan. Total price could have neared €5500 to repair. Had to auction it for salvage. Apparently I was very unlucky but I didn’t need a mechanic to tell me what I already knew for years!
@Freda Peeple: you seem very sanguine about these apparent losses that you incurred
@Freda Peeple: The brakes on an EV are basically the same as the ones on an ICE car, and even every single part for an entire braking system for any car would not cost that much, so stop telling lies.
I know some that had new ev after one year of constant trouble they tried to trade it and the garage refused to take it ,it spent more time in the main dealers than they actually had it for out of the 12 months
@M G: I know people that really enjoy their EV and wouldn’t go back. I also know certain Ford cars have a very dangerous fault. Not all Fords are bad cars. Not all EVs are bad cars, most are brilliant
@M G: I know someone who had the same experience with a diesel car
@Tom O’ Donnell: I know someone that bought an Oasis ticket.
@JC O’Connachain: your trying to convince yourself there any good, you can have a good think about it while searching for a charger and waiting for it to charge, in fact you will have enough time to write a book about them.
@K O: never had an issue to be honest. How long have you owned an electric car and been frustrated for? Wait, do you own one or assume it’s hard to find a charger. If you’ve a home charger you’ve less to worry about
@K O: You realise we already started produced dry batteries which have 1000 miles range right?
Electric cars are a load of old pony. 4 years max and the battery goes, only a mug would get one.
@Basildon Joe: Or only a mug who doesn’t own would say that. Plenty of 2014,15,16 etc Nissan Leafs still going but hey you got the reaction out of me so well done
@JC O’Connachain: you are really championing them jc,you must be getting a few Bob out of it
@Jb Walshe: Indeed. I just think there is far too much about the negatives. I’m very happy with my Kona that I got second hand and I’m part of an EV Ireland Facebook group where there are plenty of happy owners. I get the depreciation point but there’s plenty of people who buy a car and keep it for 10-15 years. So far the batteries are holding up, on average it’s 15-20% loss over that time. You can buy ones from the north with no vrt cost
@JC O’Connachain: Fair play for trying to champion the EVs, JC, but you’ll never get through to some of this flat Earth crowd. They’ll cop on in about 10 years, by which time I’ll have saved about 13 grand in running costs.
@JC O’Connachain: I reckon the reality is that on one hand those who have bought them are happy and won’t hear a bad word said. Those who don’t want them will trot out the known arguments against. Never the Twain shall meet. I’d look at market values and use that as a yardstick. That’s the economic argument. That determines what they’re actually worth over time.
@Kenneth Finn: True enough. Market value reflects the fear and also those were keen on EVs cracked on and bought them. Market value will remain low due to the battery degradation and mistruths. They are a good option for those who are happy to drive their car into the ground over 10-15 years. The Irish EV Association on Facebook are a great group for friendly advice for anyone trying to suss it all out
@Basildon Joe: My EV has an 8-year/160,000km warranty (battery will be replaced if capacity is below 80% before then). My own 4 year old example has exactly 100.0% of its original battery capacity after 50,000km. There are photos online of my model with ~300,000km and 95% battery capacity remaining. Stop with the nonsense.
Cars for the gullible.
@Regular John: Clickbait for the angry.
@Regular John: You’re trolling, right? I mean, you can’t possibly really think that
@SYaxJ2Ts:
Me trolling ? No I think they are overpriced rubbish. I’m sure they will improve and some hybrids are ok but the pure electric vehicles ? Let’s just say you won’t see many mechanics driving them.
@Tasty k:
Angry ? What’s to be angry about ??? I’d just laugh at anyone that buys an EV.
@Regular John: yeah simple cars for simple people
people won’t buy them because they don’t work in the real world…..unless your a public servant with free charging and spending half the week at home
Nothing to do with the grant they are just a heap of junk
@K O: You speak from a position of owning one? I’d love to hear which make, model and issue you had. Maybe you are basing your opinion on what someone said. There are positive stories out there too. Like the fact that it costs 20% of the cost of petrol for same mileage. Lots of happy EV owners out there
@K O: like your life!
Many EV cars have had battery failures. Even exploding. If your battery dies, warranty wont cover it. And replacement is buying another car again. Its true, they are worth nothing even after 3 years, never mind 7 or 8. I tried to buy a new EV a few times. I cant pay 100% up front. So its pcp. As HP is too expensive. Example… I tried to get a Nissan Leaf 2024 with the 10k off. Which would drop the price some. But Nissan wanted monthly payments in the 700+ monthly range. The reason, after 3 years and me upgrading to a new 2027 Leaf, my 2024 leaf is worth less than €6,000. After costing over €45,000(highest spec) with all costs and charges. So losing €40,000 in 3 years is nuts! So Nissan wouldn’t approve the sale because they so no value in there own car after just 3 years!
Now, the same goes with every other EV, but they don’t get a 10k discount. Now the ones with money to buy EVs have there cars. And they had bigger gov. discounts too. The average joe in Ireland isn’t driving brand new. Plenty 10+ old cars on the road. I sold my 2016 for a 2021 for example. Citroen Grand Picasso Diesel to Honda Civic 1.0 petrol. Does what i need. I know a person who bought a new EV with cash(50k), after a year didn’t like it and wanted to trade in for a diesel version. The EV was worth less than if he bought a diesel after just one year. The car had dropped by nearly half, but the diesel version of the same year sitting for sale had only dropped by nothing! Imagine losing €25,000 after one year. Then we have those renting, what landlord would allow a home charger.
They wont allow most changes even a dog. A home charger? It would be stuck with the house. But the government hasn’t even thought of this problem. Never mind the lack of charging in the country still. As for buying a 2nd hand EV that is 10 years old. Don’t even bother it will cost more in the long run and wont even be very good as they are 1st gen after all. I really wanted an EV, but too many negatives in the way. Plenty will say its all lies. But I’ve had even dealers say don’t buy them. And in reality even Nissan don’t trust there own cars. So why should we?
@Caleb Mc Donagh: Nice bunch of misinformation and lies !
@Caleb Mc Donagh: You’ll find 3 year old Leafs for sale at a cost of 21 -25k not 6. The PCP is having a laugh if they are offering 6
@Caleb Mc Donagh: There are plenty of chargers in the country. How would you know if you don’t have an EV and drive the country. Download the ESB app and see how many chargers there are. If you are genuine about getting an EV join some of the Facebook EV groups and they’ll discuss any queries with you and advise of the deals. There is no vrt on Northern Irish evs. Keep an eye on mg4s long range if you haven’t given up hope
@Alex: Really, it’s all from my experience. No lies or misinformation. I spent a year trying to get an EV. But every time it was a bad idea.
@JC O’Connachain: This was direct from Nissan Ireland. Just because they might sell it for 21. Doesn’t mean you get 21. PCP is what they value the car at. And they told me 6k. So yeah it’s a joke and why I didn’t buy one.
@JC O’Connachain: I live in Donegal. We have very little when it comes to chargers. Sure the ‘Country’ might. But not every corner. I did check where the chargers were. If I didn’t get a home charger. I had 1 option 30 mins drive from my house. And it might not be free. Or some one might have parked and left a non EV car there. Or an EV and not charging it too. Why would I buy an EV from Northern Ireland.
I already bought a new car. And it’s not an EV.
Nothing to do with the fact that people are struggling to pay their Energy, Insurance Rental, Mortgage, Groceries, Third Level accommodation, back to School bills, you name it, people are too busy trying to survive & not thinking about EV cars or Retrofitting. We can’t all demand a Bike Shelter & shrug out shoulders when it costs the price of a House. The Greens are a sham party.
Buy electric if you want buy petrol diesel if you want simple
ICE forever…the Wokes and their EV’s will never learn
Government waiting for private industry to install the infrastructure – or they’ll tender it out on a public private partnership – typical cart before the horse approach. And once it’s in they’ll tax the living daylights out of it. The residual thing is real and can’t be dismissed, all cars lose their value and at 10 years old.plus are really only worth scrappage value – but how many people want to wait 10 years to change cars? Very few I’d wager. And these electric cars are essentially computers and obsolescence should be a real worry – a laptop is considered out of date at 3/4 years old. I know an electric car is in my future but I’ll hold out as long as I can.
@Niall Whyte: The on board infotainment system in EVs is similar to most new cars now. Battery management tech has evolved, but the range on current cars means it doesn’t really need to go much further for the needs of most people, eg. I can drive 300km on motorway with family on board and a full boot and still have 20% battery left. Cost of 300km motorway driving is less than a fiver.
On your point about not owning for longer than 10 years, I guess that’s true, but maybe we should change our mindset about cars that still have lots of driving in them, regardless of whether it’s EV or ICE.
@Niall Whyte: Scrappage value is something that doesn’t get mentioned much. With how the batteries need to be disposed of, it probably would cost you to have the car scrapped.
The original Prius was worse for the environment than many similar sized cars of the time. Needed to ship the batteries to Japan for disposal. The battery tech has moved on to mostly li-ion, but then mining of what they are composed of and how they are made is not particularly ‘green’ either.
I’m not against them, but would like more awareness of the total cost to environment of having one made, run, then scrapped. Calling them Zero Emissions may be accurate when driving, but there’s a whole lot emissions at other parts.
It’s just another gimmick for people to show off, look what I can buy etc.
@Shane O Mac:
I just look at them and think they know sod all about cars.
The government should bring back the zero benefit in kind tax on company cars if an EV is purchased.
This is basically just lobbying from SIMI to get more people to buy their products and rather than lower the price to increase demand they want the taxpayer to make up the difference. If people aren’t buying new cars, whether ICE or EV, then it means there is oversupply in the market and some places will close. It’s better if they close now when the economy is bouyant (and other jobs are available) rather than in a recesion when every bit of tax will be needed to keep the basics running.
If someone wants to buy an very expensive car why should it be subsidised, same with expensive taxis
This government neef to look for their emissions cuts elsewhere rather than forcing people who need car to buy expensive rip off electric cars
Obviously nothing to do with lack of chargers lack of mechanics that can work on them lack of range resale value nil must be the grant
What people forget is this exact same battle between EV and ICE happened over a hundred years ago with the advent of the car, and even though EV and battery tech have improved in that hundred years, especially in the last 20, the ICE is still winning due to the exact same reasons it won a hundred years ago – convenience and range. While EVs these days easily surpass the range of ICE vehicles a hundred years ago, ICE tech has not stood still either, and most cars will easily get 500 miles or more from a tank of fuel, that can be filled in minutes if driven correctly, while EV’s can get nothing near that before they need a recharge and that takes several hours to complete. Personally, I believe the PHEV is the best compromise for the way forward, using hyrogen as a fuel for the ICE
Yes, let’s all stick with combustion engines and continue to put smog into our cities & towns!!
People find change extremely challenging!!
@Joe Dorran: It’s been a long time since there was major smog in or cities and towns. As long as smokeless coal has been mandatory. So, seeing as petrol and diesel specs have not really changed that much in the last 30 to 40 years, apart from the phasing out of leaded fuels, you can not really blame smog on the ICE.
The dealers got the grant not the buyer.
Would buy one in the morning if they lifted the Irish VRT.
@Thesaltyurchin: You can buy from the North if it is a car registered in the North and there is no VRT. Just learnt this last week. As long as your car is older than 6 months and less than 50k there is no VRT. Only for NI registered cars, not UK registered cars in NI. Check out usedcars ni
@JC O’Connachain: Wasn’t aware!… nice one JC! They do have a superior selection. Is that for all cars? (not just electric)
@JC O’Connachain: They’re not VRT exempt; it’s that Revenue applies a rebate of VRT, up to a maximum of €5,000, on an imported electric car, as long as it’s a regular production model, up to a maximum OMSP of €50,000 (that’s the current Irish market value as defined by Revenue). So, as a rough example, if the car you’re importing has an OMSP of €35,000, you’ll technically pay VRT of seven per cent, at €2,450, but that is obviously covered by the VRT rebate, so you effectively pay nothing. However, the car has an OMSP of €60,000, you’ll pay €4,200 in VRT and won’t get any rebate.
@Caleb Mc Donagh: If you’re bringing a car in from the England, Scotland or Wales, even if it’s an EV, you’ll be liable for 21 per cent VAT (charged on the OMSP value) and ten per cent import duty (charged on what you paid for the car plus the costs of getting it here). If you’re bringing it in from Northern Ireland, as long as it’s either previously been registered to a person or company resident in the North, or you’ve bought it from a dealer, then you won’t pay the import duty, and you’ll only be charged VAT if the car is younger than six months, or has fewer than 6,000km on the clock.
have your say