Ellen Leonard

rte.ie/radio/lyricfm/… Listen back here to the fantastic Ellen Leonard, announcer and soprano, singing for Marty on this mornings show. A talented woman! @RTElyricfm @martylyricfm

Hundreds of dogs across the country remain in shelters🐶@DSPCA spoke to me for @RTECountryWide about the effects surrendering has on the dogs left behind. A recent study shows 62% choose to adopt but rescues say there’s a long way to go when it comes to animal welfare in Ireland.

So things have gone from bad to worse recently for Harvey unfortunately. While we have been campaigning, while we have all been sharing his story, while we have been watching footage of Harvey struggling to breathe, while we have been watching him screaming in pain, @CHI_Ireland took it upon themselves to remove Harvey from the waiting list. Harvey was on the list since February 2022 and had been waiting over two years, and he was removed without our consent, or even us being informed. The only reason we even know is because I queried his status again. Where else in the world would you see a child with a curvature well over 100° actually taken *off* a surgical list. Spending years sitting on that list is bad enough but to go ahead and actually remove that little glimmer of hope we had is just inexcusable. They had no plan in place for Harvey, no scheduled follow up appointments, just him kicked off the list without even a curtesy call to let us know. As far as I can tell they gave zero consideration to his wellbeing in making that decision. We have been spending so much time trying to decide if we should put this out publicly but you have all been so supportive of us, and all the children waiting so far and it just felt too important to not share. Your support helps us fight for better, because we all know these children, and the children that will come after them deserve better. From our own experience, this new task force is nothing but a media spin between CHI and @SimonHarrisTD to make it seem like they’re making things better but this is the reality. Not only have things not got better for most of us, in some cases they’ve somehow got worse. They say that they’re improving communications with parents but I have asked David Moore (the lead of the task force) repeatedly for information like when Harvey was removed from the list and he is actively evading answering. Don’t let the media spin fool you, these children are continuing to be failed and CHI and this government are not only allowing it, they’re causing it.

So things have gone from bad to worse recently for Harvey unfortunately. While we have been campaigning, while we have all been sharing his story, while we have been watching footage of Harvey struggling to breathe, while we have been watching him screaming in pain, @CHI_Ireland took it upon themselves to remove Harvey from the waiting list. Harvey was on the list since February 2022 and had been waiting over two years, and he was removed without our consent, or even us being informed. The only reason we even know is because I queried his status again. Where else in the world would you see a child with a curvature well over 100° actually taken *off* a surgical list. Spending years sitting on that list is bad enough but to go ahead and actually remove that little glimmer of hope we had is just inexcusable. They had no plan in place for Harvey, no scheduled follow up appointments, just him kicked off the list without even a curtesy call to let us know. As far as I can tell they gave zero consideration to his wellbeing in making that decision. We have been spending so much time trying to decide if we should put this out publicly but you have all been so supportive of us, and all the children waiting so far and it just felt too important to not share. Your support helps us fight for better, because we all know these children, and the children that will come after them deserve better. From our own experience, this new task force is nothing but a media spin between CHI and @SimonHarrisTD to make it seem like they’re making things better but this is the reality. Not only have things not got better for most of us, in some cases they’ve somehow got worse. They say that they’re improving communications with parents but I have asked David Moore (the lead of the task force) repeatedly for information like when Harvey was removed from the list and he is actively evading answering. Don’t let the media spin fool you, these children are continuing to be failed and CHI and this government are not only allowing it, they’re causing it.

📺 Ireland’s Education Crisis airs 29 Aug at 20:30 on Virgin Media One & Play. Caitriona Rohan’s son, Rian, who has autism, has been denied a place in over a dozen schools.  #EducationCrisis #Ireland #SpecialNeeds #VirginMediaNews #Documentary @maireadcleary7 @VirginMedia_TV

“We're trying to help every child, but our hands are tied,” says Angela Dunne, Principal. Ireland's Education Crisis explores the struggle for special needs support in schools. Watch tonight at 8:30pm on Virgin Media One & Virgin Media Play. @maireadcleary7 @VirginMedia_TV

Parents of children with additional needs in West Dublin have rallied outside the Department of Education, protesting the shortage of school places. #Education #WestDublin #Parents @ElleLenn