Like I care:
This is what I have at the moment, in the absence of Frank in Newstalk returning any of my calls.
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Reply |Aine Kerr to Michael, me
show details Mar 12 (3 days ago)
from Aine Kerr akerr@independent.ie
to Michael Brennan mbrennan@independent.ie
cc @gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more
dateFri, Mar 12, 2010 at 1:17 PM
subject This is what I have at the moment, in the absence of Frank in Newstalk returning any of my calls.
mailed-byindependent.ie
hide details Mar 12 (3 days ago)
Áine Kerr and Michael Brennan
A NATIONAL radio station has been forced to issue a second personal apology to Health Minister Mary Harney broadcasting damaging claims about her private life.
In a fresh apology yesterday, Newstalk radio station said allegations made on ‘The Tom Dunne Show’ by veteran journalist Nell McCafferty were “untrue and were known to be without truth when they were broadcast”.
Spokespeople for Ms Harney last night declined to comment on the damning personal remarks made by Ms McCafferty.
But, Newstalk issued a second apology yesterday morning following the controversial broadcast on Thursday.
“The interview should never have been broadcast and the fact that these allegations were made represents an abject failure on the part of Newstalk to meet basic standards of common decency,” the statement said.
“Newstalk apologises without reservation to Mary Harney. Newstalk deeply regrets the fact that these allegations were made and accepts that these untruthful statements were deeply hurtful to Mary Harney and her family.”
Each and every one of the allegations made on the show were “untrue and were known to be without truth when they were broadcast”, the statement added.
The minister’s absence from the country has been a source of intense controversy amid growing calls for her to return to deal with the X-ray scandal in Tallaght hospital.
Sources close to the minister are said to be outraged at the remarks by Ms McCafferty, saying they were both false in nature and derogatory.
Meanwhile, the head of the Oireachtas health committee has questioned the length of Health Minister Mary Harney’s trip New Zealand for St Patrick’s Day.
Fianna Fail Kildare South TD Sean O'Fearghail said it was surprising she made a 15 day trip.
“I’m surprised in the current climate that anyone would be gone for that length of time. I would have thought a shorter, more intensive trip on behalf of all ministers would be more appropriate,” he said.
However, Mr O'Fearghail firmly backed Ms Harney’s handling of the controversy over the 58,000 X-rays in Tallaght Hospital that were not reviewed by a consultant radiologist and the 3,000 letters from GPs left unopened.. He placed the responsibility for the crisis on the hospital management and staff.
“My own view is that culpability must lie somewhere, it lies ultimately within the hospital and any study of the circumstances will have to identify those who made the decisions which resulted in the x-rays not being reviewed and the letters not being opened,” he said.
Ms Harney is on a 15 day junket in New Zealand for St Patrick’s Day festivities and business meetings with her husband Brian Geoghegan, the former chairman of FAS, and three advisors.
The minister left for the action-packed trip Down Under on Saturday March 6th and will not return until Sunday March 21st- as the latest crisis to hit the health service prompts renewed calls for her resignation.
The minister is dealing with the misdiagnosis crisis remotely from New Zealand- but her absence in the Dail has drawn sharp criticisms from Opposition parties who claimed she had “ignored” the problem of unchecked X-rays when it was first raised in December
ENDs
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