{"id":221174,"date":"2026-01-01T05:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T05:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/221174\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T05:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T05:38:09","slug":"vigil-in-memory-of-university-hospital-limerick-patients-as-overcrowding-pressures-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/221174\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil in memory of University Hospital Limerick patients as overcrowding pressures continue"},"content":{"rendered":"

This time of year is particularly hard for Melanie Cleary.<\/p>\n

Her daughter Eve died in 2019, just hours after being discharged from University Hospital Limerick (UHL).<\/p>\n

On New Year’s Eve, Melanie and Eve’s sister, Sarah, took part in an annual vigil at UHL along with others concerned about ongoing overcrowding pressures at the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristmas is difficult, but I find New Year\u2019s Day harder, because we\u2019re going into our seventh year now without Eve,” Melanie said afterwards.<\/p>\n

She was disappointed at the low turn-out at this year’s vigil, but said: \u201cIt’s something we will always do, no matter if nobody else shows up, we will go anyway. For me, it\u2019s about Eve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about Eve for me, and UHL is the last place where she was,\u201d Ms Cleary said of the vigil.<\/p>\n

This is the first vigil since health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced significant construction plans for UHL and the health services in the midwest region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SenatorSenator Joanne Collins, TDs Donna McGettigan and Maurice Quinlivan, with Inga Aammonsen and Melanie and Sarah Cleary at the vigil. Picture: Brendan Gleeson<\/p>\n

It includes continued expansion of UHL and building an elective-only hospital nearby. There are also plans for a new hospital with an emergency department.<\/p>\n

Ms Cleary is a member of the Midwest Hospital Campaign which has called for these changes and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of promises being thrown around, but there are no timelines yet, there\u2019s nothing solid really,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

“Are we going to get another hospital? It\u2019s grand saying \u2018we will implement all three recommendations\u2019 [from Hiqa] but when?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, despite her concerns, she wants to finish the year on a more optimistic note.<\/p>\n

\n Eve is the whole reason this started for us, maybe next year there will be a bigger turnout or maybe next year we might have better news to talk about.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we get the dates [for the new hospitals], that\u2019s the important thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also in attendance at the vigil was Inga Ammonsen from Limerick City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her son Daniel Connor-Ammonsen, who had diabetes, died a week before his 29th birthday in 2021 at UHL.<\/p>\n

\"IngaInga Ammonsen’s son, Daniel, died a week before his 29th birthday in 2021 at UHL. Picture: Brendan Gleeson<\/p>\n

She shares Ms Cleary\u2019s concerns, saying: \u201cI want them to name out the places, decide which site they want and then start putting it into practice.<\/p>\n

\n My son is dead nearly five years… and what has happened since then? I meet doctors in there, they are worn-out and the nurses that are there are probably worn-out as well.\n <\/p>\n

She is very aware other families are grieving silently this holiday period for losses or trauma linked to the overcrowding pressures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear about someone passing away, it brings it all back for me,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say \u2018what\u2019s wrong with you\u2019 but until you go through it or you know somebody who has gone through you, you can\u2019t really understand.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grieving families were joined by Sinn Fein politicians Maurice Quinlivan, Donna McGettigan and Joanne Collins. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This time of year is particularly hard for Melanie Cleary. Her daughter Eve died in 2019, just hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[21911,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-221174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-hospital-overcrowding","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}