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Child Item

Sick mum's 'crawl' across Rice Bridge

RobitTV

A GLARING gap in the city’s public transport system left a young woman literally clutching the railings of Rice Bridge during a painful thirty minute virtual crawl from the railway station to the bus station in the past week.

Following day surgery at St. James’ hospital which saw a steel rod inserted into the back of her neck to enable cortisone to be injected into her spine Tramore town councillor Maxine Keoghan has told how she almost crawled across the bridge to catch the bus.

On Tuesday last the single mother of one spent the day in the Dublin hospital receiving treatment for a long-term spinal injury. To be discharged from the hospital care she had to arrange for a friend to hire a car to take her to Houston Station and ensure that she was safely on the train.

All went well for the first hour into the journey and then she began to feel unwell.

“I was nauseous and thought I would faint and my greatest worry was about how I would eventually get home,” she said

On the day she had already spent €100 on transport from Dublin which included the cost involved in taking her to Houston Station. “I had €11 left in my purse and a taxi from the station in Waterford to my home in Tramore would have cost €20 — which I didn’t have,” she said.

Her only option, at the time was to walk across the bridge to the quay and that, she believes, is a problem facing many Waterford people on a daily basis.

The town councillor went on to say, “There should be some type of shuttle between the rail and bus stations to facilitate to facilitate the elderly, the sick and the infirm.”

She believes that an IMP type bus could be provided by Bus Eireann and especially if they were advised in advance about how many people would require it.

Maxine Keoghan added, “Iarnrod Eireann did not give two hoots about the elderly or the ill when remodelling the station. A regular bus can’t even get in there now even if there was a will to provide one.”

She went on to speculate that people who designed public buildings such as the new railway station in Waterford probably never had to use a bus or train in their lives. “All is required is a little consideration especially for those who are sick and those who would really need a shuttle wouldn’t mind waiting for one to arrive,” she concluded.

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anplaya

what i dont understand is she knew when she had her appointment well in advance id say,why didnt she plan out her journey what she was going to do etc in advance? like ask one of her family /friends etc to collect her at station?

and for such serious surgery why was she coming back the same day?youd think shed be kept in at least overnight to check for infections etc .

ILA

1. Make prior arrangements for collection with a friend or family member;
2. Ever hear of "credit"? Give the driver your details and pay the taxi fare later or root out some cash when you arrive at home and pay.

I agree that there should be a shuttle as public transport is dire and underdeveloped, but there was no real reason for this woman to put herself through the described conditions.

jelly&icecream

Its seems to suggest she spent 100 euro getting from St James to Heuston? Why would you hire a car to go this short distance when its at most a 10 quid taxi fare?

bullpost

Taxi from rail station to bus station?
Not a great fare for driver but I'm sure if she explained her circumstances he would have understood and been happy to take her.
Sure would beat a 30 minute walk.

ziedth

IMHO it's a Sensationalism story, i truly feel sorry for the poor lady but it's insane to blame public transport.

Just ask someone for help for god sake ya know?

neilthefunkeone

Think she would have grabbed a taxi and asked the driver to pull up at an ATM to get some more money....

Yes Boss

I looks petty alright. I also note that the OP mention that the person in question was a town councillor....Hmmmmmm - i feel like such a cynic!!

dayshah

Odd story,

but train stations should hook in with other public transport.

All in all the train station is in a bad location.

I Love Cheese

There is a bus that goes that direction, Kenneally's buses go out to Ferrybank and then back through town.

Speak Now

There should be a free bus across to city center provided by Irish Rail. Got the train from Liverpool to Chester once and there was a free shuttle bus into the city center once you showed your train ticket. I know it's a busier station than McDonagh but must be at least 8 arrivals from Dublin alone daily. Bad for locals and Tourists alike imo.

Psychedelic

This story is so stupid, can't believe it's actually a lead story too. The standard of reporting in the News & Star is really poor at times.

First off, the headline: "Sick mum’s ‘crawl’ across Rice Bridge"

2nd paragraph:

Following day surgery at St. James’ hospital which saw a steel rod inserted into the back of her neck to enable cortisone to be injected into her spine Tramore town councillor Maxine Keoghan has told how she almost crawled across the bridge to catch the bus.

If I was getting a steel rod inserted into the back of my neck I would make sure there was someone there to collect me at the train station. Actually I would arrange for someone to bring me up and down to Dublin so not have to use public transport.

“I had €11 left in my purse and a taxi from the station in Waterford to my home in Tramore would have cost €20 — which I didn’t have,” she said.

Her only option, at the time was to walk across the bridge to the quay and that, she believes, is a problem facing many Waterford people on a daily basis.

Seriously, her only option was to walk across the bridge? How about calling a friend? Or how about saying to the driver "look I've only got €11, I will give you the rest when we arrive at my house", or if she didn't have money at home, leave a personal belonging or something with the driver that he would give back when he gets the balance paid back to him.

The town councillor went on to say, “There should be some type of shuttle between the rail and bus stations to facilitate to facilitate the elderly, the sick and the infirm.”

I would agree that some sort of shuttle bus should be in place. However, the "elderly, the sick and the infirm" should be making proper arrangements if there is no shuttle bus.

Maxine Keoghan added, “Iarnrod Eireann did not give two hoots about the elderly or the ill when remodelling the station.”

She probably didn't even know this was an issue until she experienced it first hand herself.

By the way, she seems to refer to the station being newly designed, but I thought there were only plans to do that (remember McCann objecting to them at the time) and the upgrade of the building didn't happen - can anyone confirm, because I haven't noticed any changes to the building over the years.

Nolanger

RobitTV wrote: »

On the day she had already spent €100 on transport from Dublin which included the cost involved in taking her to Houston Station.

It's about a five minute walk to the train station from James' - all downhill. There's a Luas line from the hospital to the train station too.

tombliboo83

100euro??She must've got a limo! This kind of sensationalist tripe wrecks my head. What about real isues? The woman could've asked the station inspector about bus arrangements to Tramore, he then would've contacted bus station and asked for Tramore bus to come across the bridge to pick her up or he would've gave her a lift-job done...but no, she martyrs herself by crawling. She seems like a bit of a fool IMO, with no common sense

old gregg

99.99% of me believes, like most folks here, that there's more holes in her story than Swiss cheese ... the other .01% is just keeping a little in reserve cos anyone who's been in plenty of pain will tell you that you don't necessarily think logically when it's messing with your thought processes.

.. but a hire car to take someone a 1 min drive when Dublin is awash with taxis is stretching it a bit even for a soft touch like me.

Sully

Regardless, she raises a good point - there needs to be a bus from the bus to rail station. There used to be the odd one, not sure what the story is now.

mecco

Yeah, it is a fair point..public transport should be someway integrated. But she (or the author) ruins her own point completely by sensationalising it to an absolute extreme.

Also, would it inspire faith in a councillor that needs 100 euro to get from St James' to Heuston and cant get from Plunkett Station to Tramore for 11 euro?

robtri

while i do agree that there should be a link between train station and city centre..

that story is woefull and nearly laughable..

she didnt crawl across the bridge...she walked

what difference if she is a mother or not??? why include that in headline
sensationalism at it best.. pull at the heart strings

She is a councillor... who approved the plans for the redesign of the train station...

she spent a €100 euro hiring a car in dublin to take her from trainstation to hospital, arranged this in advance while there is adequte public transport in dublin... and didnt bother her hole making arrangments for when she got home...

she couldnt ring anyone in waterford to collect her if she was sick on the train...

Yes Boss

robtri wrote: »

while i do agree that there should be a link between train station and city centre..

that story is woefull and nearly laughable..

she didnt crawl across the bridge...she walked

what difference if she is a mother or not??? why include that in headline
sensationalism at it best.. pull at the heart strings

She is a councillor... who approved the plans for the redesign of the train station...

she spent a €100 euro hiring a car in dublin to take her from trainstation to hospital, arranged this in advance while there is adequte public transport in dublin... and didnt bother her hole making arrangments for when she got home...

she couldnt ring anyone in waterford to collect her if she was sick on the train...

Either she is not a very popular Councilor (that can't get a lift from Waterford to Tramore) or she was just looking for some publicity - Is there an election soon??

dayshah

robtri wrote: »

she spent a €100 euro hiring a car in dublin to take her from trainstation to hospital, arranged this in advance while there is adequte public transport in dublin... and didnt bother her hole making arrangments for when she got home...

I don't understand this hire-car thing. Why not take a taxi? Or is it she paid about €30 for a return train ticket, and a taxi would cost €35 each way? The hospital is hardly that far out.

Max Powers

a disgraceful headline, the type of thing you would hear on Billy McCarthy or Joe Duffy complaining about the tiniest of details.
- A bus linking bus and train stations would not be viable
- she is a councillor so not short of a bob or 2, why didnt she use her brain and get enough money
- ring someone or have someone pre-arranged to meet her
- get a taxi to bus station and then get bus to tramore
- get a taxi and tell the driver to wait outside while she gets some more money in house or ATM

ziedth

^ + 1 to all that for me.

gscully

Max Powers wrote: »

a disgraceful headline, the type of thing you would hear on Billy McCarthy or Joe Duffy complaining about the tiniest of details.
- A bus linking bus and train stations would not be viable
- she is a councillor so not short of a bob or 2, why didnt she use her brain and get enough money
- ring someone or have someone pre-arranged to meet her
- get a taxi to bus station and then get bus to tramore
- get a taxi and tell the driver to wait outside while she gets some more money in house or ATM

Because if she did any of that she wouldn't have gotten her name in the papers! However correct her argument is, her motives are all self-serving.

Mulbert

Delighted this has been picked up on. News n Star has been going this way for a while now. Hysterical headline grabbing red top bull****. Seems to especially hit the Railway station. There was another thing about the clamping at the station made front page news about two weeks ago. Is there nothing more important happening in Waterford today than people getting a clamp fine and idiotic county councillors making fools of themselves coming home from Dublin.

Minstrel27

She is a mother. So ****ing what?

1966

A non-story IMO.

Aquos76

I know we have a news and star journo registered here on boards, would be interesting to get her take on this story

Minstrel27

1966 wrote: »

A non-story IMO.

Indeed. Headline should be "Councillor doesn't prepare for journey then whinges to local rag"

looksee

While I agree the story is a bit ridiculous, there should be a link between the rail station and the train station. If you are not entirely fit it is a long walk from one to the other. If Bus Eireann can't organise it (and they can't organise a bus from Tramore to the ring road or industrial estate, so that's not surprising) would it be illegal for a taxi firm with an 8 seater to meet trains and take groups of people across for an advertised fixed price?

mecco

Minstrel27 wrote: »

She is a mother. So ****ing what?

Exactly what I thought. But it seems to be one of those things in sensational (non-) journalism:

"sick single mother" is more dramatic than "sick mother" which is more dramatic than " sick woman" which is more dramatic than " sick person".

old gregg

anyone who watched Modern Family last night will also tell you that being in a same sex relationship with a minority while being sick is going to win every time

:D:D