Review of the Year: October

October opened with a headline on the  front page about ‘Trolley chaos’ as COVID outbreaks in wards and extremely high numbers of patients waiting on trolleys caused serious concern at St Luke’s Hospital. These figures presaged a ‘catastrophic winter’ according to IMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha. The first week of October also saw the rollout by the HSE of the adapted bivalent vaccines for COVID and flu viruses.

On another downbeat note, Cllr Pat Dunphy said  it was no surprise to learn that the N25 was the most dangerous road in the country and the N24 not far behind as the fourth most dangerous road in Ireland. He said at the time about securing funding for road improvements to both routes, “We are asking for support before something terrible happens.”

A happier note was struck by tributes to the outgoing Gaelscoil principal, Sean O’hArgáin who retired after decades at the helm of Gaelscoil Osraí. On his departure he cited his parents who gave him his love of learning and a curiosity about the world.