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Season’s greetings
It is so hard to believe that Christmas is almost here and 2015 is just
around the corner. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you
all a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. We have, yet
again, had a very difficult year and as we head into the holiday
season I hope that each and every one of you will be able to
take some time out with your families and loved ones. We have
many obstacles to overcome as we face into 2015. As our economy
is improving, let us embrace the challenges facing us together as a
unified group and look forward to the next year with positivity.
NMBI protest
We recently had our
protest at NMBI head
quarters in Blackrock as part
of our campaign to reverse
the decision to increase the
retention fee for members
by €50. There was a fantastic
turnout of more than 2,000
protesters on the day. I would
ask all members to please
keep themselves updated by
checking the website and our
newsflashes. It is extremely important that we all work together to reverse this decision
for now and into the future. We will keep you fully informed of developments.
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| Claire Mahon, president of the INMO, pictured addressing INMO members and staff who attended the protest at the NMBI HQ in Blackrock in Dublin last month |
Midwifery Section conference
Our Sections play a major role within the Organisation and the highlight for many of
them each year is their annual conference, which is a great opportunity for members
within various disciplines to network. These very valuable education days are important
events in our calendar and I always welcome an opportunity to attend. It was a
great pleasure that this year we hosted the annual North South Midwifery Conference
in Dublin in October. More than 120 midwives from across the island of Ireland
attended an excellent day.
We welcome all sections and are delighted to see that our National Children’s Nurses Section (formerly Paediatric Nurses Section) has re-established its network and held their first meeting in November. If you have an interest in any of our sections please keep up to date on their meetings and events on the website and in WIN.
Disability
The Joint North South ICTU Disability
Seminar, which I co-chaired with
Bernie McCrea, chair of the Northern
Ireland Committee, was held
recently in Derry City. This was a
great opportunity for the sharing of
information and networking.
More than 50 delegates attended and the theme was ‘The contribution that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can make to the lives of people on the island of Ireland’. There was also a discussion on the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disability from the National Disability Authority which also held its annual conference in recent weeks in Croke Park.
EFN
It was a great honour to host the
ENS4Care, EFN and ENSA meetings in
Dublin in October. You may be aware
that EFN represents more than one
million nurses across 34 European
countries. Some 78 participants from 27
countries attended. Leo Varadkar, Minister
for Health, formally opened the EFN
General Assembly, which was his first
official engagement with the INMO.
ENSA – the European Nursing Student Association held its meeting concurrently with the EFN and I would like to congratulate our student and new graduate officer, Dean Flanagan on his election as president of ENSA. See more on these meetings on pages 46-47
Get in touch
You can contact me at the INMO headquarters at Tel: 01 6640 600,
through the president’s corner on www.inmo.ie or by email to: president@inmo.ie
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From the President - On the ground with the president |