WATCH: Protesters march to front gates of University Hospital Limerick

A SECOND protest was held this Saturday, as University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is once again the most overcrowded hospital in the country.

The latest Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Trolley Watch figures found 79 patients were waiting for beds in Limerick on Friday, March 24.

In January, a first protest against the conditions at UHL was organised by Mark Daly, which saw a crowd of 11,000 march down the streets of Limerick city.

This Saturday, about forty people gathered to once again voice their concerns. After meeting at the Crescent Shopping Centre at 11am, protesters marched down to the front gates of UHL. 

Speaking at the protest, Organiser, Mark Daly, stated: “Since last March, when 11,000 came to the streets, nothing has changed in UHL hospital. There’s still an extraordinary amount of people attending, and on trolleys. I want to be very clear and direct when I say that if there’s another death at UHL because of the waiting times, I believe that the Minister for Health should be held criminally negligent.”

Mr Daly said that nobody reached out to them after the previous protest. “Whether it’d be doctors, nurses, management of the hospital. You’d imagine that after 11,000 came to the streets, that some sort of appointment for a meeting would have been given just to sit down and discuss. Even, for the hospital to try and show us reasons why things are so bad out here, and explain to us why they won’t open the three A&Es.”