THERE ARE those who believe that a worried County Kilkenny man may have opened a can of worms when he revealed what he called frightening death figures in his native city and county.
Some expressed concern while others simply didn’t react.
Patrick E. Walsh of Maudlin Street, Thomastown told Kilkenny Press that overall deaths in County Kilkenny were up 30.4% for July to October 2022 compared to July to October 2019 (Pre Covid for comparison),
He also said that Sudden/Unexpected deaths in County Kilkenny were up by a whopping 120.83% for July to October 2019 (Pre Covid for comparison).
Mr Walsh contacted his local councillors, saying that it was his civic duty to put the figures into the public domain, also to bring them to the attention of his local county councillors, describing the latter as those in a position of influence and trust in Kilkenny.
A story in Kilkenny Press brought mixed reaction from readers.
We believe it is our journalistic duty to relay the figures to our local community, to encourage public debate and perhaps to spark an investigation into the hikes that would bring an explanation for them.
Our aim is not to alarm people but maybe to abate any fears they may have as a result of the spikes in deaths.
Early on Monday we set out to get the reaction of five local councillors elected for an area that includes Mr Walsh’s home town of Thomastown.
Former Mayor of Kilkenny City Michael Doyle said the death figures this year in his Rower Inistioge area are also alarming.
We spoke to Callan-based Councillor Joe Lyons who said he had not seen any email from Mr Walsh on Sunday as he had not yet opened his mail but promised to return to us when he read the contents.
We also spoke to Councillor Patrick O’Neill who said he had seen the email but had not digested its contents and would revert to us.
We also telephoned Councillor Deirdre Cullen and Councillor Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere and left ‘phone messages expressing the reason for the calls and asking them to revert.
We are fully aware that councilors have busy schedules at times but we are happy that there will be contact from those we didn’t yet get to speak to.
Councillors will be aware that Mr Walsh has asked them to act to the best of their ability, to information provided by him, thereby fulfilling their positions of trust with the people of Kilkenny.
