600 rally in the rain against cuts at Navan Hospital

SIX HUNDRED people braved the lashing rain on Saturday to voice their support for Navan Hospital, the third in a series of mass meetings to protest against cuts in services at Navan Hospital.

The crowd was addressed by Councillor Phil Brennan, journalist and health analyst Máire O'Connor, local doctor Niall Maguire, and campaign organiser Navan Deputy Mayor Councillor Peadar Tóibín.

Deputy Mayor and Campaign Chairperson, Cllr Peadar Tóibín said:

It would be easy for me to stand here and give you platitudes about our hospital. But sooner or later we have to get real. We cannot dance around the fact that people must be made accountable for what is happening to Navan Hospital.

If an overpaid Fianna Fáil minister says to the people of Meath on the eve of an election that he will go to the wire for the hospital, he'd better come up with the goods. When he promises that the future of Navan Hospital is safe in his hands or that a new regional hospital will be built in Navan on his watch, well we the people have a right to hold him to account.

The HSE is the creation of and is responsible to this Fianna Fáil Government. Each minister has collective responsibility for the decisions that are made. Minister Noel Dempsey claims that he knew nothing about these cuts. Yet the HSE claim they told the Cabinet a week in advance.

Noel Dempsey’s legacy as a public representative in Meath will be determined by this issue. The choice is his. Will he step up to the plate or will Minister Dempsey be remembered as 'The Minister for Navan Hospital Closure’?

He claims he is disappointed by what has happened. Well, Noel, disappointment is not good enough. Disappointment is not a strategy. Disappointment is not going to save lives. 'Disappointed Dempsey' needs to come up with a plan for the maintenance of efficient and effective services in Meath or he needs to go.