Wexford Hospital Petition delivered to Dáil

A petition to upgrade Wexford General Hospital and to protect the hospital from Government intentions to centralise acute hospital services under the Hanly Report was delivered to Leinster House on Wednesday by Wexford Sinn Féin elected representatives and local election candidates.

Some 12,000 signatures were gathered throughout County Wexford over the past two months, since the launch of the petition in February. Sinn Féin Dáil leader and Health spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD accepted the petition for presentation to the Minister for Health and Children Mícheál Martin TD.

Wexford Sinn Féin spokesperson and EU candidate in the East constituency, John Dwyer stated:

"The delivery of this petition to the Minister for Health, following recent unprecedented bed shortages at Wexford General Hospital, particularly over the Easter weekend, sends a timely message to this government that the people of Wexford are not prepared to tolerate the continuing neglect of our hospital.

"The ongoing failure to invest in Wexford General Hospital effectively means that it is already being downgraded, as it can no longer keep up with the demands of population growth in Wexford and is now in a severe crisis situation.

"Only last week the Minister gave commitments to maintain A&E services at both Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals. This was a result of the tremendous local pressure put on the Minister by the people of Nenagh and Ennis. Proper healthcare should not be dependent on local people having to exert pressure on the Minister. However this petition, signed by people from every corner of county Wexford, will let the Minister know, in no uncertain terms, that the people of Wexford will not tolerate any further downgrading and demand that this government invest urgently in our hospital to deal properly with the growing crisis."