MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney was booed by about 300 protesters when she arrived to open a new BreastCheck service at Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar yesterday.
The protesters, mostly women, are angry over the planned transfer of general breast cancer services from the hospital to Galway city. Their anger increased when they were kept away from the Minister by a security cordon.
After Ms Harney had left, some of the women directed their dissatisfaction at local Fianna Fáil TD Beverley Flynn, whom they have accused of “selling out” on the campaign to have the cancer services retained in Castlebar.
Ms Flynn defended herself throughout the verbal exchanges. “Ye can shout me down if ye want,” she said. “There are hundreds of ye but only one of me.”
Although Ms Harney did not speak to the protesters, she made her views on the local cancer breast treatment situation clear in an interview recorded a short time earlier with Mid-West Radio. She was adamant that breast cancer services would be removed from Castlebar to Galway by the end of the year.
She said that only eight centres of excellence could be justified and Galway was ready to take on the extra workload.
Protesters booed and shouted as Ms Harney got into her car after opening the new BreastCheck service which is situated in a mobile trailer at the front of the hospital.
“She hadn’t the decency to speak to the people who are paying her wages,” one woman said as her car departed.
Achill-born poet Noreen Ann Gannon, a cancer survivor, was angry with local politicians such as Ms Flynn who had walked with Ms Harney into the new BreastCheck unit which she described as “a glorified Portakabin”.
“As women with cancer, we have a basic right to the best treatment facilities that are available but we are not going to get them in Galway,” Ms Gannon said.
The protesters supported local consultant surgeon Kevin Barry, who issued a statement last week claiming that politicians, such as Ms Harney and Ms Flynn, had misrepresented his views for their own purposes.
Mr Barry denied that he had ever backed the transfer of the services to Galway and said he deeply resented a process aimed at undermining his professional position and reputation.