Campaigners fighting against cutbacks at the State’s largest children’s hospital today warned the Government they wouldn’t be backing down.
At Our Lady’s hospital in Crumlin hundreds of angry parents today staged a protest, while another was staged outside Leinster House coinciding with the Oireachtas family day.
At the hospital demonstrators demanded health chiefs consider the effects of the cutbacks and bed closures on patients.
Teresa Shallow, of the Save Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Campaign, said: “We’re not backing down by any means, we’re going to be a strong voice and we’re going to keep speaking.”
Ms Shallow, whose teenage son had open heart surgery at the hospital when he was four, said they are giving the Government an opportunity to reverse the cuts but are planning another protest in four weeks.
Earlier this week the hospital reversed plans to shut more beds and theatre wards over the summer months, claiming the cuts would impact too heavily on patients and their families.
More than 100 teddy bears were placed outside the Dáil by parents, with spokeswoman Karen Bodie vowing the fight to reinstate the services would go on.
“One can live in hope, we’ve already succeeded in having no further ward closures or theatre closures this August, and they admitted it was through public pressure,” she said. “So all we can do is try.
“This is causing such damage and it’s only a matter of time before somebody loses their life.”
Ms Bodie, whose three-year-old son received treatment in the hospital for a heart problem, said they deliberately coincided their campaign with the Oireachtas family day.
“This campaign affects everybody, even if you don’t have a child or you’re not dealing with Crumlin now, your taxpayers' money is being poured into this,” she said.
“Today is a day where the families throughout Ireland are being invited to our national parliament and we just thought it was an ideal opportunity to show their upset and annoyance and what the Government has done.”
The campaign at Leinster House will continue tomorrow.
Fine Gael said the protests must not fall on deaf ears, accusing Minister for Health Mary Harney and the Government of defending the indefensible.
“Despite all the Government spin, there is a simple principle at the back of this,” Dr James Reilly, Fine Gael's health spokesman, said. “When times are bad and cutbacks have to be made do you come looking at front-line services for sick children to make savings?
“Fine Gael’s answer is a resolute 'No'. Fianna Fáil and Mary Harney have the exact opposite position while their Green Party colleagues try to hold both positions at once. ”
A Fine Gael motion on the cutbacks was defeated by five votes in the Dáil earlier this week.
During the debate Ms Harney sparked anger after controversially claiming hospitals were making cutbacks in the most sensitive areas when asked to make savings.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said she was supporting the campaign, branding the cutbacks savage.
PA