Rally opposes hospital downgrade

HUNDREDS OF people attended a protest against the downgrading of emergency services at Roscommon County Hospital organised by Boyle Town Council on Saturday – but only four of the nine county councillors were there.

Mayor of Boyle councillor Jane Suffin (SF) accused her Fine Gael colleagues of having turned their backs on the people, saying they had “crawled back under their rock” and were unable to face the people.

One Fine Gael councillor had said she would not be attending because of the abusive tactics used against local Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan. The mayor, who erected a giant placard outside Mr Feighan’s Boyle constituency office on the eve of the protest, calling on him to “resign now”, denied abusing the TD.

Mr Feighan who is abroad, said his mother lived over the office and the placard had upset his family. He accepted people’s right to protest but said some of the treatment he had received since voting with the Government on th hospital issue had been “particularly nasty”, and he believed some people had used the issue “for their own political gain”.

An estimated 250 people attended the demonstration organised by Boyle Town Council, the majority of them from Roscommon town. Four Fine Gael councillors and one Fianna Fáil representative were absent.

The mayor has apologised for the strong language but not the sentiments she expressed recently on her Facebook page about Mr Feighan and people who had not supported a previous hospital protest in Boyle.

One local Fine Gael councillor, Marie Paul, had said in advance she would not be supporting Saturday’s protest because of the “abusive and horrible calls” made to Mr Feighan’s tenants in Boyle.

Her colleague councillor Keith Suffin (FG) said he was “living in the real world” and believed there was “no point in carrying on protesting for the sake of political opportunism”.

He said most Boyle people used Sligo hospital. The councillor said Mr Feighan had been treated very badly on this issue.

Councillor Christy Brady (FG), who was at a family funeral on Saturday, said he would not have gone to the protest anyway as the majority of Boyle residents used Sligo hospital.

Councillor Jan Flanagan (FG) said she had been absent because of a family commitment.

They mayor confirmed she had put up the placard outside Mr Feighan’s constituency office on Friday night, “and I will take it down when the protest is over”.

The placard quoted Mr Feighan as saying before the election: “With us, James Reilly and Enda Kenny, the future of Roscommon hospital will be secure because we are telling the truth”. It called on Mr Feighan to resign “as Hiqa never visited Roscommon hospital” and urged him to keep his promise, “no more excuses or lies”.

A mock coffin was carried through the streets of Boyle by protesters. John McDermott, chairman of Roscommon Hospital Action Committee, told the crowd he did not want to see Mr Feighan abused, but said the TD told the people it was the HSE and Hiqa who had removed the service. A Hiqa report of July 13th showed the authority never recommended downgrading the Roscommon emergency department, he said.

Mr Feighan said at the weekend he believed members of the hospital action committee were “decent people”. “People say resign. Resign and do what? I was elected by the people of Roscommon and south Leitrim and I have a duty to the constituency.”