Anger over health issues hurt Fianna Fáil in local elections

WHEN cancer campaigners from Waterford last convened on the Dáil on February 9 of this year, Junior Health Minister Brian Lenihan conceded that the radiotherapy issue had cost the Government dearly in the local elections.

Fianna Fáil lost seven seats on city and county councils last June. A major march in Waterford, attended by up to 10,000 people in the run-up to that vote, had a huge impact.

A campaign organised by local woman Sheila McGrath also affected the vote. Her sisters, Margaret, 50, and Ellen, 56, both suffered from breast cancer and had to travel to Dublin and Cork for radiotherapy.