Harney urged to have a heart over planned hospital closure

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney will be urged, on the eve of Valentine’s Day to show she has a heart.

Supporters of Monaghan General Hospital travel to Dublin tomorrow to present the minister with a heart-shaped Valentine’s gift.

Anxious to retain acute medical services at Monaghan in the face of Government policy to have it centralised to Cavan, members of the Monaghan Hospital Community Alliance have received the backing of the local business community — which will be travelling in convoy to the Dáil tomorrow.

Arriving in their business vans and lorries, the delegation will deposit a heart-shaped present at the gates of Leinster House at about 12.30pm, marked for delivery to Ms Harney.

“We think democracy has been lost here, if the Government we elected to look after our health and welfare is handing it over to an unelected body,” said Peadar McMahon of the Monaghan alliance yesterday. “That’s why we’re going to the Dáil and not the offices of the HSE.”

Monaghan general hospital has already lost maternity services and its children’s ward and the HSE has indicated its intention to also transfer acute services.

However, the local community are fighting this move and want to retain 24-hour emergency treatment facilities, and also want surgical services improved from the current two-hours per day situation.

Mr McMahon claimed that Cavan general hospital, the proposed site for centralised services in the region, is already “totally over-run and unable to cope with what they have”.

The Monaghan alliance may yet run its own candidate in the general election to place further pressure on the Government but is currently in talks with Fine Gael and Sinn Féin in an attempt to get commitments for the hospital.

Tomorrow’s delegation will set off from Monaghan town at 10am and travel to Dublin via the N2, approaching through Finglas, Phibsboro, Constitution Hill, across the Liffey to Christchurch, Patrick Street, Kevin Street, St Stephen’s Green, Dawson Street, and Molesworth Street.

“Unfortunately, the only place they’ll listen to us is when we go to Dublin, because if we do it down here they pass no remarks. That’s going to cause some disruption but we have to do it and we’ll try and keep it to a minimum,” added Mr McMahon.