Retention of cancer services top priority

CANCER services and rising fuel prices were top of the agenda when Enda Kenny carried out a whistle-stop tour of Donegal yesterday.

The Fine Gael leader had stayed in Letterkenny on Wednesday night but travelled to the Inishowen Peninsula to address his party yesterday morning.

After a rousing speech at An Grianán Hotel in Burtonport in which he told supporters that they must now ensure they cross the finish line, the Mayo man was once again hard to keep up with as he set a blistering pace.

He was stopped in his tracks however by haulage company owner John McLaughlin of JML Transport, who handed the Fine Gael leader a letter of protest about rising fuel prices.

Noelle Duddy of Co-operating for Cancer Care North West tackled Mr Kenny on his party’s view on cancer services in Donegal and she was told that Fine Gael will seek to retain and improve all cancer services at Letterkenny General Hospital if elected to Government.

But seconds later it was time to board the party bus and, after a brief stop for more photos at Letterkenny, the man being tipped to be the next Taoiseach was off again.

In Donegal Town traffic literally came to a standstill when a large crowd gathered to see the Fine Gael leader in The Diamond.

There he met with delegations from the Carer’s Association as well as an anti-abortion group.

He also hinted that, if elected, there would be greater things for Donegal South West’s sitting TD Dinny McGinley.

And seconds later he was gone.

In total, the visit to the country’s most northerly county took just over two and a half hours before he headed on to Sligo and then home to Castlebar in Co Mayo.