Councillors tell Kenny and Reilly to apologise

THE Taoiseach and Health Minister should make a public apology to the people of Roscommon, rebel Fine Gael councillors have demanded.

With the bitter war of words over the down-scaling of services at Roscommon Hospital showing no signs of abating, two Fine Gael county councillors quit the party in protest.

Dominick Connolly and Laurence Fallon said they were leaving the party in disgust at Enda Kenny’s failure to stick to general election pledges regarding the hospital’s future.

Cllr Connolly said Mr Kenny and Dr James Reilly should apologise to the people of Roscommon for failing to deliver on a written guarantee on hospital services.

Both councillors called on the Taoiseach to come to Roscommon to give an “honest explanation” about the future of the hospital.

The remaining group of Fine Gael councillors in the county will meet on Thursday to discuss the crisis as the party high command tries to stop any more embarrassing walkouts.

As the emergency department at Roscommon shut, Mr Connolly expressed outrage that Fine Gael had reneged on election pledges given just four months ago.

He said: “I think the Taoiseach and James Reilly should come down here to Roscommon, to the hospital, and offer an apology to the people of Roscommon and the staff and the patients for misleading them in those statements in February.”

He said there was no electoral need for the party chiefs to give such strong guarantees on the hospital if they did not mean them.

“We got a firm commitment from James Reilly that the hospital would be kept open under Fine Gael’s watch, that is not happening and it is a huge decision for me after 30 years in the party to resign the whip over this.

“Mr Kenny said Roscommon would be safe — we were told it would be off the agenda for all time. Mr Reilly even signed a written guarantee to that effect. We were doing well in the polls and there was no need to do that if it was not meant,” Mr Connolly added.

Mr Kenny said he regretted the “confusion” caused by him denying he had made specific pledges on Roscommon Hospital during the election.

Hours later, a tape recording emerged revealing him doing exactly that.

The Taoiseach initially said: “I was at pains around the country to say, on more than one radio station, that I wasn’t travelling the country making promises that I couldn’t stand over.”

However, on the tape made during the February election campaign, Mr Kenny said: “We are committed to maintaining the services in Roscommon County Hospital.”

He insists the situation was transformed by a Health Information and Quality Authority report which stated that services at the hospital were not good enough.