‘Lives will be lost’, say locals

MORE THAN 500 people formed a 600-metre chain in Youghal yesterday as they protested HSE plans to replace the town’s ambulance service with a first responder paramedic car.

Local politicians, including Sinn Féin TD Sandra McLellan and Fianna Fáil Mayor Eoin Coyne, joined the participants at the Foxhole Business Park, two miles from the town centre.

The protesters waved placards and chanted “Save our ambulance” as passing traffic hooted horns in support. Long traffic tailbacks formed when the demonstrators marched half a mile to the Rhincrew roundabout and back.