ROSCOMMON-SOUTH Leitrim Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten last night voted against the Government in a Sinn Féin motion opposing the closure from next Monday of the local hospital’s emergency department.
Fellow Fine Gael constituency TD Frankie Feighan voted with the Government, which won by 96 votes to 47. Mr Naughten, chairman of the Oireachtas health committee, is the first Fine Gael TD to break ranks with the Government in a Dáil division. He is expected to lose the party whip and his chairmanship of the committee, which carries an extra allowance of €16,000 a year.
Mr Feighan said he was “sincerely sorry” that he could not stand by the commitment he had given “in good faith” before the election to stand by the hospital and safeguard its services. There were events that “overtook those commitments” including the Hiqa report and the Mallow report. He added that “I am doing everything possible to live up to my commitment” and he accused local Independent TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan of being a “political thug” in the controversy.
Last night’s vote took place as protesters who had travelled from Roscommon demonstrated outside Leinster House. Mr Flanagan challenged Mr Naughten and Mr Feighan, to support the motion.
“Deputies Naughten and Feighan promised the people they would stand by them and, today, they must vote in favour of this motion,” he said. “Otherwise, they will be classified as traitors until kingdom come.”
TDs from surrounding counties should also do the same, he added.
“Choose between the bankers or your constituents,” said Mr Flanagan. “Let them die if you want . . . but let ye pay the price if ye do.”
Mr Flanagan said people did not have to lie to be elected to the Dáil.
“I did not lie; I could have gone down the same route at the last general election,” he added.
He could have lied, he said, about his views on legalising cannabis, because there were no votes in Roscommon on that issue.
He could also have lied about the fact that he did not have a problem with a mobile phone mast beside his house. That certainly did not get him any votes, but that was his opinion, he added.
“Unfortunately, that cannot be said for Deputies Naughten and Feighan, unless today they vote with the people of Roscommon and south Leitrim, rather than voting with Fine Gael,” he added.
Addressing Mr Flanagan as “Dr Ming”, Mr Feighan said: “I think your behaviour in the last week has certainly not helped the situation. You acted like a political thug and I believe you have more responsibility to tell the people the truth.”
He said: “What you have done has actually shamed politics, because what I will tell people is the truth.”
Earlier, there were renewed exchanges between the Taoiseach and the Fianna Fáil leader on the issue. Enda Kenny again denied a claim by Micheál Martin that he had misled people on the issue during the election campaign.
“I make no apology for attempting to bring about a situation where patient safety is seen and demonstrated to be of critical and fundamental importance to this Government,” said Mr Kenny.
He added he was on record, in several radio stations throughout the State, as saying that his party, in attempting to get into government, was not going down the route of endless promises to restore places that had been closed down.
Mr Martin said there was the “remarkable spectacle” on Tuesday of the Taoiseach going as far as to deny having made any commitment to smaller hospitals.
“His problem, of course, is that it takes only about five minutes research to show that making promises to hospitals was a core campaign tactic of Fine Gael in Roscommon and throughout the country during the election and in the last few years,” he added.
