ABBEYLEIX:THE GOVERNMENT faces a more serious backlash then that experienced by the previous administration over medical cards if they continue to close public nursing units, protesters in Co Laois were told yesterday.
About 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the planned closure of Abbeyleix Community Nursing Unit.
They were joined by groups from Portlaoise, Athy, Thurles, Galway, Dublin and Wicklow.
“This is only the start,” former chairman of the midland health board Martin Rohan warned. “If we don’t get our way we will start a national movement and it will be worse then the medical card one.”
Abbeyleix and District Hospital Action Group spokesman Gary O’Keefe warned of further protests. “Expect resistance because we are not going away.”
In the past three weeks the HSE announced plans to close community nursing units in Abbeyleix and at Shane in Portlaoise. It is also seeking to cut beds in St Vincent’s Hospital in Athy, Co Kildare.
Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan told protesters in Abbeyleix that the abolition of the HSE must now be a priority as elderly care was in “crisis” around the country.
“The HSE is wrong in making this decision and I am delighted that one of the pledges of this government was to abolish the HSE, was to disband the HSE and restore an element of democratic mandate and authority in the decision-making process,” he said.
Labour Senator John Whelan said “it is far from fair to penalise and to pick on the most vulnerable, most feeble, most marginalised in our community.”
Fianna Fail’s Seán Fleming TD called for cross-party support in resisting the closures. “The first cuts should not come at the expense of the elderly,” he remarked.
Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley TD described the situation as “an absolute shameful disgrace.”
Elderly long-stay residents from Abbeyleix attended the protest, among them 92-year-old Bridget O’Neill, who said the threatened move was “very upsetting” .
A meeting between Minister for Health Dr James Reilly and action group members in Dublin is set for Wednesday.