More than 2,000 people took part in a street protest in Waterford yesterday afternoon to highlight the lack of radiotherapy services in the south-east region.
Many of those who joined the protest left work at 2 p.m. and marched to the South Eastern Health Board's community care headquarters on the Cork Road, where they were addressed by cancer care campaigners and local trade union activists.
The march had divided opinion in the city. The Mayor of Waterford, Mr Oliver Clery (PD), refused to take part, claiming the event was being orchestrated by left-leaning political parties.
The employers' group, IBEC, had also expressed concern about the work stoppages sparked by the protest - saying that while the cause was laudable the cost to industry was excessive.
The protest came ahead of the publication of the findings of an expert review group on radiotherapy, which is expected to recommend that cancer patients from the south-east should continue to receive the treatment in Dublin and Cork.