A group of Carrick-on-Suir activists will gather outside Dáil Éireann today to protest the closure of respite and palliative care services at St Brigid’s Hospital, Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary.
Speaking ahead of the protest, Tipperary TD Mattie Mc Grath, who is a long-time campaigner on the issue, said:
“The save St Brigid’s Action Group have so far collected almost 11,000 petitions calling for the retention of services, which they are planning to present to the Oireachtas Public Petitions Committee tomorrow. They are to be highly commended for their steadfast efforts.”
“Thousands of people who have signed this petition have faith in the staff, the management and indeed in the nursing care in St Brigid’s Hospital. The people of Carrick on Suir and South Tipperary and into Waterford and South Kilkenny fundraised to put hospice beds in place in this hospital.”
“This is an issue that I have consistently raised since April 2020 with the HSE, the Minister for Health, the Minister of State with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach. Last week in the Dáil, I again appealed to Taoiseach Micheál Martin to meet with the campaign group when on his visit to Ardfinnan, Tipperary last Friday.”
“The Government have allocated an additional budget of over €3.84 billion to the HSE for pandemic related measures. Despite this enormous extra allocation, the HSE proceeded to close this hospital in the middle of the pandemic, even though financial resources were available and were being thrown around like confetti.”
“The people of Carrick-on-Suir, east Waterford, and south Kilkenny have all been betrayed by the HSE actions pertaining to this issue. Furthermore, they have been badly let down by the government parties, who have utterly failed to give an instruction to the HSE to keep the hospital open.”
“I will continue to do everything in my power to support the local action group and look forward to meeting them in Dublin tomorrow.” concluded Deputy Mc Grath.