The political campaign to save South Tipperary General Hospital's acute medical services stepped up this week with members of the county's two largest local authorities resolving to plead their case directly to Health Minister Mary Harney.
And in seperate moves, two South Tipperary TDs have requested meetings with Minister Harney on the hospital's future.
Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes made the request in a letter to Minister Harney this week while Fianna Fail TD Mattie McGrath says he has
got a verbal commitment from the Minister to meet with the county's Oireachtas members and is now awaiting a date.
Workers & Unemployment Action Group Cllr Seamus Healy proposed at this week's South Tipperary Co. Council and Clonmel Borough Council meetings that deputations from both local authorities seek to meet Minister Harney to impress on her their opposition to plans to transfer vital services at South Tipperary General Hospital's to Waterford Regional Hospital.
Under threat are the Clonmel based hospital's A&E Unit, maternity, paediatrics and surgical services.
Last week, Fianna Fail TD Mattie McGrath walked out of a meeting between South Tipperary Oireachtas members, HSE chief Prof Brendan Drumm and other HSE official in protest over the plans outlined to them for South Tipperary General Hospital.
At a Borough Council meeting on Tuesday night, Cllr Healy said the penny had finally dropped with Deputy McGrath that the HSE were intent on stripping the hospital's services.
Repeating his proposal tabled at the Co. Council meeting the day before, he said: "I think we should immediately seek a deputation to meet the Minister on this issue. It's very important. There is currently a steering committee in the HSE dealing with the nuts and bolts of transferring services from STGH," he warned.
He also called on South Tipperary's Oireachtas members, particularly's the two Fianna Fail representatives Deputy McGrath and Minister Mansergh, to secure from Minister Harney the same guarantee Kerry Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae obtained in relation Kerry General Hospital.
He was referring to the written assurance Deputy Healy-Rae secured from Minister Harney that contrary to recommendations that had been made, no services would be transferred from the Tralee based hospital to Cork University Hospital.
The former Independent TD's proposal received unanimous support from both councils.
Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Denis Dunne said he totally agreed with Cllr Healy.
"The last thing we want is to see the services closed down after all the money that was spent on the hospital," he said but noted that as an independent propping up the Government, Deputy Healy-Rae was a unique bargaining position. "He can pull the plug at any stage," he remarked.
Cllr Healy responded that so could Deputy McGrath and Minister Mansergh.
At the Co. Council meeting, it was also agreed that any deputation it sent to meet Minister Harney would also request that the services agreed for Our Lady's Hospital in Cashel 14 years ago would be fully put in place.
Cashel Independent Cllr Tom Wood said services that were supposed to be put in place at Our Lady's within two years following the 1995 agreement on South Tipperary's hospital services, had still not been introduced.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes said he no longer believed there was any point in holding further discussions with HSE officials as the transfer of services from South Tipperary General Hospital was Government policy and the HSE was only implementing that policy.
In his letter to Minister Harney, he pointed out that the Minister and her colleagues were responsible for Government policy and the only people mandated to make these decisions.
"This is particularly important given the contentiousness of the issues, the increasingly politicised nature of these discussions and the possible High Court litigation involved," he added in the letter.
Speaking to 'The Nationalist', Deputy Hayes described Mattie McGrath's walk-out at the Oireachtas members meeting with the HSE last week as a charade. What was needed was to stay and fight for the hospital, he said.
Deputy McGrath refuted this criticism and declared that he stood by his actions at the meeting last week where he felt the public representatives hadn't been treated with respect by the HSE officials.
