Carrick-on-Suir hospital protest marches to continue 

A campaign agitating for a reopening date for St Brigid’s District Hospital as a community hospital in Carrick-on-Suir  will stage another protest march in the town this Saturday afternoon.

Carrick-on-Suir Sinn Féin Cllr David Dunne vowed the weekly marches will continue until a date is announced for the reopening of St Brigid’s as a district hospital providing convalescent, respite and  hospice care. 

The hospital, located on Carrick-on-Suir’s Pill Road, was redesignated as  a step-down care facility for recovering Covid-19 patients in April and people receiving convalescent, respite and hospice care there were moved to other HSE centres in the county. 

Concerns about the hospital’s future arose when it was effectively closed a few weeks later because there weren’t any more Covid-19 patients requiring convalescence in the facility. This has resulted in the hospital’s staff being redeployed to other HSE facilities. 

Former Health Minister Simon Harris eased local concerns a few weeks ago when he told Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill in the Dáil that St Brigid’s will return to its previous use as a district hospital. However, he was unable to give a date when this will happen and indicated it was dependent on the HSE’s view in relation to the Covid-19 situation. 

Deputy Cahill and his Carrick-on-Suir party colleague Cllr Kieran Bourke argue the Minister and HSE’s failure to give a reopening date for the hospital at this stage is understandable due to fears of a second wave of Covid-19, which will mean St Brigid’s will be required again as a step-down facility for patients recovering from the virus. 

Cllr Dunne acknowledged a second wave of the virus was a very real danger but pointed out the Saturday protests were being driven by local people concerned about the hospital’s future the longer it remained closed. “The protests are going to go ahead until we get a date for reopening,” he insisted. 

Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District chairman Cllr Kevin O’Meara,  SF TD Martin Browne and former Independent TD Seamus Healy were among the estimated 100 people who took part in last Saturday’s march. 

It started at New Street Car Park opposite the Town Hall, proceeded down Main Street, Kickham Street and the N24 and finished at St Brigid’s Hospital where community activist Eddie Reade, one of the campaign’s organisers, addressed the crowd.

 This Saturday’s March will begin at New Street Car Park at 3pm and take the same route. 

Meanwhile, Deputy Martin   Browne called on Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler,  to provide clarity on when St Brigid’s  will  return to its former role when he and other Tipperary Oireachtas members  met her in  Clonmel on Monday.  

According to Deputy Browne, Minister Butler told him she would follow up on the matter.