Some of the crowd that packed into the West Cork Hotel
A HUGE crowd of 700 people turned out at the West Cork Hotel on Friday night for a special public meeting organised by Skibbereen Town Council in opposition to proposed changes to ambulance services in West Cork.
Among those attending the packed meeting were local TDs Michael McCarthy and Noel Harrington as well as numerous local councillors.
Skibbereen Mayor Frank Fahy addresses the meeting
Skibbereen Mayor Frank Fahy told attendees that proposals to replace ambulance cover in Skibbereen and Castletownbere with Emergency Response Vehicles after 8pm would have devastating and dangerous implications for ambulance cover across West Cork.
“We are not asleep down here in West Cork,” he said, “and we will not let the HSE get away with this,” which was greeted with thunderous applause.
Ann Cullinane of Clonakilty Town Council said that her members would be passing a motion in support of Skibbereen next week while Pat Lennon of High Street, Skibbereen suggested the group place open letters in the newspapers challenging the Government and the HSE.
Daniel Murphy from Heir Island said the implications of the proposed cuts for islanders was “very worrying indeed” while Ed Harper from Cape Clear said that his community was nine miles off the coast and it took 45 minutes in a lifeboat just to reach the shore, any delays in an ambulance arriving he said, could be disastrous.
Cllr John O’Sullivan from Timoleague who is a member of the Regional Health Forum urged people to build a strong, factual case against the cuts in a “language the HSE can understand”.
He said that West Cork had 12 months before the changes were due to come into force and now was the time to act.
Frank Fahy said the HSE were asked to send a representative to the meeting but they had pulled out at the last minute.
TDs Noel Harrington and Michael McCarthy both pledged their total support for the campaign and pointed out that they had both challenged the Minster for Health in the Dáil on the issue and would continue to do so.
Cllr Dermot Sheehan from Goleen said that the huge turnout proved the people of West Cork are totally against the proposals, “now I know the people are with us,” he said,
To support the campaign join the West Cork Ambulance Service Saved My Life, Let Them Save More Facebook Page.
I am curious to know who in the HSE was contacted about sending a representative to this meeting “the HSE were asked to send a representative to the meeting but they had pulled out at the last minute.”
According to Frank Fahy on the night, Ger Reaney, HSE Area Manager was asked to attend. He agreed to do so but phoned at the last minute to inform Frank he could not make it. Ed
Frank Fahy clarified that he sent an email to Ger Reaney Operations Manager HSE South last Monday inviting him to the meeting. He received no reply until last Friday evening at 18.44 when he informed him he could not attend.
On a point of further information, 632 people signed the register located at the door of the function room on the night to verify that they attended and to form the basis of a future petition. A reliable source calculated that between 80 and 150 further people entered by the outside door to the function room which had been opened to admit air. None of these people signed and many of them were later seen leaving by the same door without signing
It would be reasonable to assume that there was in excess of seven hundred at the meeting. More than eighty per cent of those attending indicated by a show of hands that the would travel to Dublin in protest if such a trip was thought to be beneficial to the cause.
I would welcome any suggestions on action that might be taken to progress this ultra important matter for West Cork.
My sincere thanks to all for attending at what was apparently the largest public meeting in Skibbereen for very many years.
Frank,
To avoid any allegation of double counting should we not ask people to sign the on-line petition even if they were at the meeting and signed one of the books?
To para-phrase an old adage “Beware of Fíanna Fáilers, Fíne Gaelers and Labour Party hacks bearing gifts”. The track record of all of the above in placing the enormous bank bailout debt on the shoulders of the majority of our people who had no hand, act or part in the debacle, a debacle that has brought about job losses, cuts in in social services, health and education, should serve as a warning to the community. The people of Cork and the trade unions representing the ambulance service would be well advised to organise themselves to oppose the cuts in services and give the “same old”, “same old” politicans a wide berth.