It has emerged that the closure of A&E services at Roscommon Hospital, due to take place this Monday, is likely to be postponed.
At time of going to print a meeting was taking place between hospital unions and HSE management over the future of services and staffing at the hospital.
Local TD for Roscommon, Deputy Denis Naughten, lost the Fine Gael party whip yesterday after voting against his party over controversial plans to dowgrade A&E facilities at Roscommon Hospital.
However, he said yesterday evening he was glad his resignation from the party had “led the Government to reconsider the issue”.
Speaking to the Advertiser less than an hour after being informed he had lost the party whip, Deputy Naughten revealed that his former party were moving quickly to put the banishment into action.
“I lost the whip at 3pm, and the immediate implication is that they are now trying to move me out of my office,” he said.
While his political future may now be up in the air, he feels he had no other choice but to vote against Fine Gael on Wednesday night’s Sinn Féin motion, which called on the Government to live up to its election commitments to retain emergency services at a nuber of hospitals, including Roscommon.
“I’d rather it didn’t have to be this way. My position was left untenable. I pride myself on being straight and honest, and I felt I could take no other position,” explained Deputy Naughten.
“I had a commitment to the people of Roscommon based on a written commitment from the Minister for Health, and I campaigned in good faith on that, and the Government wasn’t able to fulfil that commitment.
“Once the plan was to close A&E at Roscommon I knew I was to be left in an untenable positon.”
Since Wednesday night’s vote, Deputy Naughten says he has received “overwhelming support” from his constituents.
He has been a Fine Gael TD since 1997, and was the highest polling candidate in the Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency in the 2011 general election last February, receiving 9,320 votes, or 19.6 per cent of the total.
“I have a long history with Fine Gael. It wasn’t an easy thing to do but I felt I had to be honest with myself and with people.”
