Press Release 2 : 9th November 2011
Campaign group West Cork SOS has announced an acceleration of its campaign against the ambulance cutbacks in the region.
The people of West Cork are about to take to the streets to protest at the impending ambulance cutbacks in the region and at the Minister for Health’s ongoing refusal to address their concerns. A protest march will take place on Saturday 26th November in Skibbereen starting at 12.30pm. Communities from Beara to Mizen, and all population centres in between, will make the journey to support this crucial fight for the retention of the current levels of emergency ambulance services and the maintaining of the threatened Minor Injuries Assessment Unit at Bantry Hospital.
Heartened by the response to its ongoing petition campaign, West Cork SOS is now also commencing an email, letter, phone and text campaign targeting the three elected representatives in the region – Jim Daly, Michael McCarthy and Noel Harrington along with Minister for Health Dr James Reilly. While two of the local TDs are supportive of the campaign, it is felt they need to signal more commitment, and more pressure needs to be applied by them at a national level to get the message across that the impending cutbacks to the ambulance services in West Cork are unacceptable and will certainly cause deaths if implemented.
Contact postal addresses, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of the Minister for Health and West Cork elected representatives are all published on the campaign website westcorksos.com and can be printed for further dissemination for those who may not have immediate access to computers. To aid the campaign, an email facility is now available on the website westcorksos.com/ecampaign
The Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has failed to respond to a letter sent four weeks ago from West Cork SOS outlining their fears, on behalf of the thousands of concerned people of the area, on the effects of the impending cutbacks to the emergency ambulance services in the region. Coupled with recent announcements of the impending closure of the A & E Unit South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital (SI-VUH) Cork hospitals along with the forthcoming centralisation of Ambulance Control for West Cork to Tallaght in Dublin, West Cork SOS has now no option but to intensify its campaign against the cuts.
Local TDs Jim Daly, Noel Harrington and Michael McCarthy and Senator Denis O’Donovan along with representatives from Sinn Fein will all be invited to speak at the upcoming demonstration in Skibbereen to be seen to publically lend their support to this vital issue and give an undertaking to take the concerns of their electorate to the Dail and to the Minister directly.
Contact for quotes and interviews: Frank Fahy 087 833 6882
westcorksos.com
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