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Promises Promises - made to be broken or were they made?

We have heard a lot about the promises made by Taoiseach Kenny and James Reilly before the last election but which they have now reneged on and they have taken A & E services from Roscommon. They can use all the excuses they like to justify why they changed their minds but if you read a statement issued by the HSAG (Health Services Action Group at National level) way back in 2005 when we told the people of this country that twelve hospitals would lose their acute and emergency services. We knew it would happen, Roscommon knew it would happen, Kenny knew it would happen and Reilly knew it would happen but they fudged the issue to win votes. Once in power promises mean nothing and there are so many ways for them to excuse themselves - but they should be held to account and to fulfil those promises and do that once and you can be sure that parties and candidates will be more careful in future and tell the truth before the election.
Roscommon is not the only place to get promises and assurances. Monaghan got many promises - all of which were broken. However we also got many promises which meant nothing. They keep using the word - ‘Close’ - ‘we will not close any hospital’, Monaghan Hospital is not going to close’, etc etc bug we know that they will not close the doors in the hospital, at least not yet but soon, but what they have left behind cannot be called a hospital when one cannot access emergency care there when patients need it most.

Michael Martin made promises to the people of Monaghan in January 2002, just a week before the formation of the Alliance. Enda Kenny through Seymour Crawford promised to return services to Monaghan, local Councillors also promised that there would be hell to pay if the services were not returned to Monaghan. They called on members of the Government to resign. Now it is their turn - now it is time for the ‘hell to pay’, now it is time for Tommy and the others to live by the principles they expected from others, it is time for them to resign.

Eamon Gilmore sent us a letter dated March 2009 in which he said that ‘ in an area of poor roads and lacking in infrastructure the ability to access emergency and acute hospital care is vital. There is no justification for the downgrading of Monaghan Hospital, and I and my party are opposed to any such move by the HSE’. He goes on to praise the results of the 2007/2008 audit carried out on Monaghan and pledged his support for the Monaghan campaign. There never was a HIQA report on Monaghan, there never was a report to say it was unsafe, we never asked for brain surgery or a cancer unit, we never expected to have transplants carried out in Monaghan but we did require that it continue to provide the excellent services that it has provided since its foundation. We still claim that there are ways and means by which this can be done and at the same time fulfil the requirements of international practice and safety while providing the services to Monaghan patients.

Below we have provided a recording of what Michael Martin said to the people of Monaghan back in 2002 and we ask - is he the one to question Kenny and Reilly for making their promises. Just click on the picture of the Casualty Unit in Monaghan Hospital below and hopefully you will hear his speech.