‘Save the Name’ group will stage Dail protest

THE “Save the Lourdes Name” campaign which got underway earlier this month in response to an attempt by HSE management to replace the name of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital which serves the entire North East gathers momentum as the campaign organisers now plan a protest outside Dail Eireann at noon on Thursday next, February 7th.

“More than one thousand people took part in our first rally to the Hospital gates at short notice back on Sunday January 6th last. Ironically that day was ‘Nollaig na mBan’ yet the HSE are determined to erase the memory of one of Ireland’s most inspirational women who did more than most in improving healthcare facilities in this country and in some of the poorest regions on earth,” said Mayor, Frank Godfrey, adding “the ‘Save the Lourdes name’ Committee have also secured almost 10,000 signatures to their petition and are delighted with the growing response from people in the Greater Drogheda area, throughout the North East and beyond’

Built by the vision of Mother Mary Martin in the 1950’s through extensive fundraising in Ireland and across the world, and known originally as the International Missionary Training Hospital, given it was built and managed by the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMMs), the hospital was taken over by the State in 1997. The then CEO of the North Eastern Health Board expressed his gratitude to the MMMs for their decades of dedication and service at the North East’s largest hospital.

“Yet in the run up to Christmas, HSE management – without any consultation with our communities - proposed to terminate the hospital name and memory of Mother Mary Martin and the MMMs – that’s our hospital’s proud heritage.’

Mayor Godfrey extended an invitation to all in the North East and beyond who have an association with Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital to join campaigners at a symbolic protest outside Dail Eireann on Thursday, February 7th next at noon.