TDs urged to lobby Minister

FINE Gael Councillor Sinead Maguire has appealed to all councillors to use their political connections to support the provision of a Cardio Cath lab for Sligo University Hospital.

Cllr Maguire tabled a motion on the issue, calling on the council to ask Health Minister Simon Harris why Sligo is the only hospital without a cath lab.

She also urged all local TDs to address the matter with Minister Harris as a “matter of urgency.”

“We need to be making a greater noise about it. There’s evidence it helps people recover,” said Cllr Maguire.

Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady said all the papers had been sent to the Department and all it needed now was funding.

“All it boils down to is people at the table of power banging the table for funding. We need people at national level to deliver to Sligo. We’ve had very poor deliver of health to Sligo,” she told members.

Cllr Maguire said: “We have two Fianna Fáil TDs, one Fine Gael and one Sinn Féin so it behoves us all.”

Cllr Chris MacManus said he had a newsletter from 2016 from a local TD saying Sligo was getting a cath lab.

“It’s been announced but there’s no follow through. It’s the Government that delivers and makes the decisions. The buck stops there,” he said.

Cllr MacManus said he would talk to his Sinn Féin Colleagues and was “sure Fianna Fáil would too.”

Cllr Tom MacSharry said Fine Gael had “failed Sligo in health and failed miserably.”