Mayo TD Beverley Flynn (Ind) says she has persuaded the State's new national cancer control director Prof Tom Keane to hear the case being made by Mayo General Hospital for retaining cancer surgery.
Ms Flynn, a member of the Oireachtas health committee that met Prof Keane earlier this week, said the cancer control director had agreed "to see for himself the current level of services at Mayo General Hospital" and to discuss the issues with herself and consultant surgeon Kevin Barry.
In a statement, Ms Flynn said that "following pressure" from her, Prof Keane had "agreed to go back on his original decision" not to travel west.
However, at an Oireachtas health committee hearing on Tuesday, Prof Keane made it clear he would have no difficulty visiting hospitals, once it was understood there would be no policy change.
"I do not want to create the impression that if I visit Galway hospital, Sligo General Hospital or Castlebar hospital that it is a prelude to or signal that I am considering a change in policy as has already been stated," Prof Keane told the committee.
"I want to put on the record today that I am happy to make these visits but not in the context of a discussion in respect of policy change," he said.
Ms Flynn said she had also met Minister for Health Mary Harney and had "impressed on her how the cancer services in Castlebar can be retained as part of the proposed Galway network".
"I have put a proposal to the Minister which, on one hand, will give Castlebar a connectivity with the Galway centre of excellence, but which will also mean that we keep what we have here at Mayo General Hospital," she said.
"I believe that the Minister and the Health Service Executive are well disposed towards the services in Castlebar, and I am very hopeful that the standard of excellence achieved by Mr Barry, his colleagues and staff at Mayo General Hospital will be given the acknowledgment it deserves," she said.
Both Ms Flynn and junior health Minister Dr Jimmy Devins have expressed public support for those groups in Mayo and Sligo opposed to any downgrading of their cancer services.
