Fianna Fáil's hopes of winning two seats in the new Roscommon-South Leitrim constituency at the next election could be severely dented by a plan to remove certain services from Roscommon County Hospital.
There are two sitting Fianna Fáil TDs in the three-seat constituency and one of them, Michael Finneran, said yesterday he will not support the Government if the plan for his local hospital is not reversed.
Signalling that he could end up running as an independent in the next election if the hospital is downgraded, he said: "If the Government does not support Roscommon County Hospital, it can't rely on my support".
He will meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Monday week and also plans to meet the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney to seek reassurances that the Health Service Executive (HSE) plans for the hospital will not be implemented.
The HSE announced earlier this month following a review of services at both Roscommon hospital and Portiuncula hospital in Ballinasloe, some 33 miles away, that a joint surgery department would be created between the hospitals and all inpatient surgery would, in future, be carried out in Ballinasloe, leaving Roscommon to specialise in day-case surgery.
"I'm totally opposed to the plan to remove inpatient surgery from the hospital. My concern is if inpatient surgery is removed from the hospital, then the hospital will lose its status as an acute general hospital," Mr Finneran said.
"The HSE are proposing that the two surgeons in Roscommon move to Ballinasloe and only attend Roscommon to provide day surgery. That is, as far as I'm concerned, the thin end of the wedge and a downgrading of the hospital, and I intend to oppose it all the way," he added.
"People are very angry locally about it. The temperature has risen dramatically in Roscommon county over the last three weeks as a result of this issue. It's the hottest political issue in the county at the moment. People know that their relatives will die along the road if we lose our emergency services. Some areas of Roscommon are over 70 miles from the nearest acute hospital if Roscommon went," he continued.
The threat to Roscommon hospital has been a political hot potato for years. In the 1989 general election the area elected its own hospital candidate, the late Tom Foxe. The independent TD held the seat for two terms by which time the Government had agreed to significant investment in the hospital, including the construction of a new A&E unit.
Una Quinn of the Roscommon Hospital Action Group said there was "mass outrage" in the county at the HSE's plan. About 700 people attended a meeting in opposition to the plan in Roscommon town on Wednesday night. There is a further meeting next week to discuss a campaign of action which may involve marches.
She said the other Fianna Fáil TD in the constituency, John Ellis, also attended the meeting and supported the action group.
The third seat in Roscommon-South Leitrim is held by Fine Gael's Denis Naughten. He too supports the local hospital.
Ms Quinn said the plan for Roscommon hospital resembled proposals in the Hanly report, which, when published in 2003, led to nationwide protests.
If inpatient surgery was removed from the hospital, there was the risk other services would be lost, too, she said. "We run the risk of going down the slippery slope that Monaghan hospital went down."
The HSE's hospital network manager for the west, Alan Moran, said that the proposal was "at outline level only at this stage". He said the plan was to continue to have surgeons and anaesthetists available round the clock for emergency consultations in Roscommon. "If the practical details cannot be worked out to deliver this objective, then the proposal as outlined will not proceed, and we will go back to the drawing board," he said.