A number of businesses in Co Monaghan have said they will close this morning to allow staff to attend another rally in opposition to plans to further reduce services at the local hospital.
The protest is timed to coincide with the arrival in Monaghan town of Minister of State for Transport Pat the Cope Gallagher to officially open the new Monaghan bypass at 11am.
Protests are planned at roundabouts leading to the bypass, to convey to the Minister the depth of anger in the county at plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to implement a recently published report which called for all acute inpatient services to be withdrawn from Monaghan General Hospital as soon as possible.
Today's protest follows on from a mass meeting in the town 12 days ago where people turned out in their thousands in opposition to the plan.
Peadar McMahon, chairman of the Monaghan Hospital Community Alliance, said he expects another huge turnout today. "We have called on the people of the area to stage protests at both roundabouts leading to the bypass and already many businesses in the county have indicated they will close to facilitate employees attending the protest," he said.
"By the looks of things it's going to be another massive turnout. Feelings are running very high in the county in relation to the hospital and this is another opportunity for them to show their support for the return of full acute services to the hospital," he said.
While last week a local Fianna Fáil senator Francis O'Brien said he had received assurances from the Taoiseach's office that no services would be removed from Monaghan hospital for the moment, Mr McMahon said this was not sufficient to allay the fears of people in the area.
He said that even after today, further protests were planned and the alliance will meet later in the week to decide the next steps in its "feet on the street" campaign. This may include a march on Dublin. The HSE has reiterated that services will not be withdrawn from Monaghan hospital until other hospitals are properly resourced to deal with its patients, which is likely to take some time.