Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has told Dr Susan O’Reilly to ‘bin’ her plan to downgrade the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.
The Fine Gael TD issued the ‘message’ as he was selected by the Laois branch of the party to contest an eighth General Election yesterday evening in Abbeyleix.
He said: “Not for the first time, we have a real fight on our hands to preserve our services at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.
“I’ve said it time and time again, I will defend the retention of services in Portlaoise with all my strength. I am up for that fight.
“And I have a fairly simple message for Dr Susan O’Reilly and the HSE: Bin your plan for Portlaoise!
“It is not the plan that was drawn up and agreed with the people of Laois. It is not our plan.
“It is not the plan of the government either, it is not Simon Harris’ plan.
“So I will continue to fight for services in Portlaoise and I am confident that in the not too distant future, we will have a resolution which is different to the current one being put forward.”
The party held their election convention which was attended by about 150 members in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel.
The event was chaired by Mary Hilda Cavanagh, a Councillor from Kilkenny with the party members asked to choose between current Minister Charlie Flanagan and Thomasina Connell, who polled over 4,000 votes as a first time candidate in the last election.
Flanagan said: “I think that the presence of so many people in this room is indicative of the fact that we in Fine Gael are in great shape.
“We in Fine Gael are not going anywhere as far as this government is concerned.
“And if we are faced with an election in the next three weeks, we will do our part here in Laois to make sure that our numbers are such that we will be in a position to lead the country into 2018 and beyond.”
The Minister also threw his support behind the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
He said: “In this time of great challenge, I think never has the country needed more calm, more stable and more proactive government than now.
“And I believe that the current government under Leo Varadkar is best placed to meet these challenges.”
SEE ALSO – Flanagan selected to contest General Election in Laois once again
