Colourful placards ensure message is loud and clear
THE PLACARDS said it all
'Hands off St. Joe's', 'Close the Senate instead', ' Outrageous O'reilly' and 'Reilly: Betrays A Centre of Excellence' read some of those placards held proudly aloft as people marched behind St. Joseph residents, Eileen Harmon, Joan O'brien and 96-year-old, Mary Carroll.
As she got off Minty's Coaches, which had brought her from the hospital, Eileen Harmon, the youngest of the group shouted: 'It's our home. Don't let them close it.'
Ardee Active Retirement group's banner stated ' Ardee says no', while chairperson, Anne Moonan, Annaglog, said she hoped it continued to operate as a centre for excellence in the town.
As well as Scouts and Girl Guides, children, some still in their buggies, also waved their banners, one of which read: 'Reilly: Leave Our Grandparents Alone', while a Fushnog trailer, driven by a cab filled with small children, had a banner, ' Ardee Says Save Our Hospital' headed the march.
It might have been Ardee's day, but their counterparts in Drogheda were collecting donations and also had banners saying, ' Show Care for the Elderly. Save Drogheda Cottage Hospital' while others circulated both petitions calling on the Government not to close either the Ardee or Drogheda facilitities.
As the Ardee Concert Band played, people chanted slogans and waved at the dozens of shop workers who came out on the streets to clap and shout encouragement at the protest march.
At Fairgreen, as people spilled onto the lawns, Save St. Joseph Action Group, chairman, John Rafferty got loud cheers from the crowds as he shouted: ' Shame on the Government, if they close it. Shame on us, if we let them.'
As dozens of red SIPTU banners, fluttered in the cold breeze, Ardee Town Council chairman, Michael Farrelly, in his chains of office greeted the residents of the hospital who featured in a video giving their reasons why their home should not be closed.
One woman poignantly asked the Health Minister, James Reilly, to 'Please, come and see us' while another said 'It will break our hearts (if it closes). Another said: ' We want to stay here for the few years we have left to us' and someone in the crowd, shouted at the DVD screen and the residents sitting in their wheelchairs, ' Good woman.'
