Hospital Closure Row Sees TD Ejected From Government

Ireland's new coalition government is experiencing its first major political storm, over a decision to close the emergency department of a local hospital in Roscommon.

One of the Fine Gael TDs from the area, Denis Naughten, voted against the government on the issue last week, and lost the party whip as a result.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Enda Kenny was seriously embarrassed by a recording that surfaced in which he can be heard promising while canvassing in February's election that he would not close the facility.

In a Dail vote last Thursday, Roscommon TD Denis Naughten sided with a Sinn Fein motion calling on the government to retain services at a number of hospitals including Roscommon.

Despite Mr Naughten's defection, the government easily defeated the motion by 96 votes to 47 because of its massive majority.

"My problem was that I had given my word based on a commitment that I had been given by the party. And I couldn't in all honesty face the people of Roscommon and tell them that I was turning my back on them," Mr Naughten told reporters.

"That was the position I was left in, the most difficult decision that I have had to make."

Following his expulsion from the parliamentary party, Naughten lost his right to vote in FG presidential selection convention.

He is also expected to lose his chairmanship of an Oireachtas Health Committee.

The party will want to use his expulsion as a warning to any other backbenchers considering revolting over contentious cuts affecting their constituencies, and leave Naughten outside the party for some time.

The other Fine Gael TD in the constituency, Frank Feighan, voted with the government, but said he understood Denis Naughten's decision.

However, he decided that because there were many tough decisions coming down the line for the government, he did not want make them even more difficult.

"This was a 2-foot wave, there's 5-metre waves coming down the line... I decided that if I had resigned the fate of this Government would have lasted about a year because there're a lot of issues coming down the road and I think that we need to hold strong," he said.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin accused Fine Gael misleading the public during the general election campaign - a claim the Taoiseach called "pathetic".

But when a newspaper journalist produced a tape recording at the weekend, Kenny was forced to make an embarrassing "clarification".

On the tape Mr Kenny could be heard urging voters to support Denis Naughten and pledging to protect services in Roscommon.

Mr Kenny said things had changed since he made the commitment.

"Since then, the independent health regulator HIQA has advised that the provision of accident and emergency services at Roscommon and other smaller hospitals is not safe. The Government cannot ignore this expert advice and, consequently this element of Fine Gael's commitment is no longer tenable," he said.

Roscommon's emergency department was due to close on Monday, and be replaced by an urgent care center which will doctor-led.

An out of hours GP service will be provided from August.

Thousands of locals have been protesting against what they see as the downgrading of their local hospital.