Campaigners who want to see the re-opening of a district hospital in Co Tipperary which closed to in-patients when Covid-19 arrived are hoping for a meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss the issue.
St Brigid's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir was formerly a palliative care, convalescent care and respite centre serving large sections of counties Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny, but those purposes were discontinued in 2019.
The HSE initially intended the hospital to be used as step-down facility for Covid-19 patients who were discharged from acute care, with the plan being for it to eventually revert to its former use, but they then said that it could not re-open in that manner because of "limiting environment/infection control consideration".
Since then, local people have been calling for St Brigid's to re-open for inpatients and have presented a petition with over 11,000 signatures to the Dáil.
Now they are hoping that the Dáil's Petitions Committee will question the HSE on the issue as well as the relevant ministers.
"It's a massive step for us to get those, over 11,000, signatures from three counties in front of and into the political system," Dean McGrath of the Save St Brigid's Hospital group said at a protest event held in front of the hospital to coincide with the run-up to St Brigid's Day.
"We've successfully brought this campaign from feet on the street to the political arena. We now want to challenge the HSE and the relevant committee in front of that petitions committee."
He said they hope to get "transparency and accountability" from the HSE regarding the full reasoning for the hospital closure, saying that it has left an entire region without such a service.
"For the HSE to simply turn the key in the lock of this facility when it allowed people of this area to die in dignity, in the middle of their community, is just simply unacceptable and we will keep our campaign rolling as long as we need to... our next step is that we are seeking a meeting with Micheal Martin."
One of those marching in front of the hospital was Pete Smith, whose mother Noreen Smith, a well-known teacher in Carrick, availed of the facility twice when recovering from cancer treatment.
Last year cancer struck Noreen for a third time and by then, there was no longer the option of St Brigid's.
"It [the cancer] was inoperable and there was nothing they could do," Mr Smith said.
"She was in Clonmel hospital and they needed to move her on to hospice care and there was nothing really.
"Initially they offered Clogheen, but that fell through, that was an hour away.
"She'd been here twice so she knew the place very well, she knew how good it was, the hospice rooms were amazing, it was just the perfect place. But it had been taken away with the swipe of a pen, basically.
"It was a very distressing time for her as well. End of life care is a point where your mental health is so important, looking after somebody like that, and we were put in a very stressful situation of trying to find somewhere.
"And we couldn't find anywhere for 10 days. She was given two weeks to live and it took 10 days to find somewhere for her to go and she went there and the following day she passed away.
"All of that against the backdrop of there being these wonderful hospice care rooms here, run by fantastic staff at the heart of the community."
Another who had experience of St Brigid's in its former days is Maura Logan, who needed convalescent care after an accident at home in 2018.
"I was here for three months, on my back, I couldn't put weight on my leg. The treatment I got here for that three months was just unreal," she said.
"I live on my own, they were just exceptional. The hospital itself, exceptional.
"It's just unreal and it's a great loss to the area. Not just Tipperary but Waterford and Kilkenny... That's what the hospital is about, and it's just gone."
