The Health Minister has said no decision has been made on the emergency department at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, just a day after the HSE said plans were in place to close it.
Yesterday afternoon, the HSE said the ED would close and be replaced with a 24-hour GP referred medical assessment unit and injuries unit.
These units can only accept patients referred by a GP, meaning emergency care is not available.
It gave no timeline for the closure.
In a statement earlier, the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said he had asked the HSE to outline clinical concerns around safety at the ED in Navan to local politicians yesterday.
During the briefing, attended by Oireachtas members in Meath, the Minister said "several important issues, including additional capacity in other hospitals that would be impacted, as well as the continued ability of people in the Navan area to access emergency and urgent care" were raised.
He said these "issues would need to be fully addressed before any proposed transition by the HSE takes place".
This latest development means that the Government has not rubber-stamped the move, nor has it given it its backing.
Earlier in the Dáil, the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that the Government had not sanctioned the decision.
Mr Varadkar said that there were questions around whether it would be wise and that further assurances on ambulance cover and the capacity of other nearby hospitals were not forthcoming.
The Navan Hospital Campaign Group also expressed its disappointment yesterday, saying they had been told a meeting was taking place to raise concerns about the possible closure and it appeared that the decision had already been made.
