Cllr Jenny McHugh.

The Save Navan Hospital Campaign will hold a public meeting in Navan's Newgrange Hotel this Friday, 14th September, at 7pm to highlight recent cutbacks at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan.

The campaign committee said it wanted to highlight the potentially devastating impact proposed HSE cuts would have on patients as well as discuss and plan public protests against ongoing attempts to downgrade the local hospital.

"It is clear that the threat to Our Lady's has never been greater. The emergence of the official 'small hospital review document' appears to confirm the government's intention to carry out further downgrading of small hospitals throughout Ireland, including Navan," said a spokesperson.

"The coming weeks and months will determine whether future patients will be treated in Our Lady's, or instead be forced to lie on trolleys in Drogheda. Negative publicity, street protest and political pressure are the only languages that the HSE bureaucracy understands and fears," he added.

"Without the support of the people of County Meath, our campaign can never hope to succeed."

The meeting organisers said they hoped there would be a good turnout at the Newgrange Hotel on Friday.

Meanwhile Navan Labour Party councillor Jenny McHugh said the response by Health Minister, Dr James Reilly, to Meath County Council's request that he meet a delegation in elation to the new regional hospital for the Navan area is simply not good enough.

A letter was sent to Minister Reilly seeking a meeting to establish certainty and clarification in relation to the proposed new regional hospital for the north-east.

Minister Reilly's five-line reply was, in essence, that he was too busy, Cllr McHugh claimed, after the words "a heavy schedule of government and departmental business" were used in the short response. Cllr McHugh said the minister should show more respect for Meath County Council and the people of Meath and meet the delegation from the council and assure them that this hospital is still a live project.

"Large centres of excellence are preferred options, and the need for the regional hospital is evident with over 70,000 people living in Meath. The overwhelming support for this regional hospital should be shown to Minister Reilly time and time again until he agrees to meet us," she added.