Published: Wednesday, 7th July, 2010 5:30pm

Loughloe residents to stand firm as D-Day looms

The Save Loughloe House Action Committee has vowed this week that the closure date of July 9 will come and go but none of remaining 13 residents will be moving anywhere.

This Friday is the date that local HSE management had pencilled in for the full closure of the Abbey-Road based care facility, however Chairperson of the group fighting the closure, Tommy Connaughton bullishly said this week that the group, residents and relatives are all standing firm that no one is relocating anywhere.

"Joe Ruane (HSE) said they were moving out come what may by July 9, but we are saying Loughloe House will remain open. The staff there are rostered on until August," he said.

"The relatives of the 13 residents remain adamant that they will stay there. They will not engage with the HSE to move them out of their home," he stated firmly. "We're standing firm on Loughloe and the battle goes on."

The group meet again this evening (Wednesday) to plan their next course of action and Mr Connaughton didn't rule out further protests on this issue in the town or elsewhere in the weeks ahead.

Other avenues are also being explored by the committee to keep the issue prominent and hammer home the message that the closure will not be accepted by Athlonians.

"The HSE has a duty of care and they cannot throw them out," Tommy Connaughton fumed, also hitting out that four weeks after the HSE promised to appoint an advocate for the patients of Loughloe House, completely independent of the health authorities, there has been no sign of this person.

Mr Connaughton also had critical words for local Fianna Fáil Deputy Mary O'Rourke, whom he said claimed in other sections of the media that privately Labour and Fine Gael accepted that Loughloe will close.

On foot of this, he has been in touch with Deputy James Bannon and Deputy Willie Penrose, both of whom pledged their full support to save Loughloe House.

"I am very disappointed with what Mary said because there is no basis to it," Mr Connaughton concluded.