More than 500 people demonstrated outside Leinster House yesterday in an appeal to keep open at least one of the three Dublin hospitals which are to close with the opening of the new hospital in Tallaght.
The protesters, all inner city residents, called for one of the three hospitals - the Meath, the Adelaide and the National Children's Hospital in Harcourt Street - to be retained.
The demonstration was organised by the Hospital Action Committee, which has been campaigning for over a year. Ms Frances O'Leary of the Hospital Action Committee said the Dublin inner city area had the State's largest elderly population and the Dublin 2 and Dublin 8 areas were "the most deprived" in the Eastern Health Board region.
The protesters handed in a letter for all Oireachtas members.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, said he understood the concerns of local residents. "I can particularly understand the worries which the older population in the locality may have. This is of great importance and in recent years the Eastern Health Board has improved its services and is now providing a range of services for older people in the south inner city."