The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has refused to say if he will take part in Saturday's march in Nenagh against the downgrading of some acute hospital services under the Hanly report.
The organisers of the march said they would "love to see the Minister coming along".
Mr Smith became embroiled in controversy earlier this month when he told a meeting in Nenagh that he refused to endorse the recommendations of the report in his North Tipperary constituency.
He had publicly expressed concern about the impact of the reforms on Nenagh hospital on two other occasions before expressing regret to the Taoiseach and saying he was "fully committed to the policy and decisions of the Government".
Thousands of people are expected to attend Saturday's protest rally to maintain services at Nenagh hospital.
At a commemoration service at Dublin's Garden of Remembrance yesterday, Mr Smith told reporters he had nothing further to say about the Hanly report.
He repeatedly refused to comment when asked if he would attend the march. Asked if he supported the Taoiseach, he said "of course I do".
Mr Paul Malone, chairman of the Friends of Nenagh Hospital, said organisers of Saturday's march had no wish to embarrass any Government minister but they would like to see everyone with a view on the Hanly report at the march.
He said there would be an "enormously negative reaction" if the acute services at Nenagh were downgraded, making people travel long journeys for medical care.
"People in these areas have no confidence in the larger hospitals," Mr Malone said.
"The only thing they see are queues, loneliness and vulnerability - and this is supposed to be good for us."
He said people were unhappy with the result when the Adelaide, the Meath and Harcourt Street hospitals were relocated to Tallaght.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD Mr Michael Finneran warned he would have nothing to do with the Hanly report if it meant the downgrading of the new A&E facilities in Roscommon.
