Sir, – The people of the south east region of Ireland have been neglected in recent years by the Government (Home News, November 12th). Ireland’s fourth largest city, Waterford, the gateway of the south east region, has been hit particularly hard. The loss of Talk Talk and Waterford Crystal has had a devastating effect on Ireland’s oldest city. Now, on the eve of its 1,100th birthday, the city has been struck another terrible blow – the proposed downgrading of Waterford Regional Hospital to a county hospital with the possible loss of up to 1,000 jobs.
In a region which already has an unemployment 4 per cent above the national average, the loss of such a huge number of jobs should not be tolerated. Why should the 500,000 people of Waterford, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford be subjected to this cruel cutback? Haven’t we suffered enough already? – Yours, etc,