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trying to raise public awareness of the meeting and its possible consequences for Sion Mills.

It is expected that members of the Sion Mills community will stage a protest at todays meeting at the Board headquarters in Derry. Deeny stresses that even if the decision taken by the board is a negative one for Sion, he will not let the matter rest and will take it to the floor and committee rooms of Stormont.

He said, "It's an important issue, and we heard that on the doorsteps before the election. When you consider the fact that smaller towns like Newtownstewart and Castlederg have their own health provision, and Sion Mills which is already bigger than them and growing all the time is losing theirs, then that can't be right. Sion Mills is not part of Strabane, nor does it want to be, and no one should be trying to make it be."

He continued, "It's for issues like this that we need things sorted as soon as we can at Stormont, so that it will be properly examined and looked at by a health committee. It's no secret that I want to take a place on the health committee, that's my interest, and it's these sort of decisions that should be taken only by an accountable minister or committee.

"This process of stripping the rural community of its services must stop. Trying to centralise everything is simply wrong, and this is yet another example of the erosion of services in the rural North," he concluded.

A spokesperson for the Western Health Board confirmed that the Sion Mills issue will be discussed at todays meeting, but stressed that no decision had been taken in advance as regards its closure or otherwise.

"No decision can be taken without discussion by the Board committee. It will be discussed on Thursday and it is hoped that a decision will be reached at that time," they said.