A FERMANAGH clergyman received the biggest cheer of the night at the public meeting on stroke services when he told the DUP and Sinn Fein to “get their act together” and restore devolution.

The Dean of Clogher, Very Rev. Kenneth Hall, who suffered a major stroke 10 years ago, told the pre-consultation meeting that he was grateful to the National Health Service for what it had done.

He said: “Being a stroke survivor I am aware of the speed and attention that is needed at the time of a stroke, and I am very thankful for the care that I have already received from the Health Service.”

The Dean said that not only the Stroke Unit needed to be saved, but also the other services provided in the South West Acute Hospital. The clergyman, who is also a chaplain at South West Acute Hospital, added that the Health Service as a whole needed to be saved as it was under tremendous budget restraints.

Dean Hall said the meeting had already heard from both DUP and Sinn Fein representatives and, in a direct appeal to the two main parties, he urged: “It’s time they got their act together.”

To huge cheers from the crowd, the popular cleric said: “We as non-political people are suffering because of Stormont.”

Calling on the various politicians at the meeting to go back to their respective party hierarchies with that message, Dean Hall added: “Let’s do something for the people of Northern Ireland.”

He said that as a chaplain in the hospital, he saw at first hand the excellent service provided by the Stroke Unit and the great need to keep that unit in its present state.