The continued closure of the public registry office in Longford has been branded a "bloody disgrace."
The comments were made at the July meeting of the Longford Municipal District, as the HSE was sharply criticised for keeping the births, deaths and marriage service shut to the public.
Similar services have re-opened across the country but Longford's office has been closed since the Covid 19 outbreak.
Councillor Seamus Butler outlined that a Longford couple were left extremely stressed as they had to travel to Tullamore this week to make their public declaration in front of the Superintendent registrar ahead of their wedding this weekend.
It was claimed that the decision to keep the service closed was taken by senior HSE management and had nothing to do with local staff who wished to return to work.
Councillor Butler claimed the HSE's attitude to keeping a public service closed was appalling:
