Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the motion and pay tribute to the work of Senator Fitzpatrick. I have received a couple of texts that congratulated me on my work and I had to correct the senders and say that it was Senator Fitzpatrick who did an awful lot of work on this issue. I also welcome the group of relatives who are present today.

Without doubt, Dr. Kathleen Lynn was an extraordinary woman and exceptional servant of Ireland. The poverty she encountered and observed was a defining moment in her life. It led to her lifelong dedication to improve things and her decision to become a doctor. She spent the rest of her life serving the poor and the people of Ireland.

Kathleen came from Killala, County Mayo, which is an area that I have a particular affinity for as does my mother. Of course I would have to support this motion even just for that reason. Dr. Lynn made the pioneering decision to establish a children's hospital, and all of those reasons have been mentioned, which carried out interventions that were before their time.

Kathleen was active in the Rising albeit she was anti-treaty, on which I have a view. She also ran the gauntlet of her own family's rejection for a number of things that she chose to do in her life, and most particularly her involvement in the Rising.

Kathleen had a lifelong relationship with Madeleine ffrench-Mullenand, in so doing, she broke the mould. There is no doubt that Kathleen was a woman who broke many moulds. She was extraordinary, ahead of her time and a fearless leader in her time. She also broke many gender moulds in all that she did. Therefore, it is right that we remember and commemorate her birth, death and, most particularly, her life. The national children's hospital will have an acute paediatric care primary centre for paediatric education, training and research in Ireland. The hospital will be world-class and a world leader. As a child-centred facility, the hospital will be innovative and provide the highest standard of excellence in paediatric healthcare. Certainly on the surface of it, naming the hospital after Dr. Lynn would appear to be a perfect fit. From that perspective, my head and heart both compel me to support the motion.

I have a slight concern about the means by which we name things. I would like to know how we arrive at these decisions and the process involved.We need to be careful of a process of advocacy that has a political motivation. We need to be sure we are not setting precedence for future namings that we would not adhere to and with which we would not agree. That said, it is important that we single out and red circle women for commemoration in our naming. The naming of the Rosie Hackett Bridge was a groundbreaking moment and the naming of this hospital should be too. I conducted a poll of people in Dublin South-Central and asked what they think. I told them about Dr. Lynn and her whole life. I told them how fantastic she was and asked how they would feel about the hospital being named after her. The reaction was mixed. Some people asked why it cannot just be named functionally as the national children's hospital of Ireland. They asked why not include a statue of Dr. Lynn in the hospital. They asked if we could call it St. Ultan's in her memory rather than attaching the hospital name to an individual. Those are the other voices in this debate and other thoughts that are worth considering. The hospital is owned by the people of Ireland, a point that was very well made in the email from the relatives urging my support. It is owned by the people of Ireland so perhaps its name needs to be as neutral as that. I do, in principle, support the naming of the hospital after Dr. Lynn. However, I urge us to have a set mechanism for the naming of buildings. I have concerns about future buildings and what they might be called. Heretofore, we have, in the main, been able to agree but that may not be the case in the future.