Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 12 be taken before No. 1. Sinn Féin, like many other organisations, people in the public, in civil society organisations and many political parties have long supported the naming of the national children's hospital for Dr. Kathleen Lynn. She was a remarkable woman, who at various times was chief medical officer, vice president of Sinn Féin, Captain of the Irish Citizen Army and the first female doctor at Dublin's Eye and Ear Hospital. Dr. Kathleen Lynn was deeply engaged in women's suffrage campaigns, the labour movement and the national movement of the early 20th century. As we know, her life's work was the establishment of St. Ultan's Hospital, Ireland's first children's hospital. She founded that hospital in 1919 with her partner Madeleine ffrench-Mullen and a group of women activists in response to the plight of paediatric care at the time. The hospital's services were ultimately, in 1984, incorporated into the National Children's Hospital, Harcourt Street. Naming the new national children's hospital after Dr. Lynn, which this Bill intends to do, seems the ultimate gesture in acknowledging the pioneering role of this medic who persevered in her chosen career. She persevered with the duty of care to others, even when subjected to discrimination and some pretty brutal sexism.Ultimately, naming the new national children's hospital in honour of Dr. Kathleen Lynn is the most positive statement Irish society can make about maintaining continuity with the ideals and aspirations of that earlier pioneering generation which Dr. Lynn represents. This was a generation whose business was highly attuned to righting social injustice, about doing nothing less than building a real and genuine republic and creating equality for all in access to health and public services. I and my Sinn Féin colleagues, Senators Boylan and Gavan, are honoured to salute Dr. Lynn by tabling this Private Members' Bill on First Stage. I hope all Senators will support it.