Jim Fitzpatrick signed Limited Print of Elizabeth O’Farrell. | Health and Care in a New Ireland | An Act of International Piracy

 

JimFitzpatrick signed Limited Print of Elizabeth O’Farrell. 

Regularreaders of this column will know that I wholeheartedly support the efforts ofthe Moore St. Preservation Trust to preserve the 1916 Moore St. Battlefieldsite in Dublin that is under threat from the developers wrecking ball. Thisweek the Trust - a not for profit organisation led by Relatives ofthe Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation – will launch a new limited editionsigned print of Elizabeth O’Farrell by the renowned Irish artist JimFitzpatrick. One hundred prints will be available from Thursday evening at €150as part of the fundraising efforts of the Trust to raise much needed funds insupport of its alternative plan for a cultural and historical quarter in theMoore Street battlefield site. Link

Elizabeth O’Farrell, a member of the Cumann na mBan, was oneof three women who were present in the GPO throughout Easter week 1916 and whowere evacuated to Number 16 Moore St. as the GPO was in flames. She, herlife-long partner Julia Grennan, and Winifred Carney were in the roomin Number 16 when the decision to surrender was taken by Seán MacDiarmada,Pádraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, James Connolly and Tom Clarke.

At 12.45pm on Saturday 29 April O’Farrell was tasked by theleaders with the hazardous responsibility of going to the British lines.Carrying a white handkerchief tied to a pole and wearing a red cross armbandElizabeth O’Farrell courageously walked down Moore Street to the Britishbarricade. She was brought from there to Tom Clarke’s shop in Parnell Streetwhere the British General Lowe told her that he would only accept anunconditional surrender.

A short time later Pádraig Pearse, accompanied by O’Farrell,and wearing his military overcoat and hat, met General Lowe. In the originalphotograph taken of that meeting only Nurse O’Farrell’s feet can be seen and inmany of the reproductions later they were airbrushed out. O’Farrell deliveredthe surrender note to the outposts which were still fighting.

She and her partner Julia Grennan remained life-longrepublicans.  Elizabeth died in 1957 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.Her tombstone carries a verse:

When duty called on the field of battle,

She went, under orders, the foe to meet,

Bearing sadly, unfearingly, proudly,

The flag of surrender but not defeat.

 

Jim Fitzpatrick has produced a remarkable portrait of thisremarkable and indomitable woman. Support the Moore St. Preservation Trust andbuy this historic portrait and unique work of art by one of Ireland’s foremostartists. If you want to buy a print you can connect to the link on Thursdayevening: The print is 40cm x 56cm. Is signed by the artist, numbered andon high quality paper.

Siopa| Shop – Moore Street Preservation Trust

 

Health andCare in a New Ireland

Last month theEuropean Movement in Ireland –Amárach Research – reported that a majority ofpeople in both parts of the island were in favour of a united Ireland withinthe EU. The figures were 67% in favour in the North and 62% in favour in theSouth.

Last week theLife and Times Survey, which is conducted by Queens University, reported thatthe gap between those who support the union with Britain and those who favourIrish Unity, has halved in the last year. In 2021 the gap was 23 points. In2023 that had halved to 12 points. This year it has halved again to 5 points.

In all of thepolls a key issue of public concern that emerges again and again is thequestion of health provision. People want to know what an all-island healthservice will look like. Sinn Féin favours an Irish National Health and CareService – centrally funded, universal, free at the point of delivery and basedon clinical need.

Currently healthcare provision across the island is in crisis and the health needs of citizensare not being met. A united Ireland provides an opportunity for thetransformation of the health and social care services. In addition to greatercross border healthcare planning and delivery, and increased collaboration onjoint projects, citizens would be much better served by a healthcare systemthat is planned, managed and delivered based on the needs of the nationalpopulation.

An Irish National Health and Care Service is a common senseand achievable proposition.  There are already many areas of cooperationacross the two health systems.  These need to be supported by the fullintegration of health provision across the island of Ireland and a nationalhealth strategy.

As part of thediscussion on this very important issue last Friday over 100 healthprofessionals met in St Comgall’s - Ionad Eileen Howell for a conferenceon Health and Care in the New Ireland. The event was organised by Sinn Féin’sCommission on the Future of Ireland. The conference was opened by the party’sHealth spokesperson in the Oireachtas David Cullinane TD and the main addresswas delivered by Pat Cullen MP. Philip McGuigan MLA the Sinn Féin spokespersonin the North was also in attendance.

The independentpanel was chaired by Tom Murray, President of the Irish Pharmacy Union andincluded Majella Beattie of Care Champions Ireland: Dr. Eddie Rooney, formerChief Executive of the Public Health Agency and Sara Boyce, of the New Scriptfor Mental Health Campaign.

The panelistsspoke of their experience in health and care provision and the gaps thatcurrently exist. The importance of investing in mental health provision, newinfrastructure, disability care, and improved provision for our elderlycitizens were all discussed by the panel and audience. The panelists spoke ofthe health challenges in the promotion and prioritisation of health care, theirconcerns at the diagnostic waiting times, particularly in respect of cancer,and the underfunding of counselling services.

The vital roleplayed by the voluntary and community sector, and charities, in improvingcapacity North and South was praised.

Pat Cullen MPtold the conference: “Successive Irish and British Governments have notprioritised our public health services. They have failed to plan servicesaccording to need, to train and retain enough health and social careprofessionals, or to modernise health and care provision for the 21st century.The gap between public and private health care is growing in the South’stwo-tier health service, despite the all-party commitment to Sláintecare.Little progress has been made towards realising that vision.”

Waiting timeshave also grown unacceptably long in the North, where the crisis is exacerbatedby the financial control of Westminster and the impact of partition on ourability to make decisions that maximise the all-island potential.

The reality isthat all island cooperation and planning makes sense.  On an island ofunder seven million people – less than the population of most of the world’sgreat cities – it makes no sense having two separate health services. A unitedIreland provides an opportunity for the transformation of the health and socialcare services.

 

An Act ofInternational Piracy

In an act ofinternational piracy Israeli forces hijacked the humanitarian aid vessel theMadleen in international waters as it was making its way to the Gaza Strip withmuch needed humanitarian aid for the beleaguered community. The Madleen is partof the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition and it had a crew of 12including environmental activist activist Greta Thunberg and RimaHassan MEP. The Israel action is part of its strategy to control the publicnarrative around events in the Palestinian occupied territories, particularlyGaza, where millions face starvation.

In the Gaza Strip and the west Bank the daily slaughter ofinnocents by the Israeli regime’s murder squads continues unimpeded. So toodoes the deliberate targeting of the health service which has been all butobliterated by Israel’s genocidal military campaign. The objective is clearlyto remove sll Palestinians from Gaza. 

Finally, I want to commend the thousands who participated inand/or supported the 25 mile March for Gaza last Saturday from Lurgan to Omeathin Co. Louth. The length of the march represented the length of the Gaza Strip.

The refusal of most western governments and the EuropeanUnion to take effective measures against the Israeli state for these war crimesmakes them complicit. We must keep up the pressure for a permanent ceasefire,humanitarian aid and freedom for the Palestinian people.