Mayo Government TDs vote down Sinn Féin bill honouring Dr Kathleen Lynn – Conway-Walsh

Sinn Féin TD for Mayo, Rose Conway-Walsh, has expressed her disappointment at the Government’s refusal to support Sinn Féin’s Bill to name the new National Children’s Hospital after Mayo woman, republican and pioneering doctor, Dr. Kathleen Lynn.

Teachta Conway-Walsh said: “It is deeply disappointing that the Government has rejected our proposal, despite our appeal to TDs across all parties to support it. What is even more disappointing is that Mayo’s Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs voted against honouring one of our county’s most remarkable women.

“Dr Kathleen Lynn was a revolutionary and a republican, as Chief Medical Officer of the Irish Citizen Army, she was the most senior ranking woman in the 1916 Rising. She was a pioneering doctor who devoted her life to caring for children and those most in need. What a legacy it would have been to see her name proudly displayed on our new National Children’s Hospital.

“It is rare that women are recognised in such a significant and lasting way. This was an opportunity for the Government to honour not only Dr. Lynn, but the enormous and too often overlooked contribution of Irish women to the history and development of this country.

“It would also have offered a fresh start and a new identity for a hospital whose reputation has been so badly tainted by scandal, delays and billions in cost overruns.

“Instead, the Government chose to vote down Sinn Féin’s positive proposal, despite numerous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs backing the proposal on previous occasions. Dr. Kathleen Lynn’s extraordinary contribution to Ireland, to medicine and to children’s healthcare deserves far better.”