SINN Féin will hold a major party conference on an all-Ireland health service next month.
The June 6 gathering at St Comgall's on Divis Street is part of the party's Commission on the Future of Ireland series and will be chaired by an independent chairperson and include an independent panel with experts from the sector.
Announcing the event the MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, Pat Cullen MP, said as the discussion on the possibility of Irish unity has increased, so too has the conversation around health, especially at a time of growing waiting lists in the north.
“There are many reasons, but no excuses, for the critical state of health services on the island of Ireland," said the party's health spokesperson. "Successive Irish and British governments have not prioritised our public health services. They have failed to plan and invest in services according to need, to recruit and retain enough health and social care professionals, or to modernise health and care provision for the 21st century.
“Waiting times have grown unacceptably long in the north, where the crisis is exacerbated by savage Westminster cuts and the impact of partition on our ability to make decisions that maximise all-island potential.
“Part of our collective task is to encourage, inform and further the conversation on the kind of new Ireland we want to see: a fairer and more equitable Ireland in which all can enjoy a better quality of life and can have access to a health service that meets the needs of a changing society.”
Sinn Féin's Health spokesperson in the Dáil, David Cullinane TD, will be in attendance at the conference and said all-island cooperation and planning on health makes sense.
“Advancing free at the point of access to healthcare involves building on the co-operation and co-ordination that already exists through greater integration of existing services," he said.
“It is the responsibility of the Irish government and the Executive to work together to improve health services for the people of Ireland. They should also give the health and care community the necessary space to deliver improvements without regard to the border, in a fair and shared way.
“The Irish government should convene a Citizens’ Assembly and other deliberative forums to actively discuss and plan for constitutional change, and to harness the positive energy and momentum which exists.
“On an island of seven million people – less than the population of most of the world’s great cities – it makes no sense having two separate health services with no all-island healthcare plan.”
Those interesting in attending the conference can register at ‘Health and Care in a New Ireland by clicking here.
