Hundreds of people gathered in Dublin city centre on Saturday to remember nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt who died last month after waiting years for spinal surgery.
Protesters demanded an end to the suffering of children left on waiting lists for years before accessing life-changing and life-saving treatments.
There were repeated calls from speakers for the Fine Gael leader Simon Harris to be held accountable for promises he made in 2017 that no child would be left waiting more than four months for the surgery Harvey waited almost three years for.
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) also came in for criticism for systemic and repeated failings. There were calls for it to be dismantled and replaced.
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Harvey was non-verbal and born with complex health conditions including spina bifida and scoliosis. He spent almost three years on waiting lists for life-changing spinal surgery.
He had his operation last December but died on July 29th after taking a turn.
Honouring the wishes of the child’s family, there were no political banners at the march, which began at the Garden of Remembrance before making its way down O’Connell Street and to the Custom House where speakers included Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou MacDonald, People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy and the leader of Aontú, Peadar Tobin.
Marchers carried signs and wore T-shirts calling for “Justice for Harvey”.
The rally was called by Access for All Ireland to highlight years of prolonged waiting lists for children with complex health issues, including scoliosis.
“We need compassion and we need people to listen,” organiser Bernard Mulvany told the gathering. “I do not believe the people don’t care but somewhere along the way someone has allowed our children to be forgotten.”
Rachel Martin of Families United for Services and Support (Fuss) said the protest was taking place because “a young life was lost. [Harvey] should still be here. What happened wasn’t inevitable.”
She said he had been “left waiting for care and waiting for compassion, compassion that we should never have to beg for. And sadly Harvey was not alone.”
She said it was not a “a crisis in healthcare [but] a human rights emergency”. She said: “Harvey’s name will not be forgotten, we will speak his name in grief and we will speak his name in love and we will speak his name in defiance.”
Mr Murphy of PFP paid tribute to Harvey’s parents Stephen Morrison and Gillian Sherratt and said their fight for justice during his short life and in the days after his death was inspiring.
He said Fine Gael leader Simon Harris “will never get away” with what he said in 2017: that waiting lists would be cut to four months for children needing scoliosis surgery. Mr Harris was health minister at the time.
“He should resign,” Mr Murphy said to loud applause.
He also said it was not just about one individual but systemic failings over many years.
Mr Tobin highlighted the “mismanagement of the health service” and said “Children’s Health Ireland is sinking in dysfunction”.
“I believe it should be closed down and the management sent packing.”
Ms MacDonald said the death of Harvey represented a “tipping point” and stressed that when the Dáil resumes next month “Harvey’s name will be heard”.
She said her party would “move to hold Simon Harris accountable [as well as] the Government for their callous disregard for Harvey”.
She told the gathering – which included many young people in wheelchairs and their parents – that “you are heard and you will be heard and that is our pledge to you”.
[ Family of recently deceased boy Harvey Morrison Sherratt to meet Simon HarrisOpens in new window ]
Speaking to reporters after the event she expressed horror that children could still be made to suffer on long waiting lists “in a wealthy society, in a first-world society” and called for a “substantive radical shift” in how children are treated in the public health system.
“We’ve raised these issues very consistently and there is a need for accountability,” she said.
“I believe that Simon Harris needs to be accountable for his absolute failure to meet a commitment made as far back as 2017 that children would not be left in chronic pain to suffer.”
