Bill before Dáil to name children's hospital after pioneering Mayo doctor
A Bill is coming before the Dáil to name the national children’s hospital after Mayo native Dr. Kathleen Lynn.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for Gaeilge, Gaeltacht and Arts, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, has submitted a Bill for introduction to the Dáil which would name the new hospital after Dr. Lynn, one of Ireland’s foremost pioneering medics who founded Ireland’s first hospital for infants, and the only woman commandant of the 1916 Rising.
The Bill is being co-sponsored by Ó Snodaigh’s constituency colleague Deputy Máire Devine, Rose Conway-Walsh, Sinn Féin’s TD for Dr. Lynn’s home county of Mayo, and party health spokesperson, Deputy David Cullinane.
Said Deputy Ó Snodaigh: “As people across Ireland use the opportunity of Easter to remember the sacrifice and heroism of Irish republicans before, during and after the 1916 Rising, this Bill offers a concrete way of honouring the memory of one of the most inspirational and too-often ignored of those heroes.
“The Killala-born Church of Ireland woman forged a trailblazing career in male-dominated medicine, as GP in Rathmines from 1904 and the first female resident of Dublin’s Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. The suffragette also helped out at soup kitchens during the 1913 Lock-Out, taught first-aid to Cumann na mBan and was Chief Medical Officer of the Irish Citizen Army, becoming the most senior ranking woman in the 1916 Rising when she took over command of the republicans at City Hall.
““In the period after the Rising, she was arrested, spent time in prisons in Ireland and England, went on the run, was captured, and was let out of prison because her medical skills were in such need during the Spanish Flu epidemic.
“Dr. Lynn was Vice-President of Sinn Féin in 1917, served as an elected councillor in Rathmines for 10 years, and was elected as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD in 1923.
“With all that going on, it is truly incredible that Dr. Lynn along with Madeleine ffrench-Mullen and others established Teach Naomh Ultáin (St. Ultan’s Hospital) as the first hospital for infants in Ireland, and the only hospital entirely managed by women, in 1919. This hospital played a pivotal role eradicating TB in Ireland by introducing the BCG vaccine. The hospital also pioneered Montessori child education.”
He continued: “There is widespread support for naming the hospital in Dr. Lynn’s honour, including an Uplift petition of almost 6,000 people, the backing of trade unions SIPTU and Fórsa, as well as historians Diarmaid Ferriter, Dr. Mary McAuliffe, Dr. Martin Mansergh, ophthalmologist Dr. Tim Horgan, and Prof. Mary Horgan, the first woman President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
“Both An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, have responded positively to the proposal previously, saying respectively that Dr. Lynn was “a very worthy choice” and that there was “nothing not to like” about her. I hope they not only back this Bill, but will act on its intention.”
The Children’s Health (Ospidéal Náisiúnta Kathleen Lynn do Leanaí) (Amendment) Bill 2025 has been cleared by the Bills Office for introduction at First Stage in the Dáil after the Easter recess.
“The new hospital is set to be one of the most expensive state-of-the-art pieces of infrastructure ever built in world history, and it would be a fitting tribute for the Dáil to use the 70th anniversary of Dr. Lynn’s death in 1955 to honour her memory and all the women who fought for Irish freedom and continue to form the backbone of our medical and healthcare professions to this day.
“Given the emerging series of scandals surrounding the governance of Children’s Health Ireland, not to mention the record costs in excess of €2 billion for the hospital over which CHI have presided, it is fitting that the Dáil rather than an unelected and controversial board decide the hospital’s name,” added Deputy Ó Snodaigh.