Hold newly-elected leaders to account on health says archbishop

Irish people must hold their newly-elected leaders to account and make sure the crisis in Irish healthcare is tackled in order to stop sick children and the elderly “left waiting and exasperated”, according to Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.

Speaking on the World Day of the Sick on Sunday, the archbishop commended doctors, nurses and carers who have “extraordinary human qualities and dedication”.

He lambasted Ireland’s health system, saying many areas of it are “scandalous” and “let down” medical staff.  “Hopefully, the many commentaries and the many promises we have heard in these election days will not remain empty words. We have an obligation to keep our leaders to their word,” Archbishop Martin said in the Church of the Guardian Angels in Dublin.

“Our Church and we believers are called in our own way to be guardian angels for those who silently suffer and are troubled. In our time, despite the great progress of medical science, many of those who are sick suffer from a deep loneliness or abandonment or a sense of being rejected and the feeling that society simply passes them by and leaves them on their own.”

Support

He said the Christian community came together on the day to welcome the sick as “privileged members of our community”, to support and learn from them, saying “the Faith of the sick is stronger than our own sense of self-sufficiency”.

At moments of darkness and turbulence, even a small light is a sign that we are moving out of darkness”

“For us Christians, the unwavering love of Jesus constitutes the first service that we offer those who are sick. We are called to be beacons of light who proclaim the constant presence of the new light of Christ in our world with all its ambiguities,” Dr Martin said.

“At moments of darkness and turbulence, even a small light is a sign that we are moving out of darkness. Light is a reminder that hope is still possible in the darkness of distress.”