Mayo councillor calls on Simon Harris to resign

A MAYO councillor has joined her party leader in calling for the Tanaiste and Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris to resign following the death of a young boy who had been waiting for scoliosis treatment.

Aontú councillor Deirdre Lawless made the comments following the death of nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt and said that the Tánaiste is as ‘caring and compassionate as his carefully nurtured image suggests he should resign immediately'.

Her party leader, Meath West TD, Peadar Toibín called on the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to resign over the handling of the case of Harvey from Clondalkin in Dublin, who died on July 29 July and had spina bifida and scoliosis.

He had been subject to delays in accessing urgent scoliosis surgery and last year, his parents Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison, said that Harvey had been removed from a Children's Health Ireland (CHI) waiting list for urgent scoliosis surgery without their consent or knowledge.

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Cllr Lawless said that she could not imagine the anguish felt by the parents of Harvey and promises made by Minister Harris regarding scoliosis when he was Minister of Health had not been kept.

“As a mother, as a human being, I simply cannot imagine the anguish that Harvey’s parents and loved ones are going through at the avoidable loss of their little boy. Their grief is compounded by the fact that Harvey’s death was not inevitable, it could have been avoided had he received the treatment he desperately needed in a timely fashion and which Harris promised to all children with the condition. 

“In 2017 as Minister for Health Harris promised that no child would wait for longer than four months for a Scoliosis operation. We are now in 2025, and a sweet little innocent child has died because the pressure on his little lungs became too much to bear due to the curvature of his spine that worsened the longer he waited for surgery.

“Those of us who know anyone who suffers with the condition Scoliosis will know firsthand about the excruciating pain that they can suffer and the difficulty they can have breathing. Imagine the anguish for the parents who have to watch helplessly, unable to secure medical intervention... Simon Harris was Minister for Health when he stepped forward and made life changing promises. He gave false promises to desperate children and their families. Not only is this unconscionable. It is cruel,” she said.

The Knock-based councillor added that the families of children removed from the waiting list have yet to receive answers as to why this occurred and described this as 'unforgivable'.

“We know that Simon Harris is very good at making promises, not so good at actually keeping them. We know he is good at furrowing his brow and affecting sympathy…now is the time to actually have the decency to resign and if he doesn’t have the decency to do that he should be sacked.

“Politicians simply cannot be allowed to make false promises with disastrous consequences and not be held accountable,” she concluded.