HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE gathered in Dublin city centre today for a march in remembrance of Harvey Morrison Sherratt, a nine-year-old boy who died last month, who had spina bifida and scoliosis. 

Protesters made their way from the Garden of Remembrance to Custom House, where they heard calls from key opposition politicians and disability advocacy group leaders for the children’s paediatric healthcare in Ireland to be overhauled, and for Fine Gael leader Simon Harris to resign over his track record of broken promises on children’s spinal operation waiting times, and his response to Harvey’s case. 

The protest was attended by Harvey’s parents Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison. 

Gillian said that she was glad to see such large crowds in attendance, and that she hoped the protest would lead to real change in children’s healthcare reform. 

Hundreds marching in remembrance of Harvey and in protest against the crisis and failures in children’s care @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/5tmGyg2LUo

— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) August 23, 2025

Crowds chanted: “What do we want, Justice for Harvey, when do we want it, now” as they travelled down O’Connell Street. 

Speaking to The Journal at the march Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the large support on show for Harvey’s parents and their campaign for justice and accountability meant “two things”. 

“Firstly, solidarity with Harvey’s family, for the loss of their beautiful child, for all that he’s suffered and the way in which he was failed, and they were failed again and again, that’s the first message. The second is that this can’t continue to happen, that other children – and bear in mind – there’s 242 children today as we speak waiting for spinal surgery. 

“That’s unacceptable and we’re demanding action from them, from all of them in Government, and in particular from Simon Harris,” she said. 

Mary Lou McDonald said at today's Justice For Harvey march that Simon Harris still has not met with his parents, "I don't know what that's all about".

"This can't continue to happen," she added, and said that over 240 children are currently waiting on spinal surgeries. pic.twitter.com/u5VEVPmc0z

— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) August 23, 2025

Protesters carried signs calling for Harris’s resignation, and one held a large poster aloft that showed a picture of Harris with the caption: “Bone Crusher”. 

Harris made a promise when he was Health Minister in 2017 that no child would wait more than four months for spinal surgery. 

He also failed to meet with Gillian and Stephen when their son was alive, despite calls for him to. 

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín gave a speech outside of Custom House calling for the resignation of Simon Harris, and for the current management of Children’s Health Ireland to be reformed. 

“Harvey spent 33 months on the scoliosis waiting list before he got the surgery he needed,” Tóibín said. 

He added that he questioned Simon Harris in the Dáil on why he did not meet with Harvey’s family and other families who were taken off the waiting list for surgery abruptly and without being given an explanation. 

Úna Keightley, the co-lead of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy group, gave an emotional and impassioned speech at the march, in which she called out the successive failures in children’s healthcare under CHI over the last decade, and Government inaction. 

She also called for a full statutory inquiry into the treatment of children in CHI hospitals, saying that it was both “necessary” and “justified”. 

“When there is misappropriation of funds, there is public uproar, when there is misappropriation of lives and healthcare, will there be public uproar then? Help us once and for all to make the change, support our asks and ensure that the neglect of children and persons with disabilities and those with complex health needs does not continue in our country,” she said. 

Speaking about the impact that spinal surgery waiting times have had on children and their families, Keightley said: 

“What does it mean to become inoperable, to a person living with a disability, it means the limited mobility they already have is worsened, their ability to transfer from their wheelchair to their car is hampered, their ability to transfer into their bed is hampered, putting on socks and shoes, coats and gloves becomes a bigger task than it ever needed to be, it’s another level of disability.” 

She added that CHI “cannot comment on individual cases”. 

“That is, unless there is a fluffy story to be shared for the shakedown of charitable donations.” 

“Non-medical springs for industrial use were placed in children, unnecessary hip operations have occurred, waiting list placement in urology were not made in the best interest of children, the consequence of that is those children are now at a real risk of infertility and cancer.

“Children’s Health Ireland does not think they have to tell those children now they are adults that, it is their absolute right to know that information,” Keightley further said.