IRELAND'S commitment to evacuate critically ill children from Gaza for treatment has faced fresh delays, with the next group of patients not expected to arrive until September.
This is despite doctors already preparing to receive them.
Eight children were approved for evacuation last month under a medical initiative announced in late 2024 to treat up to 30 paediatric patients in Ireland.
While medical teams at Temple Street and Crumlin hospitals are ready, the transfer process has slowed because of issues around visas for accompanying family members.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said in a public statement that she will seek Cabinet approval to formally expand Ireland’s policy, allowing more than one guardian per child.
“We’ve already facilitated up to three immediate family members per child,” she said, calling it a more compassionate response to the crisis.
Past missions in the last year successfully brought 12 children and 21 relatives to Ireland, with support from the HSE and World Health Organisation.
However, the delay in further evacuations has caused concern.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald recently raised the issue with the government, warning against further stalling.
Some of the children initially identified for care have since died.
Irish trauma surgeon Dr. Morgan McMonagle, who has worked in Gaza, warned that further delays could cost more lives. “At the current rate, there’s a very real risk that Gaza itself won’t exist by September,” he said to the Times.
Beyond its humanitarian efforts, Ireland has been among the most outspoken EU countries on Gaza.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, during a 2024 visit to the White House, linked Ireland’s own history of famine and displacement to its empathy for Palestinians. “We see our history in their eyes,” he told Biden.
Ireland recognised Palestinian statehood in May of last year, alongside Norway and Spain, and later supported South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
It has also continued funding UNRWA, despite Israeli efforts to shut the agency down.
