Summer School 2020

The 12th annual Sean Mac Diarmada Summer School took place on Saturday 6^th June 2020.

This event took place in a different format than usual, being an online event in response to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. A different way to suit a different time. Despite the new format, the event was attended by over 100 participants. The digital format also meant that, for the first time, we were able to record the presentations and make them available here and on our Youtube channel.

The selected theme for 2020 was Healthcare in Ireland – A New Reality. It is prescient that this theme was selected by the committee for 2020, having been chosen in September 2019, many months before the Covid 19 emergency became a reality. It examined the ‘new reality’ facing healthcare and its providers in Ireland; coping with the challenges already present, while learning how to address those now being introduced due to the presence of the novel Coronavirus.

The theme for 2020 very accurately reflects what is now one of the most critical and relevant issues facing Irish society going forward – how our healthcare in Ireland operates, the difficulties it faces, and how, confronted by new realities, it will proceed to meet the healthcare needs of the Irish population.

The 2020 Summer School opened with the Orla Parkinson Memorial Lecture was given by Professor Margaret Kelleher, Professor & Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature & Drama (U.C.D.)

Taking the topic “Liberation, Tribulation: an Exploration of Modern Female Relationships in Irish Women’s Poetry”, this lecture was delivered in memory of Orla Parkinson, a major contributor in the contexts of history and literature to a number of local communities in the North Leitrim area.

The event continued with provocative and engaging presentations from Professor John Crown (Consultant Medical Oncologist – St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin), Professor Patricia Casey (Consultant Psychiatrist & Clinical Lead for the Self Harm Service), Ms. Phil Ni Sheaghdha (General Secretary – Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation) and Dr. Padraig Mc Garty (Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Institute of Technology, Tralee.)

The day was one of interest and insight generated by a group of expert speakers who stand right at the centre of healthcare and public policy in contemporary Ireland.

The event examined one of the most important issues of the day, a topic that has now, more than ever, moved centre stage and forward due to the onslaught of novel Coronavirus.