Remarks by Tánaiste Micheál Martin at the Compassionate Communities in Palliative and End of Life Care Conference, Newry

Check against delivery

Good morning everyone.

It is a great pleasure to be with you here in Newry today as we mark Palliative Care Week 2024, and an honour to formally open your conference.

I want at the outset to commend the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice & Palliative Care for hosting this conference, in collaboration with its member organisations, Foyle Hospice and the Irish Hospice Foundation.

I have been a regular visitor to Newry, South Armagh and South Down over many years and at an event like this I must acknowledge the very special place that Southern Area Hospice enjoys in the heart of the community here. I have seen many times the extraordinary lengths that local people go to in order to support the hospice here in Newry and I just want to acknowledge and pay tribute to that.

I am obviously pleased that one of my own departments, the Department of Foreign Affairs has been in a position to provide financial support for this event through the Shared Island Civic Society Fund.

A community-centred conference like this is exactly the kind of practical North South cooperation and engagement that the fund is there to promote.

Today’s conference is an opportunity to shine a light on, and raise awareness about, the challenges people and their families face when dealing with serious illness and the end of life journey.

It is an opportunity to highlight the centrality of palliative care to a caring and compassionate society and the profound difference it can make to people’s lives.

People often think that palliative care is only about end of life, but of course it can benefit people at all stages of illness.

Crucially, it improves the quality of life of family carers as well as the quality of life of the person with palliative care needs.

So many families on this island have seen their loved ones manage serious illness or live out their last days with dignity, thanks to the extraordinary work of their palliative care teams.

It also gives those who encounter illness, and their families, some peace of mind at an earlier stage in their journeys, knowing that such care will be available when needed.

In my own city of Cork, we are fortunate to be home to Ireland’s oldest hospice, Marymount University Hospice, founded in 1870, a special place that, just like Southern Area Hospice here in Newry and each every one of the hospices around the country, means so much to the local community and to the people of Cork.

I have the privilege of visiting Marymount regularly and seeing at first hand the great support and relief that it offers people at a difficult time in their lives.

This morning’s conference is about sharing experiences and perspectives, and I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about the approach my government has taken to this issue.

Palliative carers are very special and highly skilled people. The exceptional care that they offer is about so much more than addressing just the physical symptoms. It is just as much about addressing social, emotional and spiritual needs.

It is the sort of care that any genuinely compassionate and caring society should offer to people in their time of illness and distress.

That is why, in the Republic, we committed in our Programme for Government to publish a new National Adult Palliative Care Policy for adults.

That policy has been drafted and I look forward to its publication tomorrow.

The new policy will consider both the needs of people with serious illness and those of their carers.

It will address service demands arising from the projected increase in Ireland’s older population, and the number of people with life limiting conditions who would benefit from palliative care.

I see the policy as fundamentally one of modernisation – setting out a future vision for palliative care in Ireland, which reflects the many developments in end-of-life care and international best practice.

Our policy aligns with the aims of Sláintecare, our national strategic plan for healthcare, in providing equal access to high quality palliative care for everyone who needs it.

It has at its core a focus on achieving integration across primary, acute, and social care services.

As a result, we hope, patients will have better outcomes and a better service experience.

We want to ensure that high-quality palliative care can be accessed by all those who need it, without the risk of financial hardship.

With this aim in mind, as a government we increased the total annual palliative care budget allocation to almost €160 million this year, an increase of €25 million on the previous year.

As I said earlier, I’m pleased that Shared Island money helped support this conference and if you don’t mind I’d like to take a moment to talk about what Shared Island is about.

When I established the Shared Island Initiative in 2020 as Taoiseach, it was designed with a positive vision for the future of our island – a vision for a more confident, inclusive, and prosperous island for everyone, North and South.

I was clear from the start that such a vision has to include compassion and care for those in our communities who are experiencing ill-health.

The Shared Island initiative comprises essentially three strands:

First, Investing and cooperating to improve life across the whole island: supported through our €1 billion Shared Island Fund; you will enjoy a direct benefit of that here in Newry, Mourne and Down with the construction of the iconic Narrow Water Bridge now underway just a few miles down the road;

Second, we are listening to all communities: through the Shared Island Dialogue series and other engagements to hear people’s ideas, expectations, fears and hopes for the future;

And, finally, obtaining a better understanding of the island: With a major programme of published research, both intense academic work on problems shared by us all, and also the first ever systematic programme of research considering our economic, social, cultural and political connections today; and where they could go to in the years ahead, for mutual gain.

The Initiative is rooted in the Good Friday Agreement’s core commitment and potential to “strive in every practical way towards reconciliation.”

It aims to unlock the potential of the Good Friday Agreement in a very practical way by deepening cooperation and connections across borders and communities.

More broadly, this type of co-operation is intended to deliver a step change in what we achieve through partnerships, both North/South and East/West.

This step change is to be delivered through engagement with all communities and traditions on the island, respecting where they are in their views, to build a vision for our shared future.

This approach includes fostering co-operation in areas such as healthcare, which can deliver important and tangible benefits to people’s lives, and where an all-island approach is the most pragmatic option.

Our actions today, North and South, in healthcare and in other areas, will shape what follows; what kind of future is possible.

My vision for this future is encompassed in the message of this conference today – a compassionate and fair society, where all are entitled to dignified and equal treatment.

My government is taking sincere, ambitious, sustained action now to enable the best prospects for our shared future on this island - however it may be constituted.

I have always been clear that I wanted the Shared Island Initiative to be a whole-of-society endeavour. And that in order to be effective and impactful, it had to be embraced as a whole-of-government priority.

I have been pleased, therefore, to see all government departments engage with the Shared Island Initiative with such enthusiasm. It is now firmly embedded in government policy and as an established way of how we work with one another on this island, across a range of policy areas.

Across government and society, we are stepping up and driving forward the Shared Island Initiative, progressing new investment, policy and cooperation initiatives that benefit the whole island, in collaboration with partners here in Northern Ireland.

These are projects that are making a real difference to people and communities on both sides of the border.

But there is still so much more for us to do together. The Shared Island Initiative is not a short-term project with a fixed end-date. Rather, it is an idea and a set of principles that underpins how we will deepen relationships, enhance connectivity, and drive prosperity on this island.

The government’s commitment of one billion euro out to 2030 demonstrates our commitment to the Shared Island Initiative. But it does not and cannot end there. We will continue in the years to come to collaboratively develop and take forward major new investment and cooperation projects, that build a shared island.

With this in mind, the government is committed to deepening North South cooperation in areas where it makes eminent sense to do so.

Healthcare is one such area.

I am proud of the progress made in the provisions of all-island healthcare services to date. By looking at common need and consolidating resources North and South, we ensure that people receive the treatment they need, irrespective of where they are based.

One obvious and beautiful example is Children’s Health Ireland, where children across the island are being treated paediatric congenital heart and lung disease.

Another is the North West Cancer Centre at Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry, and Altnagelvin’s cardia services for people in Donegal.

Even more recently, our funding of 250 student nursing places in Northern Ireland is an initiative which benefits both jurisdictions and makes clear, practical sense.

I hope to see more of such initiatives in the future, as we continue to deepen cooperation in this area. I want to see more ideas and more proposals coming forward from health practitioners, including maybe here in Newry, on how and where we can deepen cross border co-operation.

I am ambitious and optimistic for the future of our island. We must build on progress already made and continue to work together, North and South, embracing our similarities and respecting our differences, to make sure that we realise our full potential.

Coming back to the specific issue we’re here to discuss this morning, it might be useful to take a step back and take stock of where we are in terms of palliative care from an Irish Government perspective.

There are currently 14 specialist palliative care inpatient units in the country.

There has been an increase of 21% in new specialist beds over the past five years, with 49 new beds delivered across the country to increase national capacity to a total of 276 beds.

Each of our six HSE health regions has at least one specialist palliative care inpatient unit, and a further three hospices are in the design and planning phase in Cavan, Drogheda and the Midlands.

In addition, four voluntary hospice providers have been re-designated to what we describe as “Section 38 status” as of 31 January this year, which means that they are now qualified for state funding.

€17.6 million was allocated for this re-designation under our National Service Plan this year.

I know that there are different funding and governance models here in the North, but I strongly advocated for and very warmly welcome this re-designation. I believe it ensures the sustainability of these providers and creates an equitable model of funding for specialist palliative care nationally.

Indeed, I see it as a significant achievement for our government that adult hospices in Ireland are now fully state-funded.

I am conscious though that we cannot rest on our laurels and that healthcare in particular is an area that requires constant investment, both in capital and political terms.

Cancer care is a particularly salient example of the benefits of sustained innovation, investment and political support.

Indeed it is also another area where we have demonstrated the value of an all-island approach.

I’ve mentioned the North West Cancer Centre already, but the construction of a new Daisy Lodge in Co. Mayo as a therapeutic short break centre for children with cancer and their families is another great example.

It too is being funded through Shared Island and when complete will support the existing and excellent Daisy Lodge facility near us here in Newcastle, County Down.

We also, of course, have the excellent All Island Cancer Consortium, whose 25th anniversary we mark this year.

I say it again, I aspire to seeing the creation of more of such services facilitated by close cooperation with the Executive in Northern Ireland.

Our Department of Health collaborates closely with the Department of Health here across a range of issues, with formal cooperation taking place through the North South Ministerial Council, based in Armagh.

It is so important that we once again have a fully functioning NSMC since the return of the Executive in Northern Ireland.

The value of bringing the two administrations together, both in plenary format, which will happen again this coming Friday, and in individual policy areas, cannot be overstated.

Through these channels, we gain a clearer understanding of the ways in which the potential of North South cooperation can be harnessed and improved.

Our host this morning, the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care taps into this potential in a very practical and important way and I would like to pay tribute to the invaluable work of the Institute.

You are an organisation that works collaboratively North and South for the benefit of people right across the island - integrating research, education and practice to support service users and carers - and developing and improving palliative care on the island. It is very important work, and I thank you for it.

I wish to take this opportunity to also say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to the dedicated and hardworking family carers and caregivers in palliative care services across this island who give expert, compassionate care to our loved ones with life-limiting conditions.

We have made significant progress in improving palliative care services across this island.

By continuing to work together, through initiatives such as Palliative Care Week, we can build on these achievements and greatly improve the lives of those living with life limiting conditions.

I would like to wish everyone involved in Palliative Care Week every success!

And I look forward to continued cooperation in the future, as we continue to work together North and South to build a healthier and more prosperous island and to make it an ever betterplace for all of us who call it home.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh.