An open letter to Pat Cullen

  Ms Cullen

We are writing to you in connection with your public statement that  the future of medical care in Ireland would be best served by a reunited Ireland. We find this kind of talk totally inappropriate, coming from a person who is the General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing.

Had you thought before you spoke, you would doubtless have chosen to outline the many benefits of having two separate health services on the island of Ireland. There are two countries on the island of Ireland and the Royal College of Nursing should respect this fact. There should be no medical invasion of Northern Ireland by nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers or any other part of the Republic of Ireland’s so-called health system. 

You have only to think what could result if this principled separation is not observed. Imagine the terror of a God-fearing unionist patient being wheeled towards the operating theatre, knowing that the person wielding the scalpel or controlling the anaesthetic system is a republican. Imagine a transplant patient wakening up and knowing that the heart beating within their bosom was that of a now-dead nationalist. Think of the fear and trembling that would consume an incapacitated senior citizen, knowing that the hands supporting them into the ambulance were those of a Sinn Féin voter. The vista, to coin a phrase, would be appalling.

You, Ms Cullen, are the General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing. As such, your every word should be directed at supporting the health system of Northern Ireland. Had you said that medical care in Northern Ireland would be best served by deeper integration with a post-Brexit United Kingdom, you would have been doing what your duty demands.

There is no question of trying to censor your words or deny you the right to hold an opinion, Ms Cullen. Had you spoken up for the continuation of our present happy place in the UK’s NHS, you would have been widely and rightly applauded. But you didn’t. Instead, like one who would pervert the principle of free speech and shout “Fire!” in a crowded Orange Hall, you chose to pervert your free speech privilege to utter words verging on treason.

You have disappointed many people, Ms Cullen. Others you have enraged. We the undersigned are but a small part of the many infuriated by your words. Kindly book a media spot asap so you can deliver your apologies and withdraw your irrational and  treacherous words. The fact that you come from Carrickmore or some similar republican hotbed is no excuse.

Yours in sorrow AND anger,

Sammy Wilson MP

Gregory Campbell MP

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP

Lord Dodds

Edwin Poots MLA

Ian Paisley MP

Mervyn Gibson  Grand Secretary Orange Order

Arlene Foster

Emma Little-Pengelly MLA

Jim Allister MLA

Sir Edward Carson

Jamie Bryson

King William of Orange