Irish public sector’s duty to ‘lead by example’

Giving the opening keynote at the joint IHEEM Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland conference held in May, Dean Sullivan, Deputy CEO and Chief Strategy Officer at Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE), stressed the importance of the public sector taking a lead in the drive toward Net Zero, and explained how the HSE would look to ‘inspire the necessary climate actions across all aspects of its operations, and indeed in wider society’, to achieve the Irish Government’s ‘very challenging targets’ for 2030 and 2050.

Titled ‘Delivering sustainable healthcare estates’ the two-day conference was organised by the two Irish IHEEM Branches in collaboration with the Institute’s Portsmouth Head Office team, and took place at one of Ireland’s most famous sporting venues, Croke Park in Dublin, from 16-17 May. The first day’s programme began with IHEEM President, Paul Fenton, welcoming delegates, and recalling that the only time he had actually stood on the pitch at Croke Park had been during a Robbie Williams concert back in 2006. Although not a great fan of the former ‘Take That’ frontman, he vividly recalled his rendition of ‘Let me entertain you’, and said he was sure the speakers would do the same for delegates at the conference. 

Twenty years overdue