Samuel Morrison: Sinn Fein must be asked why soldiers are building hospitals across the UK but not in Northern Ireland

I am sure many readers have been amazed at the speed in which the 4 – 5,000 bed Nightingale Hospital has been erected by the Army in London.

In dark days it is some reassurance to know that three more temporary hospitals are to be built in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow with the NHS saying other sites are being considered across the UK.

Soldiers setting up an NHS Nightingale hospital in London. Yet there is no suggestion of such a hospital in Northern Ireland. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wireplaceholder image
Soldiers setting up an NHS Nightingale hospital in London. Yet there is no suggestion of such a hospital in Northern Ireland. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Yet there is no suggestion of a Nightingale Hospital in Northern Ireland.

Could this be linked to the fact that, as they told the News Letter on March 24, Sinn Fein would block the deployment of the Army in our Province?

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Letter to the editor | Johnston Press Resell

Now that the military have shown they can build a hospital with remarkable speed why is there a total lack of voices calling republicans out on this issue?

We have Sinn Fein press releases parroted by an endless stream of commentators on the BBC but a telling absence of anyone challenging Sinn Fein on this issue.

If the NHS in Northern Ireland is under the pressure, and I have no doubt it is, and the core problem is a lack of ICU beds surely we should be demanding that the resources which have been deployed in the rest of our nation are utilised here to address this problem?

All too many families in our Province can testify to the fact that Sinn Fein/IRA’s Brits Out mantra can take priority over human life.

Is it going to do so again when it comes to dealing with coronavirus?

Samuel Morrison, Traditional Unionist, Dromore, Co Down

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