Hundreds turn out for Justice for Harvey city centre march

Hundreds of people took to the streets on Saturday, calling for justice for a young boy with scoliosis who died last month.

Nine-year-old Harvey Morrison from Clondalkin, who died on July 29, had faced delays in accessing surgery to correct his scoliosis and spina bifida which had severely impacted his health.

A Justice for Harvey march took place on Saturday, August 23, from the Garden of Remembrance to the Custom House, calling for action over how Harvey’s case, and the cases of hundreds of other children waiting for spinal surgery in Ireland.

Over 1,000 people joined the march according to organisers, calling for changes in children’s healthcare in Ireland, especially in the case of children with debilitating and life-threatening illnesses such as spina bifida and scoliosis.

Harvey’s case made headlines last year when his parents, Gillian Sherratt and Stephen Morrison revealed he had apparently been removed from Children’s Health Ireland waiting list for surgery without their knowledge or any notification.

Harvey eventually underwent corrective surgery but died this summer after an undisclosed illness.

Speaking to the crowd gathered at the Custom House on Saturday, his dad Stephen said they were “here today to call for justice for Harvey, and all the other kids continuing to be failed by Children’s Health Ireland and the State.”

“Harvey’s painfully short life was very much a rollercoaster,” his mother Gillian said.

She described her son as easygoing and laidback despite his disabilities, and that all he ever wanted was “his iPad, his Hunky Dorys, the odd lollipop and timely access to healthcare”.

“Harvey was nine, he waited for 33 months for scoliosis surgery, and in that time the curve in his spine went from 75 degrees to 130.

“He had to have his whole life put on hold while he waited,” she said, adding that the family had missed holidays, she and Stephen had cancelled their wedding and that Harvey’s sister’s heart surgery had been postponed, all as a result of the delay in Harvey’s care.

“It robbed him of his childhood, it robbed him of his comfort, it robbed him of his quality of life, and it robbed us of the opportunity to make precious family memories with him.”

Gillian vowed that she and Stephen would continue to be Harvey’s voice “in his death”.

There were also calls for Tánaiste Simon Harris to resign, over an unfulfilled promise that no child would wait longer that four months for spinal surgery which he made as Health Minister in 2017.

Figures show that of the 231 children waiting for spinal surgery at the end of July 2025, 36 are waiting between three and six months and 38 are waiting for over six months.

The Tánaiste has promised to meet with Harvey’s mother Gillian in the coming weeks, while the current Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill is due to meet with surgeons over scoliosis waiting lists and cultural problems at CHI.

In a statement the Department of Health said that CHI the HSE have been asked to to carry out a multidisciplinary report on the timeline surrounding Harvey’s care, and that the HSE’s Chief Executive has formally commissioned an audit of governance and equity in patient access and waiting list management at CHI.