![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4967285_7_articleinline_MaterCovid_20Sculpture_202_20c2743_5b1_5d.jpg\" "\\"")
Suzanne Dempsey, left, and Dolores Heery, with sculptor Sean Gallagher at the ‘Our Covid Warriors’ installment. Picture: Moya Nolan<\/p>\nA powerful bronze memorial to covid-19 suffering has been described as bringing solace to visitors at Dublin’s Mater Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One staff member who lost her sister to covid-19 five years ago on Saturday, said she feels her presence in the quiet garden.<\/p>\n
Rita Brogan said: \u201cThere were 17 healthcare workers who died from covid, which is just shocking. Unfortunately Mandy, our sister, was one of those.<\/p>\n
“She was treated here, she was transferred here. It\u2019s lovely to have this, not just for me but for all the staff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The five bronze figures sit in a circle, heads bowed.<\/p>\n
It reminds Ms Brogan of when \u201cwe were all sitting at home feeling the same way (after Mandy died), not knowing what to do\u201d.<\/p>\n
The idea was sparked during a conversation with Dolores Heery, director of mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe location of Our Covid Warriors now invites people to come in and sit down, they can sit on their own but there\u2019s a sense they are not alone,\u201d Ms Heery said. Suzanne Dempsey, director of quality and patient safety added:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n There is a hopefulness to it, that you can sit and reflect and remember and you can move on.\n <\/p>\n
Months of fundraising included collecting plastic bottles from the wards, pub-quizzes, and other events.<\/p>\n
The sculptures are by Sean Gallagher, artist in residence and product designer at the Mater.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had made smaller but similar shapes around 2021 without a real plan.<\/p>\n
Suzanne Dempsey, left, and Dolores Heery, with sculptor Sean Gallagher at the ‘Our Covid Warriors’ installment. Picture: Moya Nolan<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think about them much until I met with Dolores and Suzanne in 2023 maybe, then I had them and showed them \u2014 it resonated with them then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s very typical of art. You don\u2019t always really necessarily understand the meaning behind something as you\u2019re doing it and then it unveils itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The women also visited the Bronze Art Fine Art Foundry during the casting process.<\/p>\n
A small plaque in the reflection garden tells future generations: “Despite being socially isolated from one another, we worked together as a society to overcome this challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n The five bowed figures reflect this collective resilience as we navigated through a difficult and uncertain time.\n <\/p>\n
A hospital spokesman said fundraising was supported by staff, with contributions from family, friends and \u201c a small donation\u201d from the Mater Foundation. <\/p>\n
He added it is open for anyone to visit and \u201creflect on those who were lost during the pandemic”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Advocacy group Care Champions supported the fundraising.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s lovely there is a place where people can find a bit of solace,\u201d Majella Beattie said on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt highlights too the need for a national monument which we don\u2019t have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The group has created its own mobile memorial wall which it brings regularly to meetings and protests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government haven\u2019t made any effort to put a memorial in place, it\u2019s like they just want to sweep us away under the carpet,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A powerful bronze memorial to covid-19 suffering has been described as bringing solace to visitors at Dublin’s Mater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[160,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":["post-302783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-covid-19","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}