I spoke to families this week

who have benefited enormously from using the ‘Ronald McDonald’ family accommodation at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin. When a child requires hospitalisation, the parents have to be close by. Each family I spoke to was full of praise for the unit and adamant that there was no great awareness of any connection to McDonald’s restaurants. The claim by one senior medic that putting the name Ronald McDonald beside a children’s hospital is akin to ‘letting Heineken sponsor a liver unit’ is insulting to these families and their children. Comparing a Big Mac to a pint of beer is simply wrong.