I agree with my colleague that the Minister for Health should be here tonight to stand over a decision she has made. She should be here to answer our questions. The Minister for Health should be here to tell us why pregnant women in our region are going to be forced to travel to access maternity care and have their babies. She should be here tonight to tell us why she and the HSE have made a decision that essentially means we have issues here, we are going to do reviews, we are going to implement the recommendations and then we are not going to restore at any point in the future, full maternity services at Portiuncula. In 2018, the Walker report followed an independent external review of maternity services at Portiuncula, which was then published. A total of 154 recommendations followed and those recommendations were not implemented. Seven years later, we have some of the very same issues identified again. The response of the HSE was to not let it fix this or let it do whatever it had to do to make this safe and support women in this region. Instead, the response of the HSE was that it has implemented the Walker report. It was to pretend it had implemented it in full and to tell us repeatedly it had implemented it in full. Just last week, I received a letter from the hospital manager who stated all 154 recommendations had been implemented and independently verified as implemented by both HIQA and an independent national HSE team. On the very same day, Bernard Gloster told the health committee that to be clear, it would be not reconcilable for him or someone to say the Walker report was implemented in full. He said that on the same day. I have come here tonight to ask why, in the case of Portiuncula, a decision was made not to bother to do everything necessary to ensure women across a number of counties in our region get the care they deserve at Portiuncula Hospital.

Sentiment score: 0.14

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Of course, the bottom line here is that if you seek an external independent report, get the recommendations, fail to implement those recommendations, and then see the same issues arise again, it is not exactly rocket science to know how that has happened. We, as elected representatives, have been misled. On a really important report in relation to the birth of children at a hospital, a report that is that important, we were misled in terms of the recommendations not being implemented. We need to hear urgently on the floor of the Dáil from the Minister for Health. I stand to be corrected but, as far as I am concerned, she has not said a word on this matter in this House. I wrote to her over two weeks ago seeking a meeting for all of us, as Oireachtas Members across parties, to sit down and meet with her to ensure we can put across to her the worry and the stress at what should be the happiest time for women in their lives. I cannot put across to the Minister of State the stress this has put on women and their families. The Minister should have been here tonight to answer those questions and answer those women.

Sentiment score: 0.06