Shortly after Christmas, what we would classify as a fit young woman of 39 years of age was in a gym in Athlone. When she came out with her two young children, she fell to the ground. I compliment the paramedics and air ambulance staff who brought her to Beaumont Hospital, where they found a bleed in the brain. I compliment Beaumont Hospital for all of the work it did. The hospital stabilised her and did a lot of work but, unfortunately, where walking and speech are concerned, her speech and one side of her body were affected. Physio and rehabilitation were required. She was told that going to Dún Laoghaire was an option, but the wait there was very long. Then, she looked at Clontarf. Peamount was out of the area. Unlike what often goes on in here with the bickering, I want to be a bit different. I want to compliment my constituency colleague, Dr. Martin Daly, because both of us know the family. This is not about votes or politics. This is about two people working together who have at heart the interest of a young person with young children and who has been left in a situation that is very difficult. Since then, we have been frustrated by the HSE systems. Under them, Beaumont cannot transfer a person to Merlin Park. You have to go through another hospital in the west of Ireland, such as Ballinasloe. In fairness to Deputy Daly, thanks to the calls he has made, the girl has been transferred to Ballinasloe. However, it is an horrific situation. An insurance company has walked away from the insurance the lady had. One top of that, this woman is trying every day. Her husband goes up and they go for walks. She is powering on, so determined to make a full recovery. The problem here has to do with a bed space, speech and language therapy and physio. I ask the Tánaiste to work with us and to ask the Minister for Health to work with us. This needs resolving for someone who has gone through a tough situation. She is a determined, fit, young person of 39 who wants to make a full recovery. She has worked all her life, as has her husband, and they are in the hospital every day trying to defeat the hard situation they have come through. She walked with a Zimmer frame, then threw that away and walked on her own, but the hand needs help. Speech and language therapy is the big one. Once again, I compliment my constituency colleague for the work he has done because I might know a lot about agriculture, but I have to hand it to him on health in the way he would guide you. This is not about me, him or anybody else. This is about a person - a human being - with young kids of seven- and eight-years-old whom we want to see has a future that makes them better and gets them what they need. I ask the Tánaiste to help us in this situation.

Sentiment score: 0.11

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. The one thing I will say is, in the overall context, for people who go through a traumatic injury like that, it is about the facility. It is not about that one person alone; it is about people right around the country. If you leave a person in a hospital that does not cater for something, then you are holding a bed that may be able to help someone else. It is a question of putting in resources around the country. I am appreciative of what Beaumont and all of the paramedics have done, but when the family looked at Peamount, whatever system that is in place in the HSE said it was outside the area. Ironically, if a person came from Roscommon or elsewhere in the west, you would imagine that the likes of Beaumont could ring Merlin Park and ask it to facilitate this, but no. The Tánaiste might bring this to the Minister's attention. The systems here mean that you have to go to one place in the CHO 2 area before you can jump into another place there. That is the problem. Neither Deputy Daly nor I might have a lot of hair left, but we are pulling our hair out trying to get around this to help this family. I thank the Tánaiste for his comments and I ask him to get the Minister to please engage with us, because we want to get this person back to full health, which I believe will happen.

Sentiment score: 0.07