I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. It is ironic that he holds the role as Minister of State with responsibility for older people when my Topical Issue relates to people on the other end of the life cycle. There is a desperate need for critical care expansion at the Rotunda Hospital. All of us have childhood memories that will stay with us for life. Mine come from about 31 years ago. My two younger brothers, Alan and Paul, were born quite prematurely, each weighing about 1 lb or 1.5 lb, and spent months of their life in the critical care unit at the Rotunda Hospital. They grew up big and strong and they were looked after incredibly well. I have memories of the hospital and the critical care unit at that time as an older, antiquated building. In recent years, I have been going back to meet the masters of the hospital and management team as they started to develop their ideas around expansion, particularly in the last six or seven months when it became clear there were going to be objections to the expansion. What strikes me is that in my memory the hospital and critical care unit from 31 years ago looked almost exactly the same then as it appears today. While the machines have been modernised, as will happen with machines, the space in which critical care is afforded has not. Some 9,000 children are brought to life in the Rotunda Hospital every year. Not only does it care for the most vulnerable babies in this city, but babies in critical care from all over the country are sent to the Rotunda Hospital. The clinicians, midwives, master of the hospital and management teams are exceptional. They have a real sense of place and purpose. Every time I walk into that hospital, I am just blown away by the care they give. On Friday, like everyone across the Chamber - I am not the exception – I was furious that the desperately needed expansion at the Rotunda Hospital was declined by An Coimisiún Pleanála. I also heard Ministers, and the Taoiseach, convey their frustrations in that regard. It was declined after approval had been given by Dublin City Council and despite the fact that an coimisiún’s own inspectorate report stated that this progression is desperately needed. It was declined on the basis of architectural preservation, given that the Rotunda Hospital is in the centre of what is Georgian Dublin. The Rotunda Hospital was there first, however. It features in a 1795 picture just behind us on the wall of the Chamber where it is described as the lying-in hospital. I find it unfathomable that anyone could walk into the critical care unit of the Rotunda Hospital, understand the need and then turn around and object to its development into a modern hospital appropriate both to the needs of babies and women’s healthcare in this city. The State and Government have some responsibility in this regard. That needs to be accepted and rectified. In the end, the decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála states very clearly, despite the Minister, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, claiming otherwise earlier, the reason this was turned down. It stated: Government Policy is to co-locate the Rotunda in the medium to longer term with Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, by which time the adverse impact caused by the development as proposed to the character and setting of Protected Structures and the Georgian Conservation Area, could not be undone. The only protected structures that should be prioritised are the babies in those incubators. The co-location plan with Connolly Hospital is never going to happen. There is already a co-location happening between the Rotunda Hospital and the Mater hospital. There are blue pathways that are needed. What are we doing to do? I am happy to work collaboratively in this regard, as is everyone in the Chamber. I understand the Minister of State will read a response. We will see what we can do from there.

Sentiment score: 0.11

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I listened carefully to it and read the words. I heard the Taoiseach today and listened to the Minister for Health on the radio this morning. Everybody shares the frustration. I understand the Minister is going to meet the master of the Rotunda, Professor Sean Daly, in two weeks. I met him yesterday. It is vital that when the Minister for Health goes to meet the master of the Rotunda, she brings options to the table. What we need here is not just collective lamentation about how frustrated we are and how wrong this decision is. We need to know how we can now speed up the process. The Taoiseach today talked about emergency critical infrastructure legislation. That is brilliant; it is fantastic. He asked for support from around the House. The Government will have full support if we can have some innovations in legislation to provide for critical healthcare capacity and move this along fast. I do not doubt for a second that the human care being provided in the Rotunda Hospital is second to none. What is lacking is infrastructural assets. What we need now is a collective agreement that if emergency legislation is needed, we will do it fast. We are talking about one of the busiest maternity hospitals in Europe. We are talking about a maternity hospital that provides care to an incredibly vulnerable cohort in its immediate vicinity and a vulnerable cohort nationwide of babies who require critical care. If the Minister of State were to take a message back to the Minister from me, I would ask her to act with urgency, to be innovative in her approach and, when she meets with the master of the Rotunda in two weeks' time, to bring options to the table because the staff, clinicians and midwives in the Rotunda Hospital have done everything to this point. The preservation of architecture is never more important than the preservation of life.

Sentiment score: 0.10