Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I concur with the sympathies that have been passed on to the families of Councillor Gerard Murphy and former councillor, Senator and TD, Dick Dowling of Kilkenny.

An issue close to my heart and to our local area of Longford-Westmeath are the paediatric diabetes services located in Mullingar General Hospital, which covers the Longford and Westmeath area. We have up to 145 attending the service but in recent times parents have been notified about disruption to the service due to a difficulty we have throughout the HSE with trying to get suitably-qualified people to staff that service. It is not acceptable. As I said, it is a serious situation. We have a lot of emergency situations, especially with kids, when it comes to diabetes and I want commitments. We should write to the Minister for Health to ensure this is prioritised so we maintain those services for those kids and give assurances to the families in the area that in the medium term we have a proper solution, but also in the longer term that we are able to ensure the stability of the services, which are based in the hospital in Mullingar.