Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late, but I had briefed myself on the subject. I pay particular tribute to public health nurses because of my experience of the public health nurses in the Dunshaughlin health centre who are outstanding. I have had four children and they have been absolutely magnificent to me and I am now dealing with them on the issue of elder care provision. They are second to none and, as Deputy Caoimghín Ó Caoláin said, the relationships built are not lost. I met the lady delegates a number of weeks ago. As a result of that meeting, I was prompted to have a conversation with my mother and her sister on public health nurses. Deputy Catherine Byrne touched on this point. The reputation of public health nurses in the past was very different from my experience. I view the public health nurse as a person with expertise who will respond to a telephone call and will come and visit someone. I looked forward to their visit because I had at least 15 questions for them. My mother and her sister were absolutely petrified to see a public health nurse coming to the door for a number of reasons. They were probably much younger when they had babies than my generation was. They did not know what they were doing. They were probably in fear of criticism and critics, but obviously they now see the service in an entirely different way.

My fear about the establishment of a new child and family agency - I would like this point to be elaborated on - is that if it is established without the complete co-operation and support of the public health nurse system and not in collaboration with PHNs, it could be perceived and may well be perceived by the general public as a child protection agency, as opposed to a family agency. We may find ourselves going back to a stage where people were fearful of the public health nurse. We could find ourselves going back to having women and families fearful of the public health nurse coming to the front door. That would be a significantly retrograde step. What can this committee do to change the establishment process and bring the public health nurse into phase 1 of the establishment of the child and family agency?