John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Kelleher has already asked most of the questions I intended to ask. The death of a child must be the greatest catastrophe to be visited on any family. The evidence given this morning was rather distressing, to be honest. To choose the particular career path that the witnesses have chosen requires a very special kind of dedication and I mean that in the best possible sense. Sometimes we come across a tangled knot of bureaucracy, especially when dealing with the HSE, and the witnesses do not need to be told about that. I have had first-hand experience of that myself, as a former psychiatric nurse. There are so many different competing demands on the HSE and on this committee. Dr. O'Reilly quoted Nelson Mandela earlier who said that a nation can be judged by how it treats its children. Instead of simply praising the fine words of a statesman, we should try to give expression to those words. In the context of paediatric palliative care, everyone should do his or utmost to lay aside or cut through any bureaucracy involved and prioritise the children.

On the question of the upskilling of nurses, do the witnesses believe that the system of postgraduate degree courses for nurses present a financial disincentive for them to engage in additional education and training and further their careers? I believe that is a grave anomaly in the system.

I compliment all of the witnesses on the work they are doing