John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is one of the sad realities for those of us working in the area of oncology that we sometimes make people infertile. We try to ensure infertility is not a side effect of the treatments we administer, but that is not always possible. The consequences of infertility are devastating for individuals and families and it is an issue we need to address.
I will begin by offering Ms Fitzpatrick some advice, if I may. Seeking as a priority the provision of new regulations and the establishment of new regulatory bodies is a reasonable approach. In that context, however, I will put forward something of a guerilla view on how our health system works. When people come in here and ask for increased bureaucracy or more inspectors, they are likely to receive a warm response from Government. If, on the other hand, they argue that what they actually need is more services and staff and better access and resourcing, they are pushing a much stiffer door. The truth is that the Titanicneeded more lifeboats, not more lifeboat inspectors. This brings to mind the Health Information and Quality Authority, to give an example, whose public relations department has mushroomed at a time when we cannot deliver basic services.
How many designated fertility specialists are there in the public sector at this time and how many designated fertility clinics? When public patients approach their GP seeking a referral for a fertility issue, how long do they have to wait to be seen? What method of triage is used to decide whether they can access publicly a fertility service and how long will they wait to access that service? These are key questions and I suspect the answers to all of them will be quite sad. Nevertheless, I would be grateful to have that information.
Does Ms Fitzpatrick have any sense of where we fit on an international league table in terms of numbers of fertility specialists compared with other western European countries? As a rule of thumb, for most specialties across medicine in Ireland we have approximately one fifth of the European average. I suspect the figure for fertility services will be no better than that.
I urge Ms Fitzpatrick to keep up the good work. This is a very important fight. As I said, I have some sense of the unbelievable pain this problem can cause. It is an issue to which we must give a higher degree of priority.