Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Coulter-Smith and Dr. Sheehan for what were really very detailed presentations. As I said as late as last evening in the Chamber, I acknowledge the background not only to the maternity service but to the health service is that we have lost €4 billion in funding, 11,000 staff and 2,000 beds in the past number of years and, on top of that, there has been the moratorium. Of course, that was on top of a situation where most services were not well staffed anyway and certainly services outside Dublin were much less well-staffed than the Dublin services, and even those were not properly or fully staffed. Obviously, that is the background and one that I absolutely accept.

I have a couple of questions. The first question is for Dr. Sheehan and relates to the statement, which I fully acknowledge, that much of antenatal and postnatal care should be provided in the community. I absolutely agree with that. I would like if Dr. Sheehan would explain to us exactly what that would mean, how that would work in practice and what level of service could be expected and provided in the community.

I would like to ask Dr. Coulter-Smith from where is figure for the cut-off point of 4,000 to 5,000 births annually coming. I am around quite a while and I have seen that figure vary over the years. I have never seen it as high as 4,000 to 5,000. Certainly, in many of the maternity units of our EU partners, it would be considerably lower than that. I wonder from where that figure came. Even the lower figure of 4,000 birth were to be implemented, what, in practice, would that mean for the 19 maternity units around the country?