Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That answers that question. Reference was made earlier to the fact that a lot of these mothers are now finding themselves homeless and I deal with this every day. I could bring the witnesses to my office and show them the mountain of files I have on homeless people, as is the case with Deputies from throughout the country. The biggest issue with homeless women who are pregnant is the difficulty in tracking them down. They move around so much that it becomes difficult to keep in contact with them, especially if they change their mobile phone number.

Regarding babies who are born with addiction issues, as I said already I did not realise that they were continued on a methadone programme, which information is very helpful. I have never witnessed such a baby having a seizure but I know someone who has and I know that it was a truly frightening experience.

I thank the witnesses for their very comprehensive report. This is an issue I have been concerned about for some time because in the area I represent, there are large numbers of young mothers who have substance and alcohol abuse issues. It is for that reason I wanted to try to get a better handle on the medical end of things and to determine how I can, in my work as a public representative, help to direct people to the appropriate services. I agree with the witnesses that when mothers leave hospital with their newborn babies we must continue to track not only those with problems but also the healthy babies. I know it is difficult for service providers to trace and track those who are addicted to alcohol or drugs in their journey with their babies.

I have to pay a huge compliment to the staff I do know who deal locally with people with substance abuse issues. I also want to pay a compliment to the many foster parents who take on these babies with their not-normal medical issues. They do a wonderful job and sometimes I do not think we give them the support they need. The Government needs to look at that in more depth and at how these foster parents can be helped in order to maintain some kind of normality in their own lives. Their lifestyle pattern totally changes when they take in a baby with substance abuse issues. They are prepared for it but I believe we need to support them a little more.