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

I thank Dr. Fitzpatrick for his presentation. What are his feelings and views about the development of the new national children’s hospital on the St. James’s Hospital campus? Senator John Crown said Dr. Fitzpatrick had made some very passionate remarks, but I saw only frustration and anger at some stages. In hindsight, if funding was the only problem in the health service, perhaps we could fix it in the long run. As somebody who served on the Eastern Regional Health Authority, ERHA, and the south western area health board, I believe that after the ERHA was broken up, there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Management was overcrowded and while people were making decisions, there was nobody doing the work. There were more managers after the break-up of the ERHA than in the English football league at one stage.

I agree 100% about people who lose their children and those whose children are brain damaged because of things that went wrong when they gave birth. One of my biggest hang-ups is the lack of transparency and why it takes between ten and 16 years for people to go to court to be heard and compensated for having to live with a child who will never be able feed himself or herself, walk or do anything else. That is partly due to a system in which there is a lack of compassion.

I was interested in what Dr. Fitzpatrick said about going away when he was younger and doing what he had to do when he came back. I believe the new generation does not feel the same way about coming back to their homeland because those going away are better educated and they want a little more, perhaps not for all the right reasons. I have talked to several people who have left, who were in the medical business, doctors and nurses, and they go not only for education but also to upskill and see how emergency services are managed in other countries. Money and quality of life issues are also involved. A doctor friend of mine recently went to Australia because he wanted to become a consultant. If he had stayed here, he probably would not have been made a consultant before he was well into his sixties. Taxation is another issue which explains why some people will not come back.

I welcome the announcement through the capital funding plan that the Coombe Hospital will be relocated to St. James’s Hospital. That is a step in the right direction. Having been many times in the Coombe Hospital as a parent and a grandparent, I believe it has moved well past its sell-by date. I do not refer to the staff but to the building. We can keep on adding to places, but that does not make for better practice in the long run.