Dr. Chris Fitzpatrick:

It is an international market. We can attract people but not necessarily Irish graduates. What we want are top-class graduates coming back to work as doctors, midwives, neonatologists, etc., in our country but we also need to plan. I teach medical students. What I sense is a disillusionment regarding the medical area. There are really bright people that one would want to be working in one's hospital ten years from now but they say to me that they will work in North America, Canada and so on. We need to inspire them. There is an opportunity to do so now. We have a Minister who speaks his mind and I would like him to do so in respect of this issue. In coming forward, I have taken a leaf out of his book because I have been ashamed at the way the political system has actually turned its back on what should be our most precious resource. In that context, next year we are celebrating 100 years since the founding Proclamation of the State. We have done many things in terms of our independence but there is a legacy of not looking after mothers and babies. Whether it was in the context of the mother and baby homes, the Magdalen laundries, the industrial schools or whatever, there is a legacy of not looking after our most precious resource - our mothers and babies. Let us hope that we can actually make the decision but quick action and long-term planning are required.