Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is a proposal on the HSE website for a mother and baby unit on the campus of St. Vincent's hospital, which is very welcome.

To return to the statistic from the NHS that I read out in regard to some women having mental health difficulties, the problem is difficult to quantify. How common is postnatal depression and how is it treated? The mental health of a good friend of mine deteriorated in a number of months and I could not believe that somebody who had just given birth, who was in the throes of happiness and all that comes with that, suddenly went down a road of severe depression. I could not understand it but she explained why, and others explained what can happen in such cases. I was learning. Is postnatal depression common or rare?