Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the HSE on that specific one because I want to understand it. I want to raise a more local issue that relates to a couple of funded palliative care positions in St. Brigid’s Hospice. I think the hospice is an outlier in that there is no place for families to be referred for life management. For example, let us say a parent is dying, there are young children, and management of that is required. We can understand how sensitive that is. If it is not dealt with well, it will be dealt with as a mental health issue later. It is very important that is in place. Although I am not religious myself, I can understand somebody requiring chaplaincy services. This is another position that was funded for 2022 and it has not been recruited yet. St. Brigid's Hospice seems to be entirely an outlier. I would have thought these were basic services and they seem to be basic services everywhere else. Why would services that are funded not be delivered? The HSE might come back to me with reasons it has found it so difficult to fund those particular areas in a growing part of the country where many healthcare professionals live. I have serious concerns about the way it is being handled.