Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That will be one of the sad things about it. If it is not resolved by some of the Departments, or if they cannot get some insurance company to do it at a reasonable price, we will lose it. Thatched roofs are known all around the world as part of Irish heritage. I can just think of Holycross in my constituency where it is the first thing that hits you when you come into the village. Adare village in Limerick is another place. They are all over the country. As I have said, it is a massive report. We have gone through it, but I do not believe it resolves anything for the people who presented here. One of the gentlemen who presented went through all the fire safety measures he had done in the place he had bought but he just cannot get insurance. If one cannot get insurance then a lot of people who have thatched buildings, who may be of an elderly age, will not stay. If they pass away, if anybody coming behind them cannot get insurance they will just rip off the thatched roof and we will lose it. Once we lose something it is lost for good. We will keep the pressure on the Ministers and we will see what comes out of that. As Deputy Buckley has said, the committee secretariat has put in a lot of work into this so far and that will continue.

Petition No. 36 of 2022 is entitled Re-open Ennis, Nenagh and St. John’s Emergency Departments and was submitted by Ms Noeleen Moran. This petition is submitted on behalf of the mid-west hospital campaign group and demands the upgrading of the three hospitals to model 3, as well as the reopening of the emergency departments. It was before the committee on 13 October 2022. The secretariat corresponded with Mr. Ray Mitchell, national assistant director, parliamentary affairs division, HSE, on 29 June 2022 and received a reply on 4 August 2022 from Ms Pamela Jensen enclosing a response from University Limerick Hospitals Group, which was then forwarded to the petitioner for information. The petitioner further corresponded on 12 September 2022 with documentation which has been sent to mid-west public representatives in support of her petition. The secretariat also sent the petition and the correspondence from UL Hospitals Group to the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and advised the HSE of same. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health was also consulted with, and that committee advised the Committee on Public Petitions that this topic is not on its work programme. Earlier this month, a supporter of the petition, Ms Maria McMahon submitted correspondence to the committee. The committee recommends that the response from Ms McMahon be sent to the HSE and to the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, for comment within 14 days and a current update on the situation be sought from the Minister.

I thank the petitioners for bringing the petition to this committee. It has gone to the health committee and it sent it back here to us. It is a very important petition for the people of the mid-west area. We have been in touch with them. Many families have been affected by the pressure on University Hospital Limerick and the emergency department. It covers Ennis, Limerick and north Tipperary. I would also like to acknowledge the work being done by the committee secretariat here on our behalf in corresponding with all the parties involved. As such, it must be noted that this committee, or any committee up here, must follow procedure.

Any change to the procedure may have a negative impact on the result of the petition. That is something no one, including the committee, the petitioners, people involved in the group or the public, would want. If we try to skip procedures, the result can be delayed. It can be frustrating for people who are caught up in it, but I assure the Mid-West Hospital Campaign and others who are interested that the committee and its secretariat are doing as much as we can as quickly as we can. We all appreciate that at times it is slow. We are engaging extensively with the UL Hospitals Group, the HSE and the petitioners. Our ambition is to address the concerns of the petition and get the matter resolved as quickly as possible. I hope that explains that for this or any committee, a procedure is in place that we have to follow whether we like it or not, even if it is slow in getting progress. That is the situation.