Dr. Margo Wrigley:

As Dr. Niazi said, we have made progress and in the past couple of years we have had a sub-committee involving the staff of the programme, the CHO6 mental health services, which are the local mental health services, and St. Vincent's Hospital. Professor McCarthy from the National Maternity Hospital is in that group also. We have an agreed business case and that includes a description of how the unit should be structured. For instance as it is the mother and baby unit, a nursery is needed as well as the single en suite rooms. Bigger bedrooms are needed for the women as they need to accommodate a cot. Staff are required who will look after babies.

All of that is agreed, but the nub point is to get the unit prioritised so that it becomes a bit like the national paediatric hospital - not totally, I hasten to add. It needs to be a priority outside the HSE, a Government priority, that we have a national mother and baby unit to stop what is happening at the moment, which is mothers being admitted without their babies. If it was prioritised at Government level, it would make a huge difference to our progress. As Dr. Niazi said, within the campus of St. Vincent's University Hospital, we have the option of a third-floor extension. That is not going to work, to be honest.