Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

I would like to give one minute of my time to Deputy Lynch.

I pay tribute to the leukemia unit of the Mercy Hospital in Cork for the great work done for sick children in Cork city, county and surrounding counties. I also pay tribute to the Mercy order, which set up the unit, as well as to those people who helped to fund the unit through the years. I ask the Minister for Health and Children to make a statement on the decision of the Irish Medicines Board instructing the hospital to suspend all clinical trial related activities for the treatment of child leukemia with effect from 15 March, because consultants at Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin were unwilling to sign a document outlining the Mercy Hospital's responsibilities under a shared care programme forwarded by the Mercy Hospital to Our Lady's Hospital. This will have serious implications for the treatment of sick children in the greater Cork area, who will be forced to travel to Dublin several times a week in some cases.

I also ask for a statement on the failure of the Department of Health and Children to sanction a replacement consultant haematologist for the children's leukemia unit. There are difficulties arising as a result of the retirement of a consultant next May, but whose retirement has been well known for 12 months by the Southern Health Board and the Department of Health and Children. As a consequence of the imminent retirement of the consultant, the children's leukemia unit in the Mercy Hospital can no longer take on new cases of childhood cancers and leukemia. All such cases in the Cork region are being treated in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children and only existing patients are being treated in the children's leukemia unit in the Mercy Hospital.

The cancer treatment of children is protracted and the children and at least one family member are being forced to travel long distances for essential treatment, sometimes on public transport. This has a traumatic effect on children, on their immediate families and often on their extended families, who may provide necessary support and assistance to family members left at home. Therefore, the appointment of the new post of consultant haematologist with an interest in child haematology should be made as quickly as possible to allow the children's leukaemia unit again to take on new cases of child cancers, including leukaemia, in the region.

I am aware that earlier this year the Tánaiste was contacted about this matter but the affected parents have not yet received a response. The families I have met are extremely distressed and concerned about what is happening. Some of them make long journeys to Dublin with sick children who must often fast before treatment. They must also make the long return journey to Cork after receiving treatment. The parents and their children are distressed and upset by the uncertainty of the situation and the extensive travel involved. It is essential for these issues to be resolved as quickly as possible. It will be a scandal if bureaucratic barriers affecting the operation of the unit cannot be set aside quickly and effectively.

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