James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy Terence Flanagan.

Cystic fibrosis is a serious illness and one in 19 people are carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene. Where two parents with the gene marry, there is a one in four chance that their child will be born with the condition. Each year, 40 to 50 children are born with cystic fibrosis and there are currently in the region of 1,200 people who suffer with it. The disturbing aspect of this matter is that, on average, people in this country with cystic fibrosis live ten years less than those who reside in the UK or Northern Ireland. This is because we do not have proper neonatal screening so we can detect people with this problem early on and prevent infections, we do not have proper home care supports and, most importantly, we do not have any isolation units in our hospitals. Neither Temple Street Children's Hospital nor Beaumont Hospital on the north of the city have these facilities for children or adults. A total of 80% of adult sufferers are treated in either St. Vincent's Hospital or Cork University Hospital, neither of which has isolation facilities.

We know we need a 34-bed unit, which we hope will be built in St. Vincent's Hospital, but when will it be built? The Taoiseach, the Minister and the Department of Health and Children met with the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland, which has received assurances. However, it is still no further down the line. Even though €4.78 million was allocated, I understand that many people have not been employed due to contractual difficulties. We still have the glaring problem of the lack of isolation beds in our system. It cannot be that expensive to build these beds on to existing hospital structures. This cannot be yet another situation where we are asked to live horse and eat hay. People need these facilities now. People in our country are dying ten years sooner than they need to purely because of the lack of this simple measure which a Government should put in place immediately. I ask the Government to do so.

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