Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I congratulate my colleague, Deputy James Reilly, on spearheading this motion on behalf of every vulnerable child across the country. This debate on the children's hospital in Crumlin epitomises everything that is wrong with the Irish health service. The fact that we had to bring this debate into Dáil Éireann shows that the HSE and the Minister have no sense of priority and no compassion for the most vulnerable in our society. The lesson I learn from the Crumlin story is that the HSE and the Minister have no idea what the parents of a sick child go through when they see their child pining away in front of their eyes, while waiting for the miracle surgery that will give their child a fighting chance to live a normal life.

Crumlin children's hospital is different from most medical institutions. There is hardly a family in any townland, village, town or city in the country which has not been touched by the sheer professionalism, dedication to duty and proven track record of the best medical brains, not in Ireland or Europe but in the world. Crumlin hospital is embedded in the psyche of most Irish people. I have heard people say a thousands times that Crumlin is the place where small miracles are performed on small children every day of the week. They believe that to be the case, and so do I.

Most people outside this House believe it has little relevance to any subject matter. Whatever one says about Dáil Éireann, were it not for Dr. Reilly and the opportunity he has given the House, fewer people would have been seen in Crumlin this summer. It is a shame that even following this debate, one ward will be closed this summer.

I do not wish to be too political, but this is a political arena. The game is up for the Minister for Health and Children and the HSE. No one at a leadership level, either in Government or the HSE, knows the terrible grinding pressure on young parents when they see a child with, for example, a severe heart complaint unable to access the life giving procedures that are part and parcel of Crumlin.

We all know that the news is not always good in Crumlin. However, there is a world of difference between a situation where everything medically possible has been done for a child and one where a child did not get the required help on time. What galls parents is that when such facilities are available their child can be denied access at the crucial moment. That is what is wrong with closing the ward in Crumlin hospital.

When Government backbenchers are down the country they give the impression to parents that they will do everything possible to ensure that Crumlin hospital does what it is so good at. They will have an opportunity in half an hour's time. We will see how many of them follow like sheep up the steps to the division lobby.

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