Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I regret that the Minister for Health and Children is not here to answer this matter on the Adjournment, not on my own behalf but on behalf of the young people who so desperately need answers on cystic fibrosis facilities. I hope the Minister of State will have answers for them.

The lives of cystic fibrosis patients depend on the speed at which the promised single-bed unit in St. Vincent's Hospital is delivered. Will the contract be signed on Friday 15 October, as has been indicated? How long will it take to build and how soon will it be open?

It is a national shame that these young adults, including household names such as Orla Tinsley, Anita Slowey, Gillian McNulty and others have had to go on the national airways and the front of our daily newspapers to get this most basic and vital service, namely, a hospital bed in a room on their own so that they are not exposed to the kind of cross infections that can take their young lives away. They have spoken out so eloquently, bravely and passionately that my time is better used putting their words, rather than mine, on the record. Anita Slowey wrote to RTE this week and her letter is reprinted on the front of today's Irish Examiner. She said:

Cross infection and multiple infection has resulted in the bugs that cause the infections in my body becoming stronger and harder to fight; out of the hundreds of antibiotics used to treat my disease I am only sensitive to one. This is as a direct result of being exposed to other patients and their germs in unisolated conditions in St. Vincent's Hospital. The result of this is that where I would normally spend two weeks in hospital getting better, I now spend between one and a half and two months fighting endless infections. In the last two years, I have spent ten months of that in St. Vincent's Hospital - the majority of which was in six bed wards.

Even though I have survived, every infection and sleepless night in St. Vincent's Hospital has slowly robbed me of a little more lung power, a little more energy, a little more spirit, and the will to survive has been slowly eroded away.

That is a very graphic description of the life and death situation in which these young patients find themselves. One young woman said on radio that she was asked to take part in a photograph on the site of the new unit when she was 18. She is now 31 and not a sod has been turned.

Other countries have much better facilities for these young people, where single bed wards are the norm, where they are not subject to these cross infections and where their lifespans are much longer. What they need from us is plain words and clear answers. Will the contract be signed on Friday week? How long will it take to build and fit out? Will the staffing be in place as soon as the building is ready to open? Can the single-bed units that do exist at the moment in St. Vincent's Hospital be available for cystic fibrosis patients? I hope there will be clear answers to these questions.

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