Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister’s reply and accept his sincerity. He will appreciate there is no issue of this being a political matter. This is about people’s and young children’s lives, as well as patient safety. That transcends everything we do in this House.

One concern I have, however, is the Minister said the action plan will be implemented immediately and certainly by the end of the year. Between now and the end of the year, there will be 1,500 to 1,700 births at Portlaoise hospital. I do not think the Minister can say to those patients that by next year there will be a safe system in place. We need greater urgency than talking about the end of the year. Whoever is needed to come from the Coombe to the hospital, needs to be brought in now, not at the end of the year.

Due to the culture of HSE senior management at national level, if there is ever problem, it goes out to protect the organisation. Everything else is secondary. When recruiting for an operations director for the region some time ago, the Public Appointments Service specifically stated the director will be fully accountable and responsible for all services. The Taoiseach said something different here today. The terms and conditions of senior management need to have that stitched in to them. The Minister has an obligation to ensure that is done for all future recruitments into senior posts in the HSE, if it is not already the case.

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