Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I had the privilege of hearing in the Joint Committee on Health and Children from the families who lost their precious innocent babies at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise. We have had many different groups present at the health committee but last Tuesday was probably the most harrowing day we ever had. As a mother, my heart went out to them. I can only imagine the trauma and pain that they went through and continue to go through.

At the same time, I understand there can be human error and that things happen that should not. However, I got the feeling last Thursday that nobody wanted to blame anyone in particular. One parent, Mr. Mark Molloy, said to us that when he was asked to present to the committee, the first question he asked was what would happen next. That is my question to the Minister of State tonight. What will be done to ensure such tragedies never happen again so parents such as Amy Delahunt, the Delahunt family and the Molloys will not have to sit before our health committee and plead with us to do something to fix our maternity units.

I fully understand that, as with any job, things happen and go wrong, but staff and management should be able to put up their hands and acknowledge the mistakes that have been made. We need an open disclosure policy. We should not drag parents and patients through the courts. Parents told us last week that they have to use the freedom of information regime to get answers. These families have been treated appallingly. What is really sad is that there are many other families who have been treated just as badly.

What were the people on the management committees in the hospital in Portlaoise doing? Blame can be attributed but change must be implemented. We cannot stand here and lament the awful tragedies without making real change to ensure they never happen again. When a woman goes into hospital to have a baby, she is so vulnerable and expects the best service. She needs that service. Many of the staff serving or working in the hospital are all well paid; this is not voluntary work. We really need to do something, not state platitudes. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's reply.

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