Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What has happened in Portlaoise hospital is unacceptable and beyond belief. I read the HIQA report in full with a heavy heart. It shocked and upset me and even made me really angry. How on earth was this allowed to happen? The HSE not only failed parents who lost their new babies due to negligence and mismanagement but caused great trauma and sadness for families, which they will bear for the rest of their lives. Their strength and courage during this whole process is to be applauded. Speaking out to highlight what happened to them has resulted in the publication of the report and the putting in place of proper procedures. However, it will still be very difficult for parents to have faith in the maternity hospital in Portlaoise, but faith we must give them.

This damning HIQA report pulls no punches. It shows that some staff at the hospital dealt with parents immediately after the death of their babies without a shred of humanity or dignity, or even respect. Parents received no explanations; they were denied the truth of what actually happened to them and their babies. What should have been a very happy time turned into a nightmare. Those people who were supposedly working in the care profession at the hospital did very little at times to help.

The most shocking point of all is this did not happen just once but time and again, yet nobody did anything. There was a complete failure to act on the part of staff. It is difficult to comprehend that this could happen in any hospital.

The Minister has stated parents were treated in an appalling manner after the death of their babies. He also said he is ashamed of how patients were treated in Portlaoise hospital. I share his sentiments but I know he is committed to improving standards and developing better maternity services. He has made it his priority to have the planned national maternity strategy published by the end of this year. A proposed patient advocacy service, independent from the HSE, is also a priority for him.

A steering group is to be established to oversee the implementation of eight recommendations set out by HIQA its report. Changes have begun to be made at the hospital. For some, this is happening too late, but change is needed and must result in better, safer, more reliable maternity services in Portlaoise and throughout the country.

Sometimes in life we are faced with many different crosses, not always of our making. At times, it can be hard to make sense of them. Our hearts go out to all those parents who lost babies in Portlaoise hospital. The courage they have shown by opening the door on their tragic loss has made it possible for the parents of the future not to suffer the same sadness. They are the heroes of this report. They have had to fight long and hard over many years to get answers, not only for themselves but especially for others.

I have read many reports as a Member of this House, one more tragic than the next. As a member of the health committee, I have listened to people's stories about the health services that have failed them. I have been moved by the raw emotion of the young and old telling their stories. On reading the HIQA report, I ask myself how one human being could treat another as described. It is imperative that all of us in this House treat one another with dignity, respect and compassion. It should be the same outside.

Tonight across the country, doctors, nurses, health care workers and staff in hospitals are saving lives, healing people and caring for the dying, often under tremendous pressure. Most of them treat their patients with humanity. It is said that where there is a loss there is a new beginning. The parents in question deserve a new beginning. The hospital in Portlaoise deserves a new beginning also. The Government must support the parents and the staff of the health service. Most of all, we must support one another in making sure we have a health service that is the envy not only of our little country but also of the rest of Europe and the rest of the world.

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