Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in supporting the motion brought forward by Deputy Billy Kelleher. We have heard the testimony of the parents who, unfortunately, suffered one of the most difficult things any family or person has to suffer, namely, the loss of a young child. We must sympathise with them and also pay credit to the families concerned for continuing to push to get answers. That is what has led us here and to HIQA's investigation which finally delivered some of the answers. I hope we can see the lessons learned and ensure other families will not have to experience similar things in the future. It is important that we recognise the work of "Prime Time" in working with the families through its investigation unit and bringing this issue to public attention.

The families who lost children and their testimony and bravery are at the centre of this debate. That bravery was displayed at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. It is important that we keep this at the centre of the debate and use it as our inspiration to ensure the very clear mistakes made in the handling of this issue and how it was allowed to develop will be addressed and that the Midland Regional Hospital will be properly resourced in order that it can have a safe maternity unit. It is also important that lessons are learned about how we provide health services, particularly maternity services, throughout the rest of the country.

Last week Mark and Róisín Molloy, the parents of Mark who died on 24 January 2012, moments after delivery at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, spoke to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. The Minister knows that they recounted how in the past three and a half years they had fought very hard against continuous opposition to get the answer to a very simple question: how did it happen and how did their young boy die? They had to use the Freedom of Information Act to receive additional information to get answers. Despite being informed by the hospital obstetric and midwifery management team that the death of a healthy baby during childbirth was extremely rare, it became apparent to them very early on that they were not the only family whose healthy child had died in these circumstances at the hands of the maternity unit at the Midland Regional Hospital and nationally. Mark and Róisín detailed a litany of correspondence and meetings during which they had worked to get the full story about the death of their baby. It is important to read some of their testimony here to reflect this. Mark told the committee:

The HSE was aware at local, regional and national level that this was an unsafe unit. Members saw from the schedule that I went through that we had been screaming about this for 18 months through meetings and so on but the HSE did nothing about it. The HIQA report reflected a dysfunctionality in various management levels, particularly regionally. We met various people who seemed almost unaware of the HSE's policies and procedures in the investigation of an adverse event such as our baby's death. They genuinely seemed not to know how to handle this investigation in accordance with their procedures.

Róisín Molloy told the committee:

It is important to note that we met officials at every level, to whom we believed we were bringing new information in regard to what was happening at each level below. We met management, who told us there were no policies or procedures in place which allowed for an investigation into Mark's death. Our response to that was, "Oh my God" because we knew that was not true. We then raised at regional level local management's opinion in regard to its carrying out an investigation into Mark's death. We knew fairly soon into the process that people were only paying lip-service to us.

That was the experience of Mark and Róisín Molloy and unfortunately that was not an isolated experience. Indeed, Mark informed the committee that at a meeting with the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar in Portlaoise "there were 120 people in the room. Person after person told stories of their baby's death or cerebral palsy injury or horrific injuries that mothers were left with. This is not a figures game but the figure is far in excess of five baby deaths". People spoke of incidents as far back as 1986.

Our heart goes out to them tonight but we must look at how this situation came about. The Government cannot ignore the fact that the designation of Portlaoise as a level three unit without ensuring that the resources were in place so that it could operate to that standard was important in the context of the service at Portlaoise being unsafe. There is a lesson here in terms of how the Government has been dealing with our health service in general. The Government has a key role to play because it provides the resources to the HSE to enable it to carry out its functions. However, it cannot force the HSE to implement a service plan which the executive regularly indicates it cannot provide without the necessary resources and then absolve itself, at a political level, of responsibility for services on the hospital floor being unsafe.

It is essential that the HIQA report recommendations are implemented. It is also key that we do not see a media-management approach adopted with regard to our health service when horror stories are revealed or even in the face of the day-to-day stories of excessively long waiting lists for treatment which Deputies deal with every day. We need to see real change and real investment in our health services because that is what is required. I welcome the fact that the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar met the parents and heard their stories himself. His approach, at a human level, is an improvement on that of his predecessor, Deputy Reilly. That said, however, we are not seeing anything change within our health services or in what people are experiencing on the ground. It is long past time for improvements in that regard.

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