Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is extraordinary that we are still debating this issue six months after completion of the building project. Mr. Joe Browne and Build4Life went about organising a fundraising project. They lightened the obligation and burden on the State by developing an infrastructure that was required for cystic fibrosis patients. It is unacceptable that the HSE cannot bring itself to recruit the additional numbers required to staff the respiratory ward and ensure there would be complementary staff in the wards from which they would be taken. Is it beyond the wit of the HSE to do so? It knew for a number of years that this facility was going to be completed and opened at some stage. It is unacceptable, therefore, that it cannot provide a complement of staff to facilitate transition to the new ward. This is not the first time this has happened. The HSE seems to be incapable of anticipating staff requirements in the contexto f new builds and the completion of infrastructure. We have had the same issues across the country in many areas where emergency departments have been opened, yet the required staffing complements have not been put in place. In addition, there have been theatre and ward closures owing to the HSE's inability to manage staff. In this situation, members of the public came together in a fundraising exercise to negate the State's obligation to provide a service. All they asked for was a staffing complement, yet they now find six months after construction was completed that the requisite staff are not available. This fine facility has potential life-saving implications for cystic fibrosis patients. We all know the history of why Mr. Joe Browne and others became involved. It stemmed from the tragic outcomes for some people, including as a result of cross infections, because of which some died. We now find six months on that four Deputies have had to raise the matter. It is time for the HSE to get its act together and address the staffing issue immediately.

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