David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to understand why the Government even tabled an amendment to our motion. In the first instance the motion simply acknowledges failures which even the Minister agrees have existed in our maternity services for a number of years. I will not recite them; they are listed in the motion. It also acknowledges and supports the findings of various independent reports, which I am sure the Minister will also accept. It further acknowledges commitments given in the programme for Government and commitments made by the Government itself. It then calls on the Government to do things on which, as Deputy Eamon Ryan has said, there is broad agreement in the House. If there is broad agreement, why have the Government and the Fianna Fáil Party tabled amendments? I cannot understand that because I think the motion is straightforward.

The only reason I can come up with is that the Government has a difficulty accepting a motion calling for complete separation between the State and the Church on maternity services.

We cannot have a situation in which any religious congregation or order has any level of control of any maternity service in this State. To me, that seems to be the problem for both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on this issue. That is for them to answer, but we in our party are very clear that for all of the right reasons, which many Members across all parties have articulated, there simply cannot be any situation in which any religious congregation can have any level of input or influence in the running, management or ownership of any national maternity hospital.

In the short time I have, I wish to quickly deal with staffing problems for nurses and midwives in maternity services, as well as in our hospitals generally. It is an area and an issue that is preventing public health services from delivering the level of service that people need. We see wards being closed in hospitals across the State. We know there is a shortage of midwives and nurses. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation have published report after report and figure after figure that show that we are spending much more money on agency staff because we are simply not employing the front-line staff that are necessary. We know that when Fine Gael came into power in 2011, €127 million was spent on agency staff. That has doubled over the last number of years. That is not just spent on nurses; it is also spent on midwives. That is a real problem as well. We want to make sure that the women of Ireland have the best possible maternity services. We want to ensure that the resources are being put into the system.

I have been told by my colleague that Fianna Fáil will be withdrawing its amendment. I welcome that because I believe there should be all-party support for this motion. I know one of my colleagues wants to come in so I will finish by calling on the Government to also withdraw its amendment. Why not send a clear message out from this House - Government and Opposition - that we want the best for the women of Ireland, the best possible maternity services and the complete separation of church and State? In the Minister's absence, I was pointing out that the Fianna Fáil party has withdrawn its amendment. Why can the Government not do likewise? What is so objectionable in our motion that the Government cannot support it? Would it not be better if a strong, coherent and consistent voice came from this Dáil that we want to do the best we possibly can for the women of Ireland and have the best possible maternity services, which is all this motion does? I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, for tabling the motion in the first place.

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