Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I had intended to speak to amendment No. 2 in my first contribution. It would be illogical in this day and age not to mention mental health. The proposal in the amendment does not give rise to an extra cost or present a major difficulty. There is an acknowledgement that mental health falls under health in general. However, given the scale of the issues involved and the fact that, as the Minister of State outlined, some of the provisions of the Bill deal with mental health, surely mental health should be mentioned in its own right. We are much more enlightened now than we were in the past and that enlightenment allows us to call things as they are. Including a specific reference to mental health, as proposed in amendment No. 2, is not an onerous ask and should be done.

On amendment No. 1, it is a pity that this has not been done at this stage. I first asked about the establishment of a national children's development board or similar in 2011 or 2012 because it was provided for in the programme for Government in 2011. I have asked about the development board three times per year ever since because it was supposed to have been set up. It would have dealt with the question of the name of the new hospital before a sod was turned on the site. I was told it would be in place before a sod was turned but the sods have been turned and there is a hole in the ground. The Minister of State knows that because she lives close to the site and probably sees the effects of it every day. The decision on the Phoenix hospital name was announced last October. We were told then that we would have a naming system, but it has not started a year later. For this reason, my party does not have faith in the decision to wait because this or that might happen. I am pressing amendment No. 1 which specifically provides that the hospital be named after one of the most pioneering women in Irish medical history.

See this speech in context