Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A few weeks ago, on "Liveline", many brave women spoke out about their harrowing experiences of Ireland’s maternity services, past and present, and how they had felt let down by the system. No woman should ever have to suffer in such a manner and what happened should never be allowed to happen again. We need to work towards making our maternity care safer. We are fortunate to have some the world’s best nurses and midwives here in Ireland and these staff work tirelessly for the patients for whom they are caring.

There is a shortfall of 200 midwives below the recommended safety levels in the national maternity strategy 2016-2026. It is time the Government invested more in nurses and midwifery staff and addressed the chronic staff shortages, along with the staff retention and recruitment crisis. The Government has the opportunity to work with the maternity staff to provide a world class maternity service to Irish women; it just needs to take the bull by the horns and take action.

We need to see more investment in community-based maternity services for woman. I welcome that, in my own constituency area of west Cork, Bantry General Hospital holds antenatal clinics on a fortnightly basis. However, I still feel that Bantry General Hospital, with the Government's support, could be used to offer more maternity services to women. It is scandalous that it closed the maternity service at Bantry General Hospital some years ago. The mindset of the Government at that time must have been at negative zero, as it always is in regard to west Cork. Many people living near to a maternity hospital may not realise the real fear for people who are living in areas such as Castletownbere, Kilcrohane in the Sheep's Head peninsula, Mizen Head, Schull or Goleen. It is a two to three hour journey on a good day to their local maternity hospital. Imagine how dangerous this journey would be in bad or icy weather. Bantry General Hospital is much closer and if more maternity services were offered there, imagine the peace of mind it would offer to so many women and families living in these isolated areas.

See this speech in context