Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Donnelly, for doing so much work on maternity services and on bringing this issue to the fore. The conversation in respect of it has to happen. As a mother of three, I am delighted to be able to discuss this issue.

The provision of accessible, safe and high-quality maternity services to all mothers and babies, regardless of where they live, must be a core objective of public health policy. Our national maternity infrastructure is under strain and needs serious review. As a mother of three, I am aware that childbirth is the most natural process in the world but that it can prove more difficult for some mothers. In my own case, of three induced births due to complications, I never had the mad rush to the maternity hospital or the danger of giving birth in a car or, as we heard recently, on a train that some other mothers might have endured. A bad experience during childbirth can have very serious side-effects, including depression, anxiety and panic attacks. It can also lead to a mother deciding not to have any more children, being traumatised and in some cases suffering extraordinary pain.

In April, hundreds of women shared traumatic childbirth stories on RTÉ's "Liveline" programme over a two week period, which led the HSE to apologise, stating:

The HSE apologises to those women where our service has failed to meet their expectations. We also apologise that women have felt compelled to ring RTÉ to have their concerns heard. This should not happen.

Over a fortnight, many women had taken to the national airwaves to share their stories of childbirth. The Minister of State may have heard some of them. They did not make for easy listening. The stories detailed how many of the women were left traumatised by the experience in some Irish hospitals and how they suffered extraordinary pain in some cases. Other women spoke about an inappropriate attitude they experienced at the hands of consultants, nurses and midwives during labour. That was not my experience. I have three children and there were times during the births of all three that I felt that I would not have got through it except for the fantastic staff. RTÉ's "Liveline" programme was inundated with phone calls from women who wanted to share their experience of Irish maternity services, both historical and recent. It struck me that there were so many recent cases. This is 2019 and I heard many new mothers, young women, who felt that the only way to express what they went through was to take to the airwaves. The powerful accounts shared by the women document a litany of concerns, with the women telling broadcaster Joe Duffy that the concerns they raised with medical staff were ignored.

While some of the cases related to issues that occurred many years ago, some stories were from maternity hospitals just a few weeks ago. Another caller said she told hospital staff that she could feel her baby was coming. The woman said the staff were washing the floor and said her baby was not on the way. The caller said she had to get her husband to help her on to the bed, and in a matter of ten minutes, her baby was born. She stated that she gave birth in the full view of everyone in the prenatal ward and was in complete shock. I have taken this angle because I was struck by the number of women who simply want to be listened to and to have a woman-centred approach to care.

Voice and choice are the key words here. Unfortunately, choice if one is living in a rural area is not always possible with regard to home births, midwife-led births and water births. However, the voice of the mother who carries the baby for 40 weeks and who goes through labour must be absolutely accepted and respected. When there are complications, birth plans go out the window and the clinicians, the gynaecologists and the midwifes must make split second decisions. However, normally, this positive, beautiful experience of bringing a baby into the world should be coupled with the best possible services and the best possible care.

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