Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the point the Deputy is making. Our maternity system is not sufficiently midwife-led. I think it should be. That is why I want to bring back to this debate something I raised earlier concerning how we implement the national midwifery strategy. It points in the direction not of a consultant-led, active management type of system, but, as the Deputy said, to a much more patient-centred and midwife-led system. This encompasses a range of different issues, including the arrangements referred to by the Deputy regarding pool-based systems. Therefore, I agree this is the direction in which we need to go. It is set out and agreed, but it is not being delivered with sufficient speed. We must have a debate and discussion about the nature of our hospitals' structures, etc., but the subject of having a midwife-led system, and its nature, is where this debate and our attention and focus needs go.

See this speech in context