Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I share the Minister's view that the hospitality on Bere Ireland was fantastic and we were made very welcome. However, I want to share one personal story. As the Minister knows, I have young children at home myself. I was talking to a young parent there and I asked about that spectre where, at 3 o'clock in the morning, somebody wakes up with a high fever. For me, that is a run into Caredoc. We bundle them into the back of the car and in we go to Caredoc. I was asking this parent what she does in her situation and she answered with a shrug. The nurse who is working on Bere Island is nominally not 24-7 but, of course, what happens at 3 a.m. if that child is running a fever? It is the nurse who receives the call. These are the kind of basic impediments that stop people living on islands - that basic level of service provision. All of us here want to see flourishing populations on our islands but I believe we need to provide that minimum level of service on islands that allows people to wake up at 3 a.m. and know where they are going to bring that child with a fever.

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