Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not say this lightly, but when it comes to our islanders and healthcare, they are treated as second-class citizens. This is especially the case in the west Cork islands and I will explain why. On Bere Island, which is near Castletownbere, at one point they had two full-time nurses. They had nursing cover on the island for 24 hours a day, seven days per week, but they now only have one nurse, whose nursing cover has been reduced to the hours of 9 to 5, five days per week. It is simply not good enough because of the unique geographical nature of an island and access to healthcare. Similarly, on Cape Clear Island, which is not too far away from there and is off Baltimore, they also had full-time nurse cover, but that too has been reduced. The nurse comes in on a Tuesday and leaves on a Thursday, so there are large portions of the week where there is no nurse cover. That is a pretty distant island and it takes approximately 40 minutes to get there by boat. We need 24-hour cover for nurses on our islands. It is the least that our islanders deserve.

I will raise a slightly related issue, which is that Bantry General Hospital had a neurology service for four days per week in the mornings and afternoons. That has now been cut to two sessions per month. That will be a serious issue for people with Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, MS.

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