Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. In certain areas, there are pressures on staff. Probably one good example is public health nurses in CHO 7. In CHO 7 in Clondalkin and Lucan, there are no public health nurses whatsoever. This is very worrying. I got a response to a parliamentary question on why public health nurses could not be recruited and the reason was that new public health nurses just could not be recruited into that area. That is extremely worrying. If you do not have public health nurses looking after young children or elderly people, this will have a really bad effect on public health. I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, about this and it is one area that has to be addressed and that gap closed off for public health nurses, not only in CHO 7 but in other areas as well.

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