Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I fully agree and we had a debate with his colleague, Deputy Smith, recently on exactly this. There are parts of the country where they have found it very difficult to recruit or replace public health nurses. It is not something that can be allowed to stand. Public health nurses are doing essential work with infants and with older people. We cannot have babies for whom the developmental checks are being missed. We cannot have mums and dads who cannot avail of the supports for their babies that the public health nursing teams provide. I do not disagree with the Deputy that there are parts of the country and of Dublin where it has been very difficult. The point we made last time was that this was the inverse care law at play. Parts of the population who need the most help are actually getting less than other parts of the population. It is something I have asked the HSE to look at as a matter of urgency and to look to redeploy or bring in cover if necessary. We simply cannot have a situation where developmental checks, for example, are being missed.

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