Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Health extends her deepest sympathies to all parents and families who have experienced the tragic death of a child. The most recent data on child deaths comes from the second report of the national paediatric mortality register conducted by the HSE's National Office of Clinical Audit, NOCA, which is built on early data collection work. While the report makes for very difficult reading, it provides important information which can be used to improve our services and to prevent potential avoidable deaths in children and young people.

The report notes that sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS, was the leading cause of the post neonatal deaths registered during 2022 and 2023, accounting for 37% of deaths. The rate of SIDS increased from 0.24 in 2019 to 2021 to 0.35 in 2022 to 2023. The report advises that the reason for this increase is unclear but that the writers of the report will closely monitor 2024 data to identify potential trends. At 2.2 per 1,000 live births, the provisional infant mortality rate in Ireland for the period 2022 to 2023 is slightly higher than in 2019 to 2021, when it was 3.1, and is now the same as the EU average.

The Minister acknowledges the finding that mortality in children aged from one to four and age five to nine has continued to decrease but is committed to reducing the rate in all age categories. In particular, the Minister welcomes the recommendation that the deaths from infection and sepsis will be a focus and a special feature of the next report. Continued data collection provides important additional information and evidence that will help to reduce further avoidable deaths.

The Ombudsman for Children's Office, OCO, started an engagement process in 2024 to consult the key stakeholders to explore the need for a statutory national child death review mechanism in Ireland. The aim of the consultation process by the OCO is to increase the awareness and understanding of the current practice across statutory services when a child dies of non-natural causes. The OCO engaged directly with the Department on this matter and identified other key stakeholders such as the HSE, Tusla, the National Office of Clinical Audit, the Department of Education, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, HIQA, and the Coroner Service.

The Department of Health is committed to reducing the rate of avoidable deaths in children across all age groups and has made considerable investment in this area in recent years. Since the national maternity strategy was launched in 2016, more than €80 million has been invested in new development funding across maternity and gynaecological services. This investment has also brought more than 530 additional full-time staff into maternity services across all staff categories.

In 2023, funding was allocated to support the ongoing strategy development of the national paediatric service. This facilitated the recruitment of an additional 56.7 whole-time-equivalent, WTE, clinical posts. This also included 26.5 WTEs for gynaecological services in CHI to enhance the service in preparation for the establishment of the neonatal intensive care unit, NICU, in the new children's hospital. These posts include consultants, nurses, practitioners, staff nurses and other clinical staff. The Department of Health continues to engage with the Ombudsman for Children, the HSE, the NOCA and other stakeholders this matter.

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