Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis na hAirí as ucht bheith anseo um thráthnóna. In relation to CHI, I concur with everything I have heard since coming to the Chamber and in the snatches I heard throughout the afternoon when I was no in attendance. Rather than repeat what has been said by colleagues, I will focus on a few areas that I would like to see prioritised. One of them follows on from this afternoon's reform committee meeting. I refer to the formation and the commencement of the committees, particularly the health committee and the children's and disability committees and the fact that there will be regular attendance at those committees by the management of CHI and the HSE and departmental officials. The attendance piece, the accountability, the reporting back and the flagging of issues are extremely important in the context of moving forward in a productive manner while prioritising, above all else, the health of the children of this country. Appropriate board membership is an absolute essential for CHI, as is the adequate resourcing of the front-line teams within the organisation, in the new children's hospital and in the satellite units in Tallaght, Drogheda and elsewhere. There must be particular focus on built-in capacity to deal with absences.

I will go a little off point and talk about CHI in the broad sense as opposed to focusing on the situation in the hospitals. I refer to something that we have all dealt with, even in the short time I have been here, in terms of future-proofing and forward planning, namely nourishment, food and food production. When we think of infancy and the sequence of life from the cradle to the grave, the common denominator food. When we go back to the founding father of medicine, Hippocrates, he said, "Let food be thy medicine". Another matter that we have to take account of is food production, particularly in the context of nourishment and where it has an impact. I refer here to the online advertising of food and drink products to children and the impact on their emotional well-being and sensory and intellectual abilities. That is taking children's health in the broadest sense.

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