Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

Everybody understands that safety is paramount here and that we need to ensure the well-being of mothers and children, but forcing women in high-risk pregnancies to travel long distances is not appropriate. In the Minister of State's view, is that safe? Why would women not be given the choice as to where they can access maternity care? This will place further pressure on other maternity services and it is a downgrading of the maternity services at Portiuncula. The view among people locally, and I agree with them, is that there is an agenda here to remove services from the hospital by stealth and to centralise services. If previous recommendations had been implemented in full and proper resourcing, staffing and oversight put in place, we would not be in this position. The Government must make the necessary investments to support maternity care in Portiuncula and ensure we have a top-class maternity service there. That should be the Government's approach rather than seeking to downgrade services at this hospital. The Minister needs to answer questions about this issue as soon as possible.

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