Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge the mothers and babies who have experienced, at birth, sometimes catastrophic events. It is a small number of women but that makes it no less. I worked with the Minister on Portiuncula maternity unit on the premise that the Walker report had been delivered, but it manifestly has not been delivered. I do not believe the HIQA report. Last week, at the health committee, the CEO of the HSE, Mr. Bernard Gloster, said that the Walker report had not been fully implemented. That is the reality because all of the same issues that arose in 2018 have arisen in 2025. Professor Sam Coulter-Smith identified that in his report and he has couched it in language that is not obvious, but it is clear what he is saying and it is nuanced. All the same issues with governance, training and human resources exist. We have a unit that was essentially set up to function at risk. On the idea of one hospital, two sites, I do not agree that it was not working. Who made the decision that it was not working? Many issues seem to have arisen from the time it stopped.

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