Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise this issue. I bring to the attention of the House the chronic circumstances in the maternity unit in Kerry General Hospital in Tralee, which should shame and embarrass the Minister for Health and Children and other members of the Government.

The maternity unit in Kerry General Hospital is bursting at the seams. While the delivery rate at the unit has increased dramatically in recent years, staff numbers and facilities have not changed and are completely inadequate. Since 1999, for example, the number of births recorded annually at the unit has increased from approximately 1,000 to more than 1,600 but there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of personnel or level of facilities available to cater for and cope with the increased birth rate.

The position is so grave that the maternity unit is experiencing a shortage of cots for newborn babies. I understand that in some cases new mothers are required to look after their newborn babies 24 hours per day for the first few days after birth because of the shortage of nursery beds. This places them under untold pressure.

I am sorry to report that staff shortages at Kerry General Hospital have resulted in Polish women living in County Kerry returning home to have ante-natal scans. The waiting time for an ante-natal appointment in Tralee averages 24 weeks, which is longer than Polish women living here need to secure an appointment in Poland. We have reached the stage, in our booming economy, that we are sending women who live here to the other side of Europe for maternity appointments. Irishwomen have no facility to arrange an appointment elsewhere and must wait for 24 weeks. This waiting time is appalling.

The problems at the maternity unit in Kerry General Hospital do not end there. Despite an increase of 50% in the number of births in the hospital, it does not have dietitians or counsellors to attend to the needs of new mothers.

The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and his colleagues have done nothing in the past decade to alleviate pressures experienced in the maternity unit of the hospital. Despite receiving the first submission from the hospital requesting a new maternity unit more than four years ago, no progress has been made. A new maternity unit is urgently needed and would free up 40 beds for use elsewhere in the hospital.

Unfortunately, maternity services are not the only crisis facing the hospital. No full-time accident and emergency consultant has been in place for more than a year, the accident and emergency department and other departments are experiencing major bed shortages and no progress has been made on extending the accident and emergency department.

I need answers from the Government outlining how it proposes to address the ongoing crisis at the maternity unit of Kerry General Hospital. It is an abomination that no progress has been made on this facility after ten years. How much longer must the women of County Kerry wait? It is unacceptable that they must wait for 24 weeks for an ante-natal appointment.