Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I will touch on a few points which have not been covered and on ones to which Senator Bacik referred earlier.

I raised on the Order of Business this morning my concern about the severe shortage of midwives in all the major maternity hospitals in light of the current staffing restrictions. The leads me, on the issue of health promotion, to parent craft classes which are usually in place so that mothers to be can be educated on the benefits of breast feeding and those who choose not to — we are pro-choice in this regard — can know the correct way to make up bottles and be shown the skills they may need in having a new baby, if it is their first and, indeed, to refresh them if it is not, even though demand for antenatal classes continues among some no matter how many babies they might have.

I would be very concerned at present. Having worked as a midwife for more than 20 years, I am aware that in a crisis in a maternity unit, one always must go to where there is the greatest activity. In terms of priorities, there will always be a need, whether the action is in the labour ward or in the theatre because of caesarean sections, our rate of which is considerable. The service which goes off the radar, so to speak, is parent craft and health education. As a health care professional, if I have a choice between whether I have staff where they will be needed in the delivery of the baby as opposed to the delivery of education, my priorities will lie always with the woman who is having the baby because that is the greatest need. We all aim to send home a well baby with a well mother who is able to look after it as best she can.

In terms of the amount of time available, we in Clonmel are lucky. I am not just promoting Clonmel. As there are 1,200 deliveries a year in the hospital, the staff are able to have time to speak to the mothers to help them with breast feeding, to encourage them to do what feels right for them, to give them the confidence to know their skills and instinct are not flawed, and to let them know there are skills to be learnt. It is not quite as beautiful as the baby sucking gently at the breast and looking up at the mother. Sometimes there is a little harassment thrown in and, indeed, I was a great testament to that in my day. In any event, there is a significant issue in that regard.

As a person who has a great interest in young people, I was invited by schools to be a guest speaker during my time as mayor of Clonmel. Many of the young people in schools would speak about different options they might like to take up in the future and I was brought in as somebody who might be able to talk to them about midwifery, for which I have the highest regard, and nursing in general. I understand the problems due to scarce resources and what it is like when one is faced with the choice either to teach a woman about parent craft or to go to the labour ward to help out. The choice must be to go where one needs to be. That is a pragmatic decision and response with which we must deal.

There is a great interest in health promotion but there is also a great disconnect at times between it and the physiological process. That leads me to my next point, which is pertinent and relevant. I regularly visit schools in Clonmel and the surrounding areas, including Dungarvan, to talk about the sexual health programme. The content of my programme is informed by questions I take in advance. I collate the questions because as every student can ask up to three questions, naturally there is duplication and when I collate them, there probably is 40 overall. There is a significant amount of misinformation and much reference to teen magazines. I do not know whether the Minister of State has looked at the content of teen magazines recently, but it would make your hair fall out. In my case, I will not say "stand up" on account of——