Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

I support the views of Members who have spoken about the Roscommon case. As a parent I am appalled. The people who were dealing with this case must have had eyes in the back of their head because it is clear from the reports that the system failed those children. It is interesting that it was only when the children went into foster care that the problem was revealed. Great work is being done by foster carers. The one bit of light in respect of this matter is the fact that 100 additional social workers are being recruited. We can be assured that a number of children may be at risk and we want to ensure that we are not talking about the same subject in a week, a month or a year from now. Our children are tomorrow's citizens, leaders and Government.

I have been in contact with the Health Service Executive about the acute psychiatric services in the midland region. It does not make any great sense that people will have to travel from parts of Longford to an acute facility more than 100 miles away. That is not acceptable. As somebody who knows something about the psychiatric services, I am aware that St. Loman's Hospital in Mullingar is one of the few hospitals with an acute unit for psychiatry of later life. It is a unit with which the Cathaoirleach is very familiar and which has great successes to its credit. I will not waste the time of the House by outlining those successes but the fruits are obvious. This proposal does not make any sense to me or to anyone I have spoken to in Longford, Westmeath and further afield.

This is a proposal by the HSE. It is a case of somebody casting a cold eye over a situation which they have not considered. Acute service is about providing for people with the least inconvenience. It is not good clinical practice for somebody to travel up to 100 miles for an acute service.