Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State and the Minister for introducing this important legislation. There are over 90,000 registered nurses, of whom 67,000 are actively working. It is important to highlight the issue of maternity care. While there is much focus on the level of litigation in this area, it must be borne in mind that the number of deliveries in hospitals has increased from 55,000 a year to over 76,000 a year. Despite this increase, the perinatal mortality rate has decreased from 8.9 per 1,000 deliveries to 6.9 per 1,000 deliveries at the same time, highlighting the dedication and commitment of nursing and medical teams involved which is not recognised often enough.