Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfeicfeadh muid na tuairiscí maidir le cás na Gaillimhe agus go ndéanfadh muid breith orthu san i dtosach báire.

Ironically, 17 November is World Prematurity Day and a conference is taking place today. In Ireland 4,500 babies are born prematurely every year. It means that one in every 16 women give birth to a premature baby and 500 babies are stillborn or suffer a neonatal death. A number of issues on prematurity need to be addressed. It would be fitting to arrange a debate and also in the context of the reports that will be produced. It is an important area. There are a number of issues regarding the lack of parental accommodation in the hospitals, a lack of regional intensive care treatment and a need for a national neonatal health programme. We should arrange such an important debate.

I draw attention again to the situation in the Middle East which suffered a great tragedy in the past number of days with 11 Palenstinians killed, including children, in the attacks and three Israelis were also killed. It is a terrible situation and violence has escalated. We have also seen an increase in the development of Israeli settlements in Palestine and an ongoing blockade of Gaza. A lot of settlement goods are sold in our supermarkets here and I commend the Tánaiste for speaking out about it. Ireland will take over the EU Presidency next year and will play a pivotal role. Therefore, it would be important to ask him to come here for a debate on the Middle East. We could ask him what he shall propose for the EU agenda in order to address the issue and find a solution to the Middle East crisis, particularly between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The last thing that region needs is an escalation in violence and injustices.