Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the report from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre in Cork which deals with the management of maternity care in 19 of the 20 maternity hospitals throughout Ireland. The report quite clearly shows that Ireland is up among the best as regards the standard of care internationally. Over the past 12 months the debate on maternity services was such to infer maternity care was not of a high standard in Ireland. The report is very important in regard to dealing with this issue. I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Health to make the information in this report widely available to the public. We need to rebuild confidence in the maternity services. The figures produced show that the perinatal mortality rate is 6.6 per thousand, which is a very good international standard. The report highlights that the perinatal mortality rate among ethnic minorities is higher and the maternity services will need to deal with this issue. This report provides good information that should be made widely available to rebuild public confidence in the maternity services, given debates on the area over the past 12 months, and I ask that this be done.