Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, for coming to the House.

I raise this matter to clarify the number of paediatric tracheotomy patients in Ireland and the number of registered nurses who are able to perform the procedure, how many of those are in the hospitals around the country and also how many are able to show parents how to perform the procedure.

Unfortunately, there have been some tragic cases in the past while where, because of the parents' inability to perform the procedure, children have died. In some cases when looking for assistance from nursing staff who have not been properly trained in the procedure, tragedies have occurred.

I ask the Minister to outline to the House what the Government is doing to ensure that as many of the health care professionals throughout the State as possible are properly trained and qualified and that procedures are in place to ensure that tragedies, such as those that occurred in Kilkenny and in Cork, do not happen in the future.