Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They have raised these issues with me. It is a concern when one looks at the fact that the Portiuncula centre has won national and international awards for the type of service it provides. Quite a number of well-known politicians from these Houses have availed of the services at Portiuncula. The fact is 47% of the people who opt to attend Portiuncula come from outside the catchment area because its system is so good.

I have read the review report on maternity services. If one looks at the unit costs for Portiuncula, one finds that it is the second most cost effective maternity unit. The cost per birth for Portiuncula Hospital is €3,673 per unit, which is second only to Letterkenny hospital. Also, there has not been a drop in birth rates in Portiuncula in comparison with other hospitals.

The options and recommendations put forward are as follows: leave the number of maternity units as is; to have a main maternity hub at University Hospital Galway and three satellite maternity units; to have a main hub and two satellite maternity units; to have a main hub and one satellite maternity unit; and have a main hub and four satellite maternity units.

The people of Ballinasloe, with all due respects, do not put great stock in the responses from the Department and from the hospital groups because in their experience to date, the promises from the Department or from the HSE relating to services, particularly in Ballinasloe, have not borne fruit. In mental health services, for example, where they were given promises and told not to worry about the 22 acute mental health beds in Ballinasloe which would be okay, that did not come to fruition and those beds were closed down. Alcohol treatment services in St. Brigid's were also lost to the area. The people of Ballinasloe and that area are certainly very concerned when they hear of high level reports such as this going to the hospital trust that would even discount the possibility of maintaining a full maternity service in Portiuncula Hospital, and I would agree with them. I would certainly share many of their concerns.

They are also concerned that there has not really been any proper community or staff consultation around this issue. I am not saying this; this is being said by the workers' representatives. That is not acceptable. Their thinking is that, when one looks at the way the report has been framed, those who wrote this report had it in their minds already that Portiuncula would be closed down and the only options left on the table are ones which bear that in mind. That is totally unacceptable.

It went so far prior to the elections that a priest, from a pulpit, spoke out on this issue in the Ballinasloe area. He got a standing ovation from the people in the area only to be castigated, I understand, by a member of the Minister's party, from the balcony on the issue. The amount of unrest and disquiet on this issue is alarming.

We certainly do not accept any downgrading of those services, in particular, in Portiuncula. As has been stated previously, what we need is an enhancing of services. Certainly, we need an enhancing of the midwifery services available. I would welcome more of the Domino-type schemes that were available which were midwife led, but there would be no acceptance whatsoever of this report. The Minister should discount the report completely and ask the hospital trust to scrap it.