Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to hospice care, in particular an announcement made in Galway this week, where a Galway hospice is planning to submit an application for planning permission for a 26 bed future-proofed unit in Merlin Park which it plans to have open within five years. It is currently planning a fundraising drive to support the capital costs. Even when the country was awash with money under previous Governments, end-of-life care was under-resourced.Hospice units like this are badly needed in Galway and right across the country. Those involved are raising capital funds without Government assistance. This situation is playing out in other areas of the country as well. While I appreciate that finances have been constrained since this Government got into office, I suggest that a relatively small investment in this area would yield substantial benefits. The failure to invest in hospice care throughout the country is a case of penny wise and pound foolish. I do not doubt that if a cost-benefit analysis of investment in hospice care were done, it would come down heavily in favour of such investment because it makes financial sense to take pressure off our acute hospitals. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Health to come to the House so that we can impress on him the practical benefits of making this area a priority in his Department.