Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is the publication of a Bill on the registration of professional home care providers. The second issue is the whole health service and, following on from what Senator Humphreys said on a previous day, the need to have the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, in here regarding a number of issues. One of the issues we need to discuss with him is maternity services. A report was published about Portlaoise hospital and it made certain recommendations. It recommended that a director of midwifery be appointed in each of the 19 maternity units. Although they have been appointed in some units, there are difficulties with appointing them to some units for various reasons. The report is very important. It identified a number of deficiencies in maternity services and made recommendations as to how to deal with them. We are at a standstill and it is important that the Minister would come to the House to outline how he proposes to deal with it, what action will be taken and ensure the report is not just another report that is put on a shelf and left there until another issue arises in two, three or four years' time. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to the House to give us a presentation on how the recommendations are being implemented, what stage they are at and when they will be fully implemented.