Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House and thank him for visiting County Cavan yesterday where he was very well received and took on board everything that was put to him by the groups he met. I know he will come back to them with, hopefully, positive news. I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this issue not only this evening but on a number of other occasions in the House. It is a very important issue. While I accept the Minister of State's commitment to reopen four of the 12 beds which were closed, it is not acceptable that patients with spinal and brain injuries who are waiting for life-changing treatments are being left in limbo because the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire is unable to operate at full capacity.

The National Rehabilitation Hospital is the only hospital of its type in the country. It provides specialist rehabilitation services, inpatient, outpatient and day-patient services to patients with complex needs who have acquired a physical or cognitive disability as a result of an accident, illness or injury and require specialist medical rehabilitation services. I understand the hospital delivers excellent rehabilitation programmes with excellent patient outcomes. However, 50 extra staff are required to reopen the entire 12 beds. As we speak, 226 people are on a waiting list for treatment at the hospital. That puts in context the difficulties we face here. It is estimated that Ireland should have 270 beds, not 56, based on its population. Given the current waiting list, those figures seem to add up. It is also worth pointing out, as Senator Boyhan alluded to, that there are no rehabilitation beds outside Dublin in spite of a number of reports dating back to 2000 recommending that facilities should be provided in the Munster region at a base in Cork. The latest such report was in 2010.

Reinhard Schaler, the CEO of the pressure group An Saol, whose own son, Pádraig, suffered a severe brain injury in 2013 has referred to the closure of these beds and the inability of patients to seek treatment when they require. He said it is a denial of basic and universal human rights and I agree fully with him. I appreciate the commitment the Minister of State made this evening to open four of the beds which have been closed, but that is a drop in the ocean given the reality of the situation, the waiting lists and the number of beds we ought to have based on our population. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and I look forward to his response.