Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator again. I absolutely agree with her that it is unacceptable that adults or children should have to wait any length of time to be facilitated in a hospital. I have outlined in the response from the Minister that a lot of money has gone into this service, and a lot of things are happening in Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. That must be said in all fairness to the staff and doctors there, who deal on a daily basis with children from right across the country with very serious illnesses.

The Government is committed to doing all it can to support and ensure that the needs of children who are ill can be addressed as quickly as possible. Unfortunately in the three children's hospitals available to us at present, the facilities do not have the capacity at this time to avail of it. There are no options left in children's hospitals, to my knowledge and to that of the Minister, whereby more beds can be made available.

In saying that, I do think it is unacceptable that any child should be left to wait for any amount of time. Going over its budget does not really reflect on Our Lady's Children's Hospital, because a lot of hospitals go over budget for many different reasons.There are many reasons a hospital might go over budget and it is not something that only applies to Crumlin. Since the beginning of October, we have had a long winter and a lot of children have been sick with respiratory complaints.

I have taken note of what the Senator said and I will forward her points to the Minister. As the children's hospital is in my own constituency, I will make it my business to correspond with it on the management of beds, particularly in respect of the services that are available at present. As the Senator said, parents have deemed this to be of such interest to them that they feel they have to hold a candlelight vigil.