Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, for coming to the Chamber to deal with the issue of public health nursing in north Dublin. The north Dublin area of the HSE covers areas, including Balbriggan, the Naul, Skerries, Garristown, Oldtown, Lusk, Rusk, Swords, Ballyboughal, Malahide and Portmarnock, as well as other areas such as Darndale, Baldoyle, Coolock, Raheny, Artane and Howth. This area covers a population of over 300,000. It is the most rapidly growing area in the country and, I believe, one of the most rapidly growing areas in Europe. As a consequence, it has a very young population. By way of a parliamentary question put down by one of my colleagues, I have learned there are just 64 public health nurses covering this area, which is wholly inadequate for the size of population and the fact it is a very young population. This is simply not good enough.

As the Minister of State knows, public health nurses play a vital role in our community. They liaise with GPs, practice nurses, hospices, hospitals and meals on wheels, and they make sure that citizens can access the health services in a timely and proper manner. They often keep a register in their offices of older people in the community and make periodic calls to their houses just to take care of the community. Vitally, they visit mothers and their babies in their homes in the days and weeks following the birth of the child. This is vital for the health and well-being of mothers and their children. They distribute vital health and safety information in regard to sleeping arrangements, sterilisation, vaccinations and breast feeding, and check on the mental health of the mother, which is vital for the health of the child and the overall health of the family unit.

They also look out for signs of domestic violence in the home. We know from studies that the periods before birth and immediately after birth are the periods of most vulnerability for women who are in domestic violence situations. It is very important they are given support, and public health nurses are often the only person from outside the family unit coming into the home who could see warning signs. However, if public health nurses are seriously over-worked and need to get to a number of different houses on that day, they do not have the time or resources to dedicate to getting to the bottom of very complex issues such as domestic violence.

I would very much worry for the public health nurses in north Dublin who are seriously over-worked. They are dedicated and offer a great front-line service but we do not have enough to service a population of more than 300,000. I would like the Minister of State to outline his plans and the Minister, Deputy Harris's plans in regard to the HSE plan to hire and assign more public health nurses for the north Dublin area. This needs to take into account the actual population and the projected population because much of the housing being built at the moment in Dublin is being built in north County Dublin, so the population is growing rapidly as well as being a very young population - the youngest in the State. If public health nurses calling to mothers in their homes are expected to do the best job they can, they need additional numbers. I would appreciate a response from the Minister of State.