Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise three issues. The first is the issue of Brexit. This morning, we engaged extensively with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Simon Coveney, at the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. While there was a good engagement and a good update on negotiations, the situation is quite precarious and we are in a very vulnerable position. It seems the two key issues preventing a deal being done are the areas of fishing rights and level playing field provisions. The very clear message this morning was that if agreement could not be reached on those two areas, there would not be a full free trade arrangement come January. It is difficult to see how those two issues could be overcome in a very short period. It is incumbent on this House to do as much as we can to prepare for what might be coming down the tracks in January, and to do our best to work with citizens across the board to make sure they are as informed as they can be.

Second, I wish to raise the results of the national maternity experience survey, which I am sure Members will find very interesting. It is the first survey of its kind and it spoke directly to women about their experiences in maternity hospitals across the country. The national average is that 85% of women reported either a good or very good experience and 15% reported a poor experience. I think we would all agree that 15% is far too high but more worrying for me was that while the national average for a poor experience was 15%, in Mayo it was 26%. This means that one in four women surveyed who went through the maternity services in Mayo University Hospital had a very poor experience. We need to address this, and the only way we can address it is to have more midwives and a midwifery-led service. One of the lowest scoring questions was around the area of consulting women about their care during labour and after birth, and it was clear they felt they were not properly listened to and that time was not made to care for them. In this day and age, in 2020, this is something we need to get to grips with in order to improve our maternity services.

Third, I want to raise the level 3 restrictions that have come into place across the country, with every other county now joining Dublin and Donegal. We would all accept it is a very severe restriction on businesses but it is to try to protect public health, lives and livelihoods. I fully agree with the Government's decision not to go to level 5, which would have been far too much far too quickly, and I very much approve of the fact we are giving every county a chance to bring those numbers down. My own county of Mayo has the lowest incidence rate in the past 14 days and the county had the least number of infections. Understandably, therefore, businesses in Mayo are really feeling this and are rightly asking why we do not have a more focused and more regional approach. After this point, we should perhaps look at a more targeted, regionalised approach so that counties with a very low incidence rate can keep businesses open. As I said, I very much support the Government decision to just go to level 3 and not beyond.