Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Fitzpatrick has made her point well. I extend my sympathies to Senator Hoey on the passing of her father. It is very sad news.

I want to bring up the issue of maternity restrictions. It is not the first time, but I hope it is the last. It is not enough that the HSE has its version of guidelines for access for partners on its website when the lived experience of women in hospitals is entirely different. That is where politicians step in on behalf of their constituents to say that this is just not good enough. If the discrepancy in compliance is about infection control, where is the oversight and where is the transparency? I thank the Leader, Senator Doherty, for organising the meeting of the Oireachtas women's caucus on better maternity care and on sending the letter to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I wish the caucus luck in its meeting with Paul Reid today. I agree with its call for each hospital to return to pre-pandemic access arrangements for one nominated partner. It is too little, too late. We have to revert to the arrangements that were in place before.

I will also comment on the extraordinarily worrying comments by the deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, suggesting that the North's health service is set to topple without immediate action from the Stormont Executive and that there were staff begging for help when she visited a hospital yesterday. We are focused on reopening and recovery. The North's death rate is three times higher per head of population. It was the highest in Europe for months until it was recently overtaken by Greece. Some 88% of adults have received their first dose of vaccine but a quarter of 18 to 29-year-olds have not. Those figures are reflected in ICUs. They are facing this situation while also dealing with essential non-Covid care. Last week, help from military medics was being looked at. The Ministry of Defence was considering that. What are we doing to help? This is a really serious situation. I know we have problems of our own with regard to waiting lists and trolleys but we need to be helping out in this situation.