Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Today, I want to suggest a measure to ease the cost of living for families in a small but significant way. One of the hardest things about living on a tight budget is that you do not have room for the unexpected or out-of-the-ordinary costs. That can drive families to make impossible choices. We need to stop those scenarios from arising where we can. I am of the belief that the €75 levy for attending children's urgent care centres should not be there in the first place. There is one such centre in Blanchardstown that opened a few years ago. It is part of Children's Health Ireland, CHI. A new centre opened recently in Tallaght. These state-of-the-art centres are run by CHI and its paediatric emergency medicine teams. Urgent care centres treat conditions such as sprains, strains, broken bones, vomiting and diarrhoea, minor burns and scalds, fever in babies older than 12 weeks and small cuts and injuries. Of course, the levy is there to try to prevent people from abusing the system, but the centres are there for parents who are worried about their children. If they are worried, they should be seen without the imposition of a levy. Cost should never be a barrier to urgent healthcare for children and families. There are some exemptions from the levy, including medical card holders, members of the Defence Force and their families and people receiving services in respect of prescribed infectious diseases. Children can be referred to these centres by their GPs. Why should they have to go through their GP in order to be referred to an urgent care centre? That just puts even more pressure on GPs. We are already extending free GP care to those aged seven and under. We need to do it for children of all ages attending these centres. One final point that I wish to make is that the opening hours of the centres are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. The hours need to be extended. I know that there are reasons for the current hours, including resources. I have some suggestions on how we can help with that. However, in general, the model was supposed to provide services seven days a week. That is what we should be working towards.