Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House. I am delighted she is here to take this matter. As we know, there is an increased number of people in this country on dialysis. We have seen the figure increase exponentially in recent years. This is partly due to people living longer and there being better healthcare options and opportunities available.

There are quite a number of people in County Clare receiving dialysis. Some of them are in the west of the county, down on the Loop Head Peninsula and around Kilkee. The Minister of State is familiar with the area. Those people must go to either Limerick or Galway to get their dialysis. It takes the bones of an hour to get from Loop Head to Ennis and then another half an hour to get to Limerick. It therefore makes absolute sense for a dialysis unit to be opened on the grounds of Ennis Hospital. This would achieve a number of things. It would dramatically reduce the time people in Clare must travel three or four days a week to get dialysis. For example, rather than a person in Ennistymon receiving dialysis travelling a minimum of an hour to get to Limerick and the same to get back, a unit in Ennis would mean a journey time of just 25 to 30 minutes each way. From a quality of life perspective, this would make an enormous difference to the daily and weekly lives of people in Clare who require dialysis. Having to get dialysis every week of every year is traumatic enough without the trauma of having to travel into Limerick while battling traffic jams and so on.

This would also take the pressure off University Hospital Limerick, UHL. It makes sense to have services like this in a more localised setting. We have all seen, heard and spoken about the challenges at UHL. Those challenges are not at the dialysis unit but the more capacity that is freed up the better. It would be better for people from Limerick going into UHL for dialysis if there were fewer people in the unit because people were being looked after in Clare. That would extend to people from north Tipperary availing of dialysis.

An investment like this makes sense. There is much talk about the opening of a dialysis unit in Ennis but the purpose of this Commencement matter is to clarify what exactly the thinking of the Government, the Minister and the HSE is. I want to know what kind of timelines we are looking at. Is this imminent or just aspirational? If it is just aspirational can we make it imminent? Can we fast-forward a decision? Can we make happen what we all want to see, which is to have as many primary care supports and services at community level as possible? That is the ask. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply.