Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Bill and the impact it will have on the costs facing families and households. It is a significant amount and it is not to be overlooked.

As the Minister will know, the children's urgent care centre at Connolly Hospital is a satellite centre of the forthcoming children's hospital in the city. This fantastic service was opened in Tallaght and Blanchardstown, initially from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. After a lot of pushing, it now opens on Saturdays and Sundays. In fairness, that is exactly what management at the hospital wanted to do.We are in a bizarre situation where Tallaght hospital's urgent care centre is 24-7 for children, and not only is Blanchardstown hospital only operating from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.- and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at weekends - but it has now become an appointment-only instead of a walk-in service. This has left a lot of people in the wider west Dublin area scratching their heads because it was a service that parents relied on and felt really worked for minor injuries and it has been downgraded as a service to being appointment based. At present, Blanchardstown is doing a mix of walk-ins and appointments but the feedback from parents is that something they felt was working and on which they could rely has been taken from them. When something happens to your child, it is so stressful and then you have to think about where you will bring your child for treatment. While that was a service that simply worked and has been applauded by parents, it feels as though it has been downgraded. Why is it that Tallaght can have a 24-7 walk-in service, while Blanchardstown not only has curtailed hours but is operating on an appointment-only basis? Among the reasons we were given was it was because people were arriving for whom it was not suitable and it was a risk to them, as they were coming to the wrong location for treatment and needed to be going to an accident and emergency department. I believe, however, there are other ways to handle that. It was also said that everyone was arriving all together, either first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon. I am sure people were arriving late in the afternoon but at the same time, if accidents happen then the accidents need to be attended to. Again, if Tallaght hospital can find a way around this why can Blanchardstown not do so? I would really appreciate it were the Minister to address that for me.