Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. It is good to have him here. I thank him for coming in and taking this Commencement matter because I understand the Minister is abroad. That is just the reality for a Minister in Government.

The issue of the maternity hospital in Limerick has been on the health political agenda for some time. I am 51 years of age. I was born in Ennistymon Community Hospital. Maternity services then moved to Ennis and were then centralised in Limerick, but the building in Limerick is not fit for purpose. The most amazing professional consultants and people are working in the building but the building itself is not fit for purpose. I visited a friend of mine there a couple of years ago who had difficulty with her pregnancy. She was in a small room with two others and it was very difficult and distressing. It was during the summer and it was very warm but there was no air conditioning and, despite the heroic efforts of the nursing staff and the medical professionals who worked there, they could not make her any more comfortable.

A proposal has been on the agenda for some time now that the maternity hospital in the mid-west be relocated to a site adjacent to UHL. That is best international medical practice because UHL is a university hospital. Having the maternity hospital on site means it would be beside the emergency department, intensive care and the high-dependency unit. It would be adjacent to all of the necessary supports and interventions that are very timely at times, as the Minister of State knows.

The Minister of State and the Acting Chair will often hear about Limerick and the challenges on national radio, which are acute and serious. Sometimes, because of the media attention that is focused on the emergency department and overcrowding, the maternity hospital can get forgotten about in the narrative. A new maternity hospital is earmarked for the St. Vincent's Hospital site. That is very welcome but just because that maternity hospital has not been built yet does not mean that Limerick and the mid-west should have to wait in line and, essentially, wait their turn. The needs of mothers in Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Kerry are equally as important as the lives of mothers in the greater Dublin area. That is why I am not satisfied that we still do not have a date to commence the move of the maternity hospital from its present site on the Ennis Road to its site in Dooradoyle. Everybody knows it is the right thing to do, everybody knows the medical reasons for the relocation and everybody knows that what is there at the moment is not fit for purpose. It is unfair on the professionals who are working there and totally unfair on the mothers in the mid-west who are giving birth there.

I hope the Minister of State will bring some clarity to this on behalf of the Minister.