Cork TD Deirdre Clune said that Cork children will be affected by the ward closures in Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

Parent’s in Cork and across the country who have had to rely on Crumlin Children’s Hospital when their child has been seriously ill know only too well that the closure of wards in Crumlin is not just a Dublin issue but a national one. Ward closures in Crumlin will impact on families with sick children all over the country and raise the concerns of families whose children are well but who may at some stage in the future need the services now being cut in Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

Fine Gael Health Spokesperson Dr James Reilly has highlighted the fact that Minister Harney has spent €5 million this year appointing officers to a Children’s Hospital which does not yet exist while Crumlin’s budget has been cut back €7 million last year and effectively €9.1 million in 2009.

The Crumlin cutbacks mean that the country’s main children’s hospital will suffer bed, ward and theatre closures resulting in reduction of life saving services to children. It is yet another example of a Government who have their priorities all wrong.

The Governments willingness to preside over reducing service to our children who have no voice, causing increased pain and suffering should be totally unacceptable to any parent whether their child is sick or not.

Fine Gael has called on the HSE to have a meaningful meeting with the Board of Management of Crumlin Children’s Hospital and seek to make savings without affecting front line services many of which are the only such service available anywhere in the Republic.