Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune has told the Dáil that the Government has completely failed to understand the impact of the crisis at Crumlin Children’s Hospital on vulnerable children and their families.

Speaking in the Dáil on the debate on Crumlin Hospital the Cork TD criticised the Government’s handling of the budget crisis at Crumlin Hospital.

The Government has failed to understand the depth of feeling that surrounds the protection of our children, particularly when their health and wellbeing is threatened.

The heartrending stories of children and their parents forced to publicise their cases in an effort to receive vital treatment has been lost on Government Ministers and TDs. Everyone should be outraged at the way we are treating these vulnerable children.

Crumlin deals with 24,000 day cases, 30,000 emergency department attendees and 80,000 out-patients annually. The hospital is our largest children’s hospital, providing up to 80% of tertiary or highly specialised care for children across the State.

Paediatric Orthopaedic services have been transferred from Cork to Crumlin. Ireland’s birth rate is increasing and procedures previously unheard of are now possible. Outcomes, particularly in the area of cardiac care, are much better, including interventions for premature babies. All of this increases the number of children attending Crumlin as patients.

We need a different approach to health care in Ireland, one where money follows the patient, as recommended in Fine Gael’s FairCare policy. It does not make sense to ask a hospital like Crumlin, where numbers are increasing on an annual basis, to cut services. It certainly does not make sense to the children who find themselves without life-saving services.