An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2022-09-20
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Christopher O'Sullivan (FF), Cork South-West

The HSE’s national women and infants health programme has recommended that women only be able to avail of home births if they live within 30 minutes of a maternity service. If this recommendation was implemented, it would eradicate the choice of home birthing for a large proportion of women living in Ireland. For example, in west Cork, where I am from, any woman living west of the town of Bandon would be affected, including in the towns of Clonakilty, Bantry and Skibbereen, and they would not be able to avail of a safe supervised home birth. My sister, who lives in New Zealand, has availed of four safe, successful home births. She lives an hour and a half from her nearest maternity service. We cannot allow this recommendation to be implemented. Women deserve choice and we need to ensure they have the choice of availing of a save home birth, no matter where they live in Ireland.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-09-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-09-20