Maternal Mental Health Supports: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-11 ============================================================ Maria Byrne (FG), Agricultural Panel I acknowledge Paul Cuddihy, former councillor and teacher, and the students from Kilkenny College that have just gone out the door. They were here with Deputy Callaghan today. They were in the Gallery. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, and thank her very much. I congratulate and thank Senators Cosgrove, Harmon, Stephenson and Noonan for bringing forward this motion. I acknowledge Aolish Gormley in terms of the year of care. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler has outlined a lot of what has happened in the Department, as has Senator Rabbitte. In the past, while I am not a parent myself, I have visited the perinatal unit, especially in University Hospital Limerick, under the stewardship of Dr. Mas Mohamad. On the delivery that is carried out there in terms of support, I read an article in the newspaper recently about a lady who was going through an awful lot of severe mental health issues during her pregnancy. She said after going to visit Dr. Mas Mohamad and the team that her fears were allayed. Certainly the supports and services they gave her throughout her pregnancy were something else, and she really could not speak highly enough about it. When I think of the work that is carried on in a very small unit, I note the Minister of State spoke about more investment coming. In addition, the plans that Sandra Broderick, REO in Limerick and in UHL, has put before her, are to be commended. I have seen Sandra's plans myself and what she intends to try to bring into that whole area of perinatal health. When you are dealing with UHL, you are dealing with the whole of the mid-west. It is not just Limerick, it is the mid-west. It is frightening to think that one in five women suffers from mental health issues during pregnancy or afterwards. That is quite a high statistic. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Butler on her commitment in this area, because I have visited places with her in the past and have spoken to her about issues in relation to it. Her own personal commitment is evident. Even during the time she gave us here during the Mental Health Bill recently, it was clear she is very much on top of her brief. A new hub is to be opened in 2026 for Waterford, Limerick, Cavan and Letterkenny. I am not sure if the Minister can tell me when that hub is opening. As I am aware that there is not really room on the grounds of the current maternity hospital for a new hub, I presume it will be part of the bigger picture regarding the new 200-bed option B to do with the redevelopment of the University of Limerick. As there are plans to consider bringing a maternity hospital to that site as well, I presume there will be a temporary hub until that happens. The HSE continues to review the model of care to strengthen standardisation. When the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, was speaking, she was speaking about perinatal services being in six areas. As I say, I am very aware of the one in Limerick but many of them are being carried out by perinatal health nurses. I would love to see them being expanded. From what the Minister of State was saying and her extra funding in relation to it, that is probably what she is looking at. Overall, the motion is very timely, and it does tie in with what the Minister of State and the Government are doing. It is about us all working together in terms of strengthening what is there and maybe even making submissions to the Minister of State and working with her in relation to areas that we see, where maybe things are not working as efficiently and highlighting that. I compliment the Senators and look forward to supporting their motion. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-11/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:37+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-11