Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
============================================================

Liam Quaide (SD), Cork East

Imagine a new mother in acute psychological distress being told that to get the inpatient care she needs she must be separated from her baby. This is still the reality in Ireland because, nine years after it was recommended, we still do not have a specialist mother and baby unit. This is highlighted today on thejournal.ie . The Irish Association for Infant Mental Health, I-AIMH, is clear that women and babies should be supported together. We know this in our bones. A mother and her baby should not be separated. That early bond is foundational and separation can worsen the mental health difficulty itself.
This sits against the gravest possible backdrop. Suicide is the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths between six weeks and one year after birth. Ireland, of all countries, should understand the consequences of separating mothers and babies. We have a painful history of doing exactly that. A modern health service should never recreate that separation. After nine years, what is holding this unit up and when exactly will it open?

---

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/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23