South-west couples wait longer to take adoption class

Sean O’Riordan

Cork County Council is to write to the Health Executive Service (Southern Region) to urge it to employ more social workers after hearing the plight of couples whose cases were outlined yesterday by Councillor Michael McGrath.

He said the lack of social workers was causing a backlog. In effect, he said, if it took couples two years to get on the course it meant it could take up to a further year to get approval to search for an adoption in a foreign country.

“There are 294 couples waiting for a preparatory course in Cork or Kerry. The average waiting period is 17 months, but I know of couples waiting more than two years. After the preparatory course stage, it takes a further 12 months before their case makes it to the approvals committee of the HSE. It’s an unreasonable period of time. The problem is the lack of social workers,” Mr McGrath claimed.

He said that in the south-east area couples were waiting just 18 months and 20 months in Dublin.

Councillor Kevin Murphy said such a wait was appalling. “The whole system should be overhauled,” he said.

Mr Murphy added that since political representation on health boards had been abolished, the county council was spending much more time debating health issues.

“There are a lot of people out there who are being disenfranchised,” he added.

The HSE was criticised by councillors for failing to reply to a letter sent to it by officials last year. They had asked for assistance in setting up defribulation teams in County Hall. When county manager Maurice Moloney said he wasn’t aware of any response from the HSE, Sinn Féin Councillor Martin Hallinan saw red. “They didn’t even have the courtesy to reply,” he remarked.

His comments were sparked during a debate on a motion by Councillor Jim Daly (FG) that the council help communities throughout the county set up defribulation teams.

“For every one person killed on the roads 10 will die of cardiac arrest. I cannot find any community-based first responders in Cork. There are very impressive schemes in Dublin,” Mr Daly said.

Councillor Paddy Sheehan said it was a very worthy move.

“It’s the time element that’s important. We should have these defribulators placed where they can be got at very short notice. It’s no good having them locked up at night in a dispensary,” Mr Sheehan said.