Irish Examiner view: Is CHI merger more than just a U-turn?

Change on this scale is likely to provoke a reaction

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said it was time to 'further integrate paediatric care formally into the HSE' ahead of the move to the new National Children’s Hospital, having spent several months reviewing governance structures in the health service generally. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

There was a good deal of surprise yesterday when health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced that the hospitals currently under the aegis of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) are to be run by the Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2027.

The minister said it was time to “further integrate paediatric care formally into the HSE” ahead of the move to the new National Children’s Hospital, having spent several months reviewing governance structures in the health service generally.

“The National Children’s Hospital Ireland will be the central hub in the network of paediatric care, with links to regional paediatric units, operated overwhelmingly by the HSE,” she said. “Accordingly, I have decided to integrate CHI into the HSE structure.”

Change on this scale is always likely to provoke a reaction and, though the minister moved quickly to try to reassure those involved from hospital staff to families and patient groups, there have already been calls for greater transparency about this decision.

One of those groups has pointed out that in April, after a Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report into children’s spinal surgeries raised huge questions about governance and oversight of those operations, the Taoiseach had backed the CHI board in the Dáil.

Una Keightley, the co-founder of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group, added that five months later: “ ...the whole organisation is being subsumed into the HSE — this is a complete U-turn by the Government”.

It is certainly difficult to see this move as anything other than the reversal described by Ms Keightley. If the Taoiseach was supporting the CHI board as recently as April, there is an obvious question: What has changed in the meantime to necessitate this move by the minister?

This is before one even considers the leap of faith involved in looking to the new National Children’s Hospital becoming the “central hub in the network of paediatric care”, as the minister put it. Given the travails of that particular project, a reluctance to share the minister’s optimism is quite understandable.

We need to act, one way or the other 

The former head of the Defence Forces, Mark Mellett, has called for action to improve the security of subsea data cables off our coasts.

Mellett suggested this week that the State engages a commercial repair vessel to repair damage to those cables, as well establishing an alert system to monitor suspicious vessels.

Speaking in relation to a new UK report on the security of subsea cables, Mellett said the report’s findings were applicable in an Irish context. He added that Ireland also needs a cross-department co-ordination unit to improve collaboration between the commercial sector, which owns this vital infrastructure, and the Irish security services.

There can be no doubt about the vulnerability of data cables off our coasts, particularly given the small size of both our naval service and air corps. Neither are in a position to adequately patrol the relevant areas on an ongoing basis.

And such patrols are necessary. Last winter, there were several incidents involving subsea cables being damaged in the Baltic Sea. In December 2024, a power cable linking Finland and Estonia was broken, while a telecommunications cable between Lithuania and Sweden was cut a month earlier. In both instances, sabotage was not ruled out — with Russia the focus of much suspicion.

Last November, a Russian vessel was closely monitored by both Britain’s royal navy and the Irish naval service when it loitered near vital gas pipelines connecting Ireland and Scotland under the Irish Sea.

Keeping such vital infrastructure secure is a significant challenge in and of itself, but it must also be considered in a wider context. If Ireland takes overt action to protect that infrastructure, does that have implications for our neutrality? If Ireland takes no action here, are we opting out of our security obligations and relying on others to do that work for us?

These are questions which may need extensive discussion, but the need for action in this area is beyond debate.

A fond farewell to broadcasting legends 

A milestone was reached this week with the departure from the airwaves of two of the best-known broadcasters in Ireland. Mary Wilson and Áine Lawlor signed off on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1 for the final time yesterday.

It was Wilson’s official retirement from RTÉ and while it marked Lawlor’s final time presenting the show, she will continue to present The Week in Politics and will feature across RTÉ’s coverage of the presidential election.

The two of them have given the national broadcaster stellar service for decades, working to the highest possible standard.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid a warm tribute to them on social media: “Best wishes Mary Wilson on your retirement from RTÉ, 35 years after you first joined @morningireland. And best of luck Áine Lawlor as you sign off from the show today too. Always sharp, informed and professional — you will both be missed. Thank you for your contribution to public service broadcasting.”

Such an interaction is in sharp contrast to recent events in the US, where TV chat show host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended after on-air criticism of US president Donald Trump. The Trump regime has not been shy about threatening television networks with lawsuits and crackdowns, which does not augur well for free expression or democratic debate across the pond.

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