The programme for Government contains a commitment to implement the national maternity strategy. One of the key elements of that strategy is to make the 20-week anomaly scan available in all maternity facilities. Currently it is only available in six. Alongside this, national guidelines are also due to be published. It is important that these scans are made available so that no parent is left in the situation in which a young mother found herself in Kerry recently. She gave birth to a baby who had a serious heart condition. Her baby was transferred to hospital in Dublin while she had to remain in Kerry.

Having just given birth she travelled to Dublin to be with her seriously ill baby. When her baby died, and the death was inevitable, she had to strap her child into a car seat to bring her dead baby home. Had she had a 20 week anomaly scan, which is considered fairly basic in most developed countries, that young mother could have made provision to spend the few days that she had with her beautiful baby girl. She could have said goodbye in a decent and dignified way surrounded by her family. When I say that this is important I really do mean it. These scans should be available to every pregnant woman in the State.

Hear, hear.

I do not disagree that these scans should be available. Clearly, in every hospital in every location the provision of scans and equipment is part of the process and strategy for the provision of proper facilities for pregnant mothers or other sectors who are involved in hospital treatment. I recall the case referred to by the Deputy and obviously that mother was, and is, very upset. It is a case, I expect, of the facilities and the capacity to provide anomaly scans and that is a process of following procurement and setting out the facilities that are necessary in hospitals and so on.

The equipment is there. No procurement is necessary.

I wish to make the same point to the Taoiseach. Our local hospital, the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar, is also a maternity hospital, and not just for my constituency but also for the midlands. The hospital put a business case to the HSE for it to provide €120,000 in order to ensure the hospital could comply with the national maternity plan. The business case for €120,000 was refused by the HSE just before Christmas. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to say that this is part of the national maternity plan and that it is his wish and desire. Real action must follow through on that issue. One third of the expectant mothers who present to the hospital in Mullingar are scanned. This means that two thirds of expectant mothers fail to get that scan. It is a priority that should be implemented and rolled out across all maternity hospitals.

The Deputy might bring the matter forward as a Topical Issue matter to allow for additional debate.

It is not a question on legislation, but I am not sure whether the business plan was turned down because of shortage of money or because of its inadequacy. I remind Deputy Troy that €900 million extra was made available to the health budget for 2017, which now stands at €14.5 billion. This is an important element but it is a small sum in that context. I do not know the details of why the business plan was turned down. Obviously the HSE made its decision in that regard. We can follow it up.