A Cork TD has claimed that the number of children in the city being admitted
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A Cork TD has claimed that the number of children in the city being admitted to hospital treatment has risen sharply in the last five years.

Billy Kelleher, Fianna Fail TD for Cork North Central, said that figures he has been shown indicated a 94 per cent increase in children being admitted, whereas nationally the figure was only 1.6 per cent in the same five-year period.

According to Kelleher, the number of child admissions to public hospitals in Cork was 145 in 201, rising to 265 in 2011, 267 in 2012, 287 in 2013 and falling slightly in 2014 to 282.

Kelleher said: “I think these figures for Cork point to a need for more early intervention in dental care for children and more screening at an early age. I’m particularly concerned by the fact that the figures for Cork are so out of step with the nationwide increase.

“The increase for Limerick was 40 per cent, and for Galway, it was less than eight per cent, so I will be asking the health minister to examine the figures for Cork in more detail.”