Health Services Staff Dail Éireann — 2026-04-29 ============================================================ Mary Butler (FF), Waterford It is disappointing that a post that has been advertised for almost two years has still not been able to be filled for various reasons. It is important to note that recruitment to the consultant post remains ongoing. In parallel, a multidisciplinary working group has been established involving consultants from University Hospital Waterford. The national clinical lead for ophthalmology is that piece of the jigsaw that the Deputy mentioned as regards the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. That would be the person. Across all definitions in health, we have a national clinical lead. To have the national clinical lead involved at this level is important. The targeted blitz clinic initiative is being progressed. We do not have the details here, but I would expect that would include public and private to try to get the waiting lists down. That would be normal. I will look for more information in relation to the blitz clinic initiative because I am a very conscious of the growing waiting list. I will revert to the Deputy. I will talk to the Minister. --- 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/2026-04-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-29