I thank the Senator. I will bring back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, exactly what the Senator said. To be fair to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, he really acknowledges what the Senator said, that it is critical. It has so many other nodes feeding into it. It is single lane carriageway. There is also a health and safety risk there. We are half way through a process and it needs to be completed and left to a particular standard. I will bring that back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan.

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and I will adhere to the script that has been provided to me. Before I do so, it is important for me to say as a fellow Galwegian that it is five years since the roof started to leak in Merlin Park University Hospital. It is five years since they went out of operation, since they were not fit for purpose and since we had all these meetings. A lot of good work has been done since then. It is fantastic to see that two theatres have been compl…

I thank Senator Crowe for giving me the opportunity to articulate to the people of Galway that this is a priority for the Government. The Government brought the theatres to the point of being commissioned. They have been approved by HIQA and so on at this stage. This is not news. We knew that two theatres would come on board. I wonder why our recruitment process did not start sooner and why we did not have the staff in place. We all knew we would need an anaesthetist. Having said that, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly…

I thank the Deputy. I am answering this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The objective for all of us, as public representatives, is at all times to ensure that a person who holds a medical card gets seen to. The treatment benefit scheme provides dental, optical and medical appliances, comprising hearing aids and specialised contact lenses, to insured workers, self-employed and retired people who satisfy certain PRSI conditions. A person must have paid a specific number of PRSI contribution…

The treatment benefit is an important scheme for those who qualify for payment and for practitioners. It is the Department's biggest scheme in terms of claims, with more than 1.4 million claims received in 2021 and a total expenditure of €109 million. So far in 2022 some 1,342,000 claims have been received with a total expenditure of €102 million. The dental benefit scheme is the most popular component of the treatment benefit suite of schemes and, as I said earlier, 843,000 claims were paid this year, an increase …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I am keen to respond as accurately as I can with the knowledge available to me at this time. It is important to note that any adjustment to pay scales for any public service staff, including housekeeping staff in Cork University Hospital, CUH, can only be done in accordance with public service pay policy. While the need for a review of pay scales is being raised by the Deputy, Department officials are n…

I will bring the Deputy's two final points to the Minister for his attention. According to the concluding statement that the Minister has provided, grades that fall into the HSE's support staff category, such as housekeeping staff, have seen an overall increase of between 10.25% and 11.5% in the past four years alone, depending on their point on the scale. These increases have been as a result of the adjustments agreed via public service agreements, including the current public service agreement, Building Momentum.…

I apologise for being late. I have apologised to the Acting Chair. I thank Deputy Michael Moynihan and all his team who sit on the Committee on Disability Matters and who meet, as he said, every Thursday morning for their continuous dedication, not just on this matter but on so many other issues on which the committee is shining a very important spotlight. This is an important conversation. The committee has assisted me in breaking down many barriers and creating awareness. I am greatly appreciative not only of Dep…

I take this opportunity to reiterate my thanks to the Chair of the committee, Deputy Michael Moynihan, Vice Chair, Deputy Tully, and the extended committee for all the work they have done. As has been said, the right to independent living is at the core of so much of what the UNCRPD is about. It represents no less than what people with disabilities in this country are entitled to and expect from Irish society. As I outlined, a huge amount of work is ongoing across government to ensure that people with disabilities …

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion, which also gives me a chance to speak about disability services. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, will be issuing a timeline in respect of the strategic workforce advisory group recommendations and has already commenced work on some of the recommendations. I acknowledge the input of all Deputies who contributed. It is clear that we all have a strong desire to ensure those who need a safe and regulated home support service in a timely manner have access to…

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. I will be giving a lot of figures so I hope he has a biro. There are seven and 12 children's disability teams in the areas the Deputy asked about. In CHO 3, there are seven and in CHO 5, there are 12. One of the seven teams in CHO 3 is HSE-led and the rest are led by our partner organisations. I will go through the statistics for CHO 3 first. In Blackberry Park, the lead agency for which is Enable Ireland, the vacancy level is 10%. In Clare, where there is a HSE team, t…

I thank the Deputy. I agree that the vacancy levels in north Tipperary, Cashel and Clonmel are concerning. There is no denying that whatsoever. There are plans afoot within the HSE for a progressive recruitment plan. It is only to do with CDNTs but applies across the disability sector. We have looked within and outside Ireland as a part of that recruitment campaign. We are flushing through all the panels to ensure that people can be recruited in as timely a process as possible. I note that where our lead agencies a…

In respect of the assessments of need, which the Deputy has raised, I was fortunate, with the help of my good colleague, the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to secure €11.5 million to address the backlog for assessments of need. The last time I got such funding, we managed to clear that backlog. However, it is no good clearing the backlog unless we have a proper process for the timely delivery of interventions. To that end, the funding has now been secured and the plan has been put in place for delivering and ad…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, to which I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health. Cystic fibrosis is a devastating disease for patients and their families, with Ireland having one of the highest per capita CF rates in the world. Many of us will have seen its effects and the cost to families. Access to effective treatment offers hope to those suffering from this disease and the Minister aims to make this possible for every patient who needs it. Kaftrio has been a life-changing drug for CF suf…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I certainly will bring this back to the Minister. It is unfortunate that Vertex reneged on its commitment and agreement. It is highly frustrating for the Government and for the HSE to be in this particular position. There are 35 families possibly looking in here this morning and looking for hope. I hope that when the Minister meets with the CEO, with the clinical experts and with the patient representatives, there will be a positive outcome from the meeting. It i…

There has been a huge and entirely appropriate outcry in recent years over the shameful way some of our most vulnerable citizens were treated. We have all been moved by this. As the realisation deepens regarding how unfairly some of our citizens were treated in the past, we more fully understand that the effects continue to ripple through to today. We witness the pain felt so deeply by those who have not been able to access information about their origins or those who have succeeded in doing so but found the toll o…

I thank Senator Currie for giving me the opportunity to discuss CHO 9. I will just reverse a little, if the Senator does not mind. When we started the assessments of need in October 2020 one of our largest lists in the entire country was in CHO 9. This meant it was one of the last lists to be completed at that point in time. We were completing the assessment of need process, which was the old assessment of need rather than a preliminary team assessment or anything like that, and we got through it all. The Senator i…

The other evening I referred in my speech to Fórsa. It is amazing what happens on the floor of the Dáil because since Tuesday evening, the HSE and Fórsa have met twice and I hear that progress is being made. I also spoke to John Kearney of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, this morning and I will issue communications to all the special schools. I am waiting for the head of disabilities, Bernard O'Regan, to tell me the outcome of this. I assume everybody wants to see children getting an intervention …

I, too, want to be associated with the condolences expressed. I am taking this matter today on behalf of the Minister for Health. I would like to thank Senator Carrigy for raising this important issue. The Government is strongly committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based palliative care in Ireland. The Department of Health, in line with the national palliative care policy of 2001, is committed to furthering the development of palliative care across the country, ensuring a seamless pathway for patients who …

To sum up, the Government is committed to support people in all regions, but particularly the hospice and palliative care community. We need to take an evidence-based approach. Where there is evidence, we must look at it, take it on board and prioritise it. I look forward to setting up the meeting with the Minister, the Senator and his colleagues.