It needs to be done very quickly. I have seen the 2011 memo which is quite explicit in stating that there are other residents in similar homes who would have a similar if not identical entitlement to the 512 people in those three homes. I accept that the potential liability of €350 million as stated in the memo is a worst-case scenario; it is just an estimation. However, it is very clear that when that memo was written, the Department had knowledge of people who had exactly the same entitlement as those 512 people …

This question is on hospital overcrowding and waiting lists. For some time I have been asking for the publication of a multi-annual capacity and waiting list reduction plan. We need to tackle overcrowding in hospitals, cancellations and extreme patient wait times in accident and emergency departments. The figures for December, November and October were particularly high and I will get to that in a second. I ask the Minister to outline what measures will be put in place to expand primary and community care to aid ad…

Short-term waiting lists were never going to work and I have said for some time that winter plans are simply window dressing. They were also never going to work and the winter plan failed spectacularly this year. The Minister’s short-term waiting list plan for the year gone promised to take 132,000 people off waiting lists but it only took 10,000 people off waiting lists. The target that was set was modest but we came nowhere near that. The number of people waiting over 12 months and over 18 months decreased, and I…

We need more capacity but the problem is that in the budget just gone, apart from beds that were not delivered from the previous budget, there were no additional inpatient beds provided. What additional beds will be put in this year to ensure that next year those hospitals will have the capacity? The reality is that beyond what was previously committed to, none will be added. On hospitals and variations, in the same figures I got for December, in University Hospital Waterford the average time patients were waiting …

Why are the other hospitals not doing it?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. I want to see the statutory home care scheme put in place as quickly as possible. That is one of the things we must do to reduce pressure on emergency departments and hospitals, as the Minister of State knows. In addition to the issues she identified, such as regulation and other measures that need to be put in place to make this happen, the main measure we need to take is increase capacity because if we put this scheme in place, more people are going to be looking…

What we do not want is to provide a statutory scheme where there is an entitlement but people cannot access it. Capacity, therefore, is going to be the biggest issue and that means more staff and resourcing of both public and private providers to deliver the service.

There is no doubt that global supply chains have had an impact on the availability of certain medications, which has resulted in medications not being available to the extent we would have wanted in some areas. There are things we can do. There are other reasons for it as well but there are things we can do. Other countries have serious shortages protocols where pharmacists can substitute alternative medications without the patient having to go back to a GP. Is that something that will be examined? The HPRA should …

We kind of touched on this earlier. There are two aspects to this question. The first is about the transfer of the functions for special disability services from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth - that is a mouthful - and the second relates to the resourcing of the disability capacity review. I ask the Minister of State to give an update on both those issues.

The disability capacity review set out the need for €750 million of investment over ten years. The problem is that two years on, there is still no implementation plan and certainly still no funding plan. As the Minister of State will recognise, we need to support complete decongregation of people with intellectual disabilities into more appropriate facilities, which is part of the plan. We also have to ensure we have the investment needed for additional personal assistant, PA, hours and additional home care package…

I recognise that additional funding has been made available for disability services over the last number of years. Unfortunately, a lot of the additional funding - we had the same debate in the area of mental health - is eaten up by existing levels of service, which means that it does not provide additional capacity. I accept that additional capacity has been put in place, but it is nowhere near what is required to meet the capacity review. The only way we will make sure that is done is to have a comprehensive plan…

I think humility is needed over there.

Clever politics? The Tánaiste is trivialising a serious issue.

It has got very messy when we have four or five amendment lists, amendments to amendments and so on. The manner in which this Bill was crafted and worked its way through the Oireachtas was a bit chaotic. Notwithstanding that, I thank the Minister for his co-operation in recent weeks. We did the right thing in December in pausing this and taking the time to engage with the 221+ group. I told the Minister in this Chamber and in private briefings that my view was that group was not supportive of the Bill as it stood. …

I am okay with it.

We are more than happy to let the Minister respond.

I welcome the Minister's comments on the lab at the Coombe Hospital. Obviously we want to see a ratcheting up and expansion of services at the Coombe Hospital. If we can repatriate a large part of the screening services for CervicalCheck in that facility, it would be really welcome. I ask that the Minister keep us informed of the ratcheting up of staffing and capacity as it happens. That is to be welcomed in the first instance. There is a lot to be done there yet. While we still have a long way to go, I understand …

It is important as well for that information to go out. This will not just be for CervicalCheck; it will be for all cancer screening services. I welcome the Minister's commitment to work with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and to keep us informed on what the audit will look like. I also welcome his commitment that the 221+ group will be consulted on that element of it as well. That is very important. We discussed with the Minister some outstanding issues from the Scally report. What is his expectation and…

It will not last.

I will support the amendments. I met HIQA representatives regarding these amendments a number of weeks ago. They made some interesting points that surprised me. The first was that they believed most of the powers being made available through these amendments are already available to HIQA. I got the sense that they did not see great value in what is being proposed. I was a member of the Covid committee that met in this Chamber for some time. For me, one of the issues that arose during the Covid pandemic is that ther…