I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for raising the issue. I welcome this opportunity to update the House on the closure of Hesed House in Inchicore. I take this opportunity to reaffirm the Government's commitment to implementing the national drugs strategy, and its commitment to a health-led approach to drug use and the development of harm-reduction interventions in all communities. I am very aware of the important role that organisations such as Hesed House played under the drugs strategy in assisting families to cope with…

I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for the opportunity to update him on the closure of Hesed House in Inchicore. As he rightly said, 28 years is a long time. This service came out of the needs of the community. I reiterate my commitment, as Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, to do all I can to ensure the decision of the board of management of Hesed House to close the service will not have a significant impact on the ability of the people of Dublin 8, Dublin 10 and Dublin 12 to access appr…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, on this important topic. I assure the House that Children's Health Ireland, CHI, is very aware that issues with the complex pain management service have been the cause of anxiety and upset for parents and children. Funding has been provided to address this issue and most posts have been recruited. As the Deputy may be aware, the background to this issue is that a co…

I thank the Deputy again for raising this issue, for her awareness of it and her understanding that it is a particularly challenging time for the health system, which has experienced severe pressure from the impact of Covid, exacerbated by the ransomware attack. It is important to put on the record the enormous efforts of all staff at this time. The Department of Health does not have full access to information on the impact of the ransomware attack on waiting lists but will provide an update as soon as one is avail…

The Irish Prison Service fully appreciates how important religious services and contact with family and friends are to people in custody. The Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, wishes to assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to the return of both as soon as it is considered safe to do so. The Deputy is correct to say there have been more than 15 months of difficulty. It is very difficult to be locked up, curtailed and constrained. As he noted, we need to balance…

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a vaccination programme commenced on 9 June on a prison-by-prison basis, with vaccinations administered by the National Ambulance Service, supported by the Irish Prison Service healthcare teams, to all prisoners and unvaccinated staff under 40 years of age. The Minister of State understands that this has been a very difficult time for prisoners and their families. I understand the impact the loss of family contact has had on prisoners. The Deputy mentioned nursing homes. My mo…

I thank the Senator for the opportunity, on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, to address the issue of appointing ECLOs. The ECLO service provides practical and emotional support to patients and their families to meet their needs when a diagnosis of sight loss is made. The officer works closely with clinical teams and provides a link between acute and community-based services. The service helps to ensure that patients and families are well informed and understand the condition and the supports avai…

I thank Senator Conway for his interest in the situation. I will talk to the Minister to organise a meeting between Liam Woods and his team and the NCBI as quickly as possible. I know that the eye care liaison officer provides an important and worthwhile service by providing non-clinical support for patients and their families and allowing clinicians to focus on diagnosis, treatment and medical follow up. This approach of allowing clinicians to focus on their specific clinical work is also in line with the integrat…

I thank the Deputy for providing me with the opportunity, on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, to update the House on the roll-out of the Covid-19 immunisation programme and vaccination centres. The vaccine programme is a key enabler of the reopening of society and the economy. It continues to progress, with more than 1.8 million doses administered overall. The programme has passed the milestone of the administration of 500,000 second doses and, this week, we expect to pass the milestones of havin…

I understand the HSE has decided that it does not make sense from a logistical perspective to operate a Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Arklow facility for the short period involved. The vaccination roll-out programme continues to demonstrate agility and responsiveness to revisions in the advice on the use of vaccines and changes to vaccine delivery schedules. The public online registration system was launched on Thursday, 15 April, commencing with appointments for 65- to 69-year-olds before extending out to inc…

I welcome this opportunity to address the House on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, on the issues raised by the Senator. I acknowledge the distress overcrowded emergency departments cause patients, their families and front-line staff working in challenging conditions in hospitals throughout the country. According to HSE TrolleyGAR data, there was a 79.9% reduction in the number of patients waiting on trolleys at 8 a.m. in the emergency department at University Hospital Galway in the perio…

The Minister acknowledges the distress that overcrowded emergency departments cause patients, their families and front-line staff. He and I commend all the staff in our emergency departments on the tremendous work they have done to ensure emergency departments have remained open and available to provide a service throughout the pandemic. The number of patients receiving care on trolleys recently in UHG is unacceptably high. The HSE is actively working with the Saolta group and hospital management to ease congestion…

I thank Senator Sherlock for the opportunity to discuss this matter. The framework for restrictive measures contained in the Covid-19 plan, Resilience and Recovery: The Path Ahead, sets out information on the staggered start of easing of other areas of restriction, with a focus on outdoor activities, including sport. For guidance purposes, dance has been included under sports under the different levels of the plan. This easing is dependent on whether the transmission of the virus reaches acceptable levels, the vacc…

The Senator articulated her views very clearly. She is right. Children face significant challenges but concerns around well-being arising from the pandemic apply to all of society. We face into the summer when there will be many festivals, including arts festivals. Some of that work will be carried on indoors. We have developed this guidance, which recognises the important work of the arts and culture sector to engage young people in the arts and provide them with opportunities to express and enjoy themselves, deve…

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the issues that concern family carers. I thank Senators Mary Seery Kearney and Martin Conway for laying this timely and welcome motion before the House. Family carers are the backbone of care provision in our country. Whether caring for a child, a parent with a disability or illness, or an elderly family member, carers through their selfless hard work, knowledge and compassion enhance the quality of life of the most vulnerable in our society on a daily basis. Theref…

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to discuss this matter. I share his optimism and hope that, eventually, the country will open up and we will go back to enjoying all these festivals and theatres over the summer. He is absolutely right that the pandemic has taught us a few lessons, one of which is that the simple things in life are free. We are looking forward to opening up. The arts and culture recovery task force in its report, Life Worth Living, recommended that the treatment of cultural activities and ven…

As the Senator is aware, the Government announced last week that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will work with the Departments of Health and the Taoiseach to progress arrangements to hold a further limited number of pilot live events for sport and live entertainment, both indoor and outdoor. In the meantime, the Department will work with sporting and cultural bodies and will make practical preparations for these test events. The Senator is completely correct that the Minister, …

I thank Senator Currie for giving me the opportunity to update the House on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on this important matter and to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by psychologists in Irish hospitals, especially in these challenging times in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department engages on an ongoing basis with the HSE with regard to improving the position of all healthcare workers and trainees, but it must be noted that it is the Psychological Society of Ireland, n…

I thank the Senator for the information, especially relating to the North. It is an interesting recommendation. Significant health workforce recruitment is under way in the HSE and more is planned. This is a challenging time for the health sector but there are opportunities for reform and new ways of working. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is looking forward to receiving the report of the project team convened to consider preparation of a workforce plan for psychological services in the HSE. The Minister of …

I assure the Senator that ensuring access to termination of pregnancy services remains an ongoing priority for the Minister and the Department of Health. The Senator outlined the proposal to draft the legislation to provide for safe access to termination of pregnancy services. It arose from concerns about demonstrations against abortion that took place during and after the campaign for the referendum on the eighth amendment to the Constitution in 2018. At that time, it was feared that protests against abortion, tar…