No, I do not know the answer.

There seems to be consensus on the concept of universal care. This debate is on universal healthcare or Sláintecare, that is, a national health service. We all try to strive for that system. Such a system has been proven to have better outcomes for everybody. Whether people are on social welfare or are a millionaire, they should have access to universal healthcare. The outcomes are much better in places which have universal healthcare than in systems where there are inequalities and healthcare is based on what peop…

In March this year, the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying published its report. It included 38 key recommendations, the main one being a recommendation for legislative change. Has the Taoiseach read the report? What is his personal view on assisted dying? Would he give his party colleagues a free vote if any legislation on the matter were to be submitted to the Dáil in the future?

I welcome the motion and thank Deputy Ó Broin for his continuing work on the ongoing crisis in housing. The cutting edge of the last general election was housing and it will also be the cutting edge of the upcoming general election. Housing has been the standout issue for many people. Some people are directly affected, perhaps because they are in a situation of homelessness and just cannot find a place to rent, and there are some people it does not affect. However, the corrosive effect of 14,500 people in emergency…

Earlier this year the Health Research Board, HRB, published a very extensive report on the efficacy and safety of the medical cannabis access programme. The programme has been in place since 2019. Could the Minister give me his thoughts on the report and what the Department of Health intends to do next?

The concept of the medical cannabis access programme is a good idea, because the licensed system is very bureaucratic and, in some instances, archaic. Since the inception of MCAP, only 55 people have got access. That is a tiny number of people given that the legislation was introduced in 2019 and the access programme in 2021. The HRB report says there is significant evidence of good efficacy of medical cannabis for neuropathic pain. The programme must expand, otherwise, it will become redundant. If that happens, pe…

I understand the appeal of licensed products, but the MCAP was set up for those who have tried every known medication for their condition and they want to be in a position where they could try a number of these other medications. I think nine medical cannabis products are listed, which is better than it was perhaps 18 months ago, but there is enormous frustration with the restrictions and limitations of the MCAP, under which medication can only be prescribed by a consultant. The number of medical professionals in t…

This question is on the severe shortage of public health nurses in the Dublin Mid-West area. This is not an isolated situation and it is the same across a lot of community healthcare organisations, CHOs. I would like to get the Minister's thoughts on the shortages, especially in Dublin Mid-West.

This has been going for a number of years. There are parts of Lucan, north Clondalkin and Newcastle where parents of newborns and infants have had no checks on their children. That can only be a bad thing. I was looking at the trend in the last five years when it comes to public health nurses. There has been a steady decline in retention of them. That is very worrying because, as the Minister knows, a child needs at least three to four developmental checks throughout their first four years and if they are not getti…

I received a response to a parliamentary question on the issue of public health nurses in Dublin Mid-West. I was slightly shocked at the response from the HSE. It said that, in that particular area, Dublin Mid-West, it had not recruited one public health nurse. It is a really damning indictment of where we are at if the HSE cannot recruit one. Zero have been recruited. There are obviously factors contributing to nursing staff, highly educated and highly motivated people, deciding not to go into this service. There …

I concur with Deputy McNamara on having a debate, particularly around the inquest into Aoife Johnston's death. It would be in the interest of not only Aoife's family but in the public interest as a whole that we have a debate in the coming days or weeks on what happened in University Hospital Limerick and on emergency departments, ED, across the State.

I know the Minister commented earlier on the Irish Dental Association, which has painted a stark picture of children's oral healthcare. It was before the Joint Committee on Health last year and will be again next week to address screening. More than 100,000 children did not get the basic screening in primary school. I remember, when I was growing up, a dentist coming three or four times during my primary schooling. Children not having this screening is having a detrimental effect on oral healthcare. This has been a…

There has been lots of commentary about the EU migration pact. Over 160 civil society organisations have stated that it will have a detrimental effect on migrants' rights across the EU so I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts.

There has been lots of commentary about this pact. Those on the left will be voting against it while those on the far right will be voting against it for very different reasons. The issue of asylum and finding sanctuary in the EU was tainted well before this. A toxic mix of xenophobia, hatred and division is being stoked up by those on the far right who are trying to whip up division not only in Ireland but across the EU. I believe this pact erodes the fundamental pillars of the EU, which are about human rights. Th…

I agree. I think Ireland is a very welcoming place. Let us hope it stays that way. When you drill down into this pact, you see a semblance of, for want of a better word, internment of adults and sometimes children. Human rights advocates are saying that migration is being weaponised by those who want to malign migrants coming to the EU. This is a bad day for human rights, particularly in the European sense. This is a dangerous crossroads in terms of the rights of everybody in the EU. The basic pillar of the EU back…

Disability justice is social justice and social justice is disability justice. The Green Paper that was scrapped earlier this week was straight out of the Tory handbook. If we look at what the disability payment scandal did to people in Britain, it shows that pushing people to the margins compounds a terrible issue. Disabled people disproportionately suffer from poverty, alienation and deprivation in terms of employment and living. They suffer discrimination in employment in particular. You and I may not suffer tha…

Josip Strok was a Croatian man, a carpenter, who came to Ireland for a better life. Two weeks ago, he was murdered. In the eyes of his attackers, who said he was not speaking English, he was not welcome in Ireland. That is absolutely grotesque with regard to migrants and others coming into this country. The Taoiseach will agree with me that hateful and xenophobic language is trickling down to individuals who will weaponise this horrible, toxic language and use grotesque violence. I hate to say this but unfortunatel…

-----but to everybody in the country, and that it is a threat to everybody?

I commend Sinn Féin on this very important motion. I attended the Joint Committee on Health last week where the issue concerning the situation with cancer services was discussed. Representatives of the Irish Cancer Society presented a very sombre view of cancer services in Ireland. There is much to be proud of in our public health system, but there is also a lot to be concerned about in our system that treats people who have cancer. Cancer is a very prevalent condition. One in two of us will have the condition, whi…

Yesterday, a majority of MEPs voted to support the EU migration pact. There was also opposition to the pact, and in the European Parliament some of the commentary on the pact is that it is regressive in terms of human rights, xenophobic and reactionary in not upholding the right to seek asylum in the EU. Does the Tánaiste believe signing up to this pact is the right course of action for Ireland in trying to demonise people fleeing war and persecution?