I completely agree on the urgency. It is a priority of the Department of Health and HSE to provide a transgender healthcare service that is aligned with best practice internationally and meets the needs of children and adults. Dr. Cass from the National Health Service came to Ireland at the start of this year and presented the findings of her interim report to a wide range of stakeholders from the HSE, the Department, Children's Health Ireland, Ireland East Hospital Group and others involved in providing services. …

I thank the Deputy. On timelines and delivery, funding will be important. The delivery of this service is part of the Estimates discussions that are happening at the moment for the upcoming budget. We will keep the Deputy updated about this important issue.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As the Deputy will be aware, cocaine is an addictive stimulant drug which can make people feel more alert, energetic and confident. Cocaine can cause a range of acute health-related problems and even sudden death. It is highly risky for anybody with high blood pressure or a heart condition. Even perfectly healthy young people can have a fit or heart attack after consuming too much cocaine. Repeated sniffing of cocaine powder irritates the nose and can cause a bre…

The work of the citizens' assembly is timely. It will report at the end of the year. It is important that we have an open and honest conversation about drug use. I have allocated €1.5 million for an education programme. It is the first time funding has ever been allocated to that and I want to expand on it. We have allocated €130 million to the HSE for addiction services. Again, I want to increase that. Education and an open, honest conversation are needed. It is not only those who are in addiction and going into t…

I also welcome the citizens' assembly and think the conversation will really start when it reports. In the meantime, I have allocated €850,000 for cocaine-related treatment. I also allocated €500,000 in June 2023 and €1.5 million for an education programme around drug use, for the first time. I have met drug and alcohol task forces and gone into detox units and services up and down the country. Funding is the issue. There are some fantastic programmes that need to be rolled out. However, we also need to make sure t…

The immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, which continues to revise its recommendations having regard to the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in immunisation. The varicella vaccine is not currently included as part of the primary childhood immunisation programme but NIAC has recommended that the vaccine be included in the programme. Vaccines administered through the primary childhood immunisation p…

Although varicella is typically a mild disease, there can be long-term skin scarring and serious complications requiring hospitalisation. Of the 58,000 cases of chickenpox that occur in Ireland every year, approximately one in every 250 will result in hospitalisation with the associated complications. The estimated effectiveness of one-dose and two-dose vaccination strategies was obtained from an overview of the reviews of the clinical effectiveness of the varicella vaccination. The HTA found that the introduction …

I thank the Deputy. I will certainly relay that back to the Minister.

I move: Wednesday's business shall be: - Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions (without debate) - Motion re Report of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform entitled “ Addition of two minutes for non-aligned members to fixed-time debates and private members’ business ” (without debate) - Motion re Report of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform on Rota for Leaders' Questions (without debate) - Motion re Twenty Eighth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection (without debate…

No.

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 29th March, 2023, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer, following those set down to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Minister for Social Protection Minister for Justice Minister for Agriculture, Foo…

I move: That, as recommended pursuant to Standing Order 118A(2)( a ) and ( c ) by the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform in its report entitled " Addition of two minutes for non-aligned members to fixed-time debates and private members' business ", a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 24th July, 2023, until further notice in the 33rd Dáil— ( a ) the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business are hereby amended— (i) in paragraph (1) of Standing Order 159, by the substitution of …

I move: That, notwithstanding the Order of the Dáil of 16th December, 2020, the sequence in which Leaders shall be called upon to put questions between 10th October, 2023, and 11th July, 2024, inclusive, pursuant to Standing Order 36(ca), shall be in accordance with the rota contained in the report of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform dated 14th September, 2023, entitled " Rota for Leaders' Questions pursuant to Standing Order 36 from 10th October 2023 to 11th July 2024 ", a copy of which was laid be…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the Twenty Eighth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection in accordance with Standing Order 34, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 15th September, 2023, and discharges a member from a Committee and appoints a member to a Committee accordingly, with effect from 21st September, 2023.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, produces a number of outputs with employment estimates. The labour force survey, produced by the CSO quarterly, is the official source of estimates of employment in the State. It is mandated at European level and provides figures that are internationally comparable as the official measure of the labour market. Due to the methodology and sample size of the survey, it is not possible to produce reliable county estimates from the la…

I thank the Deputy. Some of those questions are specific to relevant Ministers but I take the points regarding childcare, an issue that will be addressed as part of the budgetary process. The CSO statistics go by region or IDA Ireland markets, and Meath is part of the mid-east region. There are 103 IDA client companies in that region, employing 21,861 people. Specifically in 2022, 18 companies in Meath employed 2,449 people. Employment, and continuing to ensure we keep people in employment through retraining and up…

The National Statistics Board, NSB, is the body assigned to guide the strategic direction of the Central Statistics Office. The formation of the NSB, its functions and its membership are set out in the Statistics Act 1993. The director general of the CSO has sole and independent responsibility for the operation of the CSO and the delivery of the statistical work programme. The main function of the board is to guide, with the agreement of the Taoiseach, the strategic direction of the CSO by establishing priorities f…

I thank the Deputy. I do not have those figures but I will certainly ask the relevant Minister, the Minister for Health or the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, to come back to the Deputy on that specific issue.

No.

The business was agreed last week and-----