The Government was making the same case during the election and continues to make the case for employing GPs through the HSE. It does not matter where an idea comes from. Let us just do it. Deputy McGuinness referenced barriers in his earlier intervention and I did not answer him. To be fair, the Government has tried to place a particular focus on rural supports. The 2023 contract is an example. Practices in receipt of rural supports receive the maximum rate of practice staff subsidies in a significant effort to re…

I thank the Deputy. I have been informed in recent weeks that a benefit-in-kind liability was identified by the HSE for staff using the NAS response vehicles when travelling from home to work. A review is under way in the National Ambulance Service, which it is hoped will be concluded in April. The National Ambulance Service took the prudent step of informing relevant staff members of a potential benefit-in-kind liability that may exist in 2025. The Deputy will appreciate that the HSE must comply with Revenue Commi…

I thank the Deputy and of course, I clarify for the benefit of others watching and not for him in respect of the patient-carrying vehicle. I know that he knows this but perhaps others have not been as involved in this issue as his good self. This review was prompted by the National Ambulance Service itself. It undertook a review in September 2024 of the procedures governing the out of hours use of official response vehicles. It identified a potential benefit-in-kind liability. It is much better and more prudent to …

I do not disagree with the Deputy one bit about the value of the service they are providing. The National Ambulance Service prudently is seeking a ruling on whether there is a benefit-in-kind liability and has informed people there may be a liability to put them on notice of that. We await a determination. The review is useful more broadly because it will look at the scale of use of response vehicles for out-of-hours, as I said, but it will also determine the benefit and balance of the use of those vehicles out of …

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which has been a hidden difficulty for many women for many years. It is great to see it mentioned so freely in the Seanad yesterday and in the Dáil today. I thank her for raising it. It is estimated that one in ten women will be affected by endometriosis and although not all women will be symptomatic and not all women will experience it in the same way, it can be really debilitating for some women and our health service should support those women in every way pos…

It is always important as well to recognise the debilitating impact that endometriosis can have on somebody's life, their ability to be at work or their ability to care for children. It is a serious condition that needs intervention. It is important to set out where the specialist centres are. There are supraregional ones in Dublin, in Tallaght and in Cork University Maternity Hospital. The five regional hubs are in the Rotunda, the Coombe, the National Maternity Hospital, University Hospital Limerick and Universit…

I thank the Deputy, and I look forward to working with him as we worked together on the public accounts committee. Eligibility for a medical card is primarily based on a financial assessment, as the Deputy is aware, which is conducted by the HSE in accordance with the Health Act 1970. The HSE assesses each medical card application on a qualifying financial threshold. That is the amount of money that an individual can earn per week and still qualify for a card. It is specific to one's individual financial circumstan…

Of course, every extension of eligibility means that we cannot do something else, and we have to try to get the balance right. In 2023, GP visit card eligibility was extended enormously. While that does not meet everything, if you have a GP visit card plus the drugs payment scheme plus, potentially, the long-term illness scheme, there are a lot of measures that the State is taking towards reducing your costs in different ways, and the combined effect is very significant. What I really struggle with is that while 43…

Again, yes, it is about getting a balance, and we want to extend eligibility and reduce costs as much as possible. The very last thing that I or anybody else in this House wants is somebody not getting medical care because of a question of cost. The Government has taken a range of different ways to spread the benefit it is giving to people in the broadest possible way in addition to medical cards. The GP visit card is one. I would love to see 430,000 people taking it up and using it when they need to use it, supple…

Not only that, but when women do express symptoms, they have often not been listened to. That was particularly evident to me in the new funding we have given from the women's health fund to cardiovascular care in particular yesterday, where there was an acknowledgment of bias in understanding symptoms and the way in which women describe them. The implementation is ongoing for the second women's health action plan for 2024-25. Our goal is to improve health outcomes and experiences for women and girls nationwide, and…

I launched three such research programmes identifying exactly that aspect, as well as identifying women who may experience particular risk factors through gestational diabetes or experiences during pregnancy or maternity generally that may be markers for cardiovascular difficulty in future. I also wish to highlight to everybody quite how easy it is to have an early marker check. Yesterday, I went through the horrid situation of having my blood taken and checked, which I despise. Nevertheless, it is a very useful pr…

I thank the Deputy for allowing me to update the House on this matter. Significant consideration has been given to developing primary care centres for both Maynooth and Leixlip. Since 2015, while several site locations for a primary care centre in Maynooth were explored, no suitable option has come about. As a result, a larger primary care centre will be built in Leixlip to serve both the Maynooth and Leixlip populations and their surrounding areas. However, and importantly, as part of that plan, the HSE will conti…

I could not agree with the Deputy more. The intention was to do this in Maynooth. Several site locations for the Maynooth area have been explored since 2015 within HSE and State capital, but with no success. The important point is that the HSE applied for planning permission to develop a primary care centre on the site of the current health centre in Maynooth and it was not approved. The HSE had to seek planning permission to turn a health centre into a health centre, and it was not approved. I have a serious commi…

I am well aware of how much the town of Maynooth has grown in population and in its need. The best we can do is make sure that the Leixlip site is delivered and services are available there, that services in Maynooth are also delivered to the extent possible and that the broader community has access to both centres. I thank the Deputy for his question. There is no lack of commitment in relation to Maynooth, just this direct problem which I hope we do not continue to have. We will have to figure out a way around it,…

I thank Deputy Murphy for his question and his focus on this issue. With regard to the specific post in question, which is a badly needed post, as the Deputy said, it is approved for filling and the process for recruitment is ongoing. One of our biggest challenges where we have funded positions is to make sure those positions are filled, and filled quickly, because patients need that, as the Deputy has highlighted again today. I will raise it again with the HSE and look for a further weekly update on the process of…

I thank the ladies of the House so much for the invitation to speak on women's health, with International Women's Day this coming Saturday. It is wonderful. I also congratulate and thank Senator McDowell for coming into the Chamber. It was well commented on by the ladies present that there were quite a lot of men in the Chamber for the previous debate. There was not quite a stampede to the door but, my goodness, quite a rush to the door. It is wonderful to speak, yet again, with women, about women's health and wome…

I am aware of it.

They are not included.

How much time do I have?

I genuinely want to try to respond to everything I can. I will preface my remarks by saying that I do not know the answer to everything, but I will try to get better answers as I get further into the brief and things come more naturally to me. I will honestly try to give the best answers I possibly can. I will also try to give very honest answers because I do not think there is anybody in this room who does not want to see the health service improve over time. There is no disagreement on that. There is really no di…