I thank Deputy Ward for raising this issue. This is something I have been working on with families for over a year now, since this drug was approved by the European Medicines Agency. I have met many of those families. I met them when they were here last week, before they had their audiovisual room briefing, I have met them four, five or six times online and I met them past year in person - I have met them so many different times. Together, we have been working to try to get this drug approved within the Irish syste…

It was Úna Ennis who coined the phrase "time is muscle". I am grateful to her for her engagement and advocacy all the way through. The first thing is that we are trying to get the drug physically into the country. My officials have been working on that for some time in anticipation of what we hoped would be a positive response. Of course, it is not just a decision whether to give the drug or not. It is also a decision about whether the drug is effective and for whom it is effective. It is a complicated balance and …

I recognise and welcome our guests to the Seanad, even though it is not my place to welcome them to the Seanad. The Acting Chair will forgive me. Perhaps I should say they are welcome to the Oireachtas. They are so very welcome. It is wonderful to see them and to have the opportunity to have this debate and to recognise their very important work in relation to that. I also recognise my officials who are so deeply committed to this area. Mary Horgan, our Chief Medical Officer, is here in support of this debate today…

I compliment the management of Tullamore hospital, who have managed demand better than most hospitals in the country and consistently achieve very few people on trolleys. We do that through a number of different ways, including purchasing private beds where necessary. That is part of what every hospital and region does. We need to standardise the cost in relation to that but we do use off-site capacity. I do not know what the Deputy is referring to with regard to black escalation. If it is that we are trying to man…

I have already intervened with the HSE on two fronts. We will be producing a dental-specific plan. It is important to reference what the Deputy said about long waits, particularly for children. A specific intervention programme will last about two years. The Irish Dental Association has been involved with that. Let us not give the speaking points of private representative bodies either. I was at its conference and raised the increase in fees. The fee paid to dentists for medical card patients has been increased by …

No, resourcing is not an issue. First, I want to go and see Clare myself to understand that better, and ask for a plan for the region for the development of services in Clare and Tipperary - Ennis and Nenagh - and not just Limerick. Overwhelmingly the focus in the mid-west has been on Limerick, which I understand. However, proper community care and proper integrated care requires a focus on Nenagh and Ennis as well. I have agreed a chair, who I believe will be excellent. I will meet the patient council this week. I…

I begin by acknowledging the women who have had truly heartbreaking personal circumstances in pregnancy and whom I know are the motivation behind this Bill by the Social Democrats. Many Deputies in all parties, both in government and in opposition, know people who have struggled with the worst news in pregnancy. I think of all of those women who inspired the Bill, the Social Democrats' work on it and this debate. I truly respect all Deputies' commitment to raising these issues. I always vote to enable debate. I wor…

-----and I need more time and space to explain that.

That is not fair.

That is not fair. I said there was a fundamental problem.

Yes, but do not press a vote.

I am sorry. No, that is not what I said.

I am asking the Social Democrats to come and meet NWHIP with me to hear more of the reality. There are not 240 women travelling because of fatal foetal abnormalities. There are some, but there are many women travelling for other reasons because there are different thresholds in the UK and Ireland. Some who are travelling will never meet the threshold in Ireland because the UK threshold is about serious handicap and others. The group of women does not number 240. It is a much smaller number. They are very case speci…

I thank the Deputy. I have not said anything about a supplementary budget. That was reported based on last year's, so I have no idea where that is coming from. Taking the case of Limerick, there were 20 delayed transfers of care there yesterday. Over the past ten days, Limerick has ranged from having 15 people on trolleys to 70 people on trolleys, at an average of about 30 to 40 each day. I was in Clare on Monday. The community supports are just as important in Clare to take the pressure off Limerick as anything el…

Excuse me?

I am sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Today, which is International Nurses Day, I would like to recognise the presence in the Public Gallery of Caroline Gourley, president, and Phil Ní Sheaghdha, general secretary, from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO. Ms Ní Sheaghdha has been president of Irish Congress of Trade Unions since last July. I congratulate here on that. I understand that we also have in attendance the CEO of the Nurses and Midwifery Board of Ireland, NMBI, Carolin…

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on statements on Michael Shine, and much more importantly, his victims and survivors. The abuse of trust and attack on the dignity and the person of patients by Michael Shine was a terrible betrayal. I have the deepest sympathy and concern for all the victims. I acknowledge the many people affected, including several I have been fortunate enough to meet. Reports suggest that the total number of those impacted is in the high hundreds and it ranges across a huge age span…

I do not think anybody wants to be involved in strikes of any kind. That is not how we do things, which is why we have the very comprehensive industrial relations architecture we have painstakingly built over some time. The HSE and my Department have engaged extensively, constructively and in good faith, as have the National Ambulance Service representatives, for more than two years to address the issues raised within the National Ambulance Service. That engagement has taken place through the State’s established in…

It is important to acknowledge that there has been 30% growth in the staff of the National Ambulance Service, which is a larger proportional increase than the health service received overall. We have invested an additional €75 million in the service since 2022 and staff members have increased by 761 since 2022. The total workforce is now 2,500. Further investment planned for 2026 will deliver 21 extra crewed ambulances at peak demand. I understand that 134 of 168 posts have been recruited, so recruitment is progres…

I am very invested in resolving disputes, and that is why we put so much effort into the industrial relations architecture that we have. It is important to highlight some of the models of the proposed reforms under the agreement reached between union representatives and State representatives in those structures, for example, a modernised pay and allowance structure, which replaces a complex pay arrangement dating back to the late 1970s with a simpler, transparent structure aligned to wider HSE norms. It standardise…