I thank Deputies Bennet and Newsome Drennan for this opportunity to discuss the important matter of breast screening. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. I genuinely thank the Deputies for raising it. It is really important. The more awareness we can bring to breast cancer screening, the better. It is not often I get the opportunity. I will be in the Seanad at 10.30 a.m. answering a similar question and I welcome that. I am standing here as, I assume, the on…

I thank Senator Cosgrove for the opportunity to discuss this important matter of breast density notification. I have just come from the Dáil Chamber where I took a Topical Issue matter in relation to the important matter of breast screening. I am taking both on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. The first thing I want to mention, and the Senator said it as well, is the importance of breast screening. Unfortunately, only 70% of people take up their appointment; one out of every three does not. Any time…

The Deputy certainly does not look old enough. I am going to draw on my own lived experience in relation to this because is really important. If we only take one thing away from today it is that we urge every eligible woman to attend for breast screening when they are called as the numbers are only at 70%. The last time I attended was two years ago in the summer. I remember arriving at about 11.05 a.m., five minutes late, and I apologised to the nurse on duty who told me not to worry as I was the first person to ar…

I thank Senator Cosgrove. I assure her I will bring her views on this important matter back to the Minister for Health. It is important for me to clarify for the House that the BreastCheck programme does not currently collect, record or report on breast density scores. Determining the merits or otherwise of introducing such a notification is precisely the purpose of the HTA process, which should be allowed run its course. It is under way. Population-based screening programmes are intended for individuals without sy…

As Deputies will know, I cannot talk about individual cases on the floor of the Dáil.

Sorry, but it is not an over-and-back. The most important thing we can do leaving here today is to encourage women, first and foremost, to avail of screening. Only 70% of BreastCheck screenings are accessed every year. That means two out of every three women avail of the service. We can all agree that we should leave here today trying to encourage people to avail of it. The second point is that one third of all breast cancers are detected through screening. I have a very good friend who, many years ago, went for he…

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue and for his persistent advocacy in relation to mental health. The Mental Health Act 2001 sets out the current legal framework for the involuntary admission and treatment of people in inpatient mental health services, known as approved centres, where a person has a mental disorder within the meaning of the Act. Even though I passed the Mental Health Act earlier this year through the Houses and the President signed it into law, it has not been enacted because…

The Deputy mentioned several cases that I cannot speak to individually. However, I must be crystal clear that there are absolutely no circumstances where, if a consultant psychiatrist determines that a person must be involuntarily detained against their consent for their own safety or the safety of others, there is a resource issue. That is categorically not true. If we do not have enough capacity-----

The Deputy cannot throw out statements like that, saying it is a resource issue in relation to involuntary detention.

I am sorry, but Deputy Ó Murchú must listen to the answer because we cannot just change a whole piece of legislation that has been there since 2001 for individual cases. We have to be very clear that there are huge criteria relating to how people are involuntarily detained, especially when they do not have capacity. We did not mention that today. We also did not mention the fact that, in a lot of these cases, there is a dual diagnosis of a mental disorder and drug addiction. It has to be understood that it is not d…

Perinatal mental healthcare has been transformed over the past ten years. We now have six consultant-led multidisciplinary teams in our major maternity hospitals and specialist perinatal midwives providing targeted supports in a further 13 hospitals. This means that perinatal mental health services are now available in all 19 maternity hospitals. The demand has been huge. Nearly one in five of all pregnant mothers has looked for support. Some need more support than others. In budget 2026, I funded a further consult…

Not opposed.

I move: Tuesday's business shall be: - Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions (1) (without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately) - Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions (2) (without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately) - Motion re Fifteenth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection (without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately) - Social Welfare, Civil Registration and Charities (Amendment) Bill 2026 (Second Stage) (to con…

I have heard from all the whips about the changes they would like on the Order of Business this week. We have important business on the schedule that we need to get through. As everybody watching knows, there is Government time and Opposition time. The Opposition can use its time for anything it wishes to discuss. The Order of Business stands.

No.

No.

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 5th February, 2025, or in the Order of the Dáil of 16th June, 2026, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer following those next set down to the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence, without any change to the allocation of Priority Questions: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister for Housing, …

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 5th February, 2025, or in the Order of the Dáil of 16th June, 2026, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer following those next set down to the Minister for Transport shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence, without any change to the allocation of Priority Questions: Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister for…

I move: That Dáil Éireann, pursuant to Standing Order 33, and with effect from 23rd September, 2026, approves the Fifteenth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 18th September, 2026.

If the Deputy is not present, there is nobody to ask the question.