I thank Deputy Pringle for raising the issue. It is undoubtedly the case that gardaí need to be able to access expert medical help if they are dealing with somebody who has severe mental health issues. As Deputy Pringle is aware, we are in the middle of a significant investment in primary care in Donegal, including multiple primary care centres and enhanced community care teams throughout the county. I will be in the county shortly to open the latest facility. Specific to the question Deputy Pringle has raised, I w…

I thank Deputy Griffin very much for raising the issue. We are fully in support of a preventative approach, as the Deputy set out. I will pick it up with the Department and see where it is at in terms of whether the company has applied, whether the health technology assessment has been done and the view of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics on whether those things have been done in terms of funding and I will ask it to revert directly to the Deputy.

It is a matter of policy within our health service and many health services around the world that during the winter surge, you prioritise people coming into the emergency department over scheduled care. It is a normal way to balance the capacity we have available and to prioritise emergency department attendances and admissions. It is done in Connolly Hospital and in hospitals around the country. It is done in hospitals around the world.

That is the first part of it. The second part of it is that the Deputy is right and the staff are right to call for more capacity. We have added 1,100 extra beds and 26,000 extra staff. Thanks to the great efforts of those staff, including, undoubtedly, the staff member referred to by the Deputy, the waiting lists are falling now. They have fallen for two years in a row, and they will fall again this year. The number of patients on trolleys is falling as well. I am not, though, for a moment, suggesting we are where…

There are several more years to go. Thanks to the work of our healthcare workers, however, we are now clearly moving in a better direction.

I thank the Deputy. I have to say this is news to me. I am meeting representatives of the ICGP here in about two and a half hours. I have also spoken to them on the phone regarding this scheme in respect of deploying GPs to the Iveragh Peninsula and around the country, so there has never been any question about the lack of funding. In fact, my ask of the ICGP will be to see if we can go from having 150 people on this training scheme to having 300 or 400 people participating. It is a very successful scheme in respec…

Since the start of the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine and the increase in the number of those seeking international protection, the Government has responded with a wide range of measures. I will address the healthcare measures. The Department of Health and the HSE have been at the forefront in the provision of services for all eligible arrivals. The HSE has developed a refugee and migrant health model to provide a flexible local healthcare response to address the unmet needs of the almost 132,000 new a…

I move amendment No. 1: to delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: "Dáil Éireann resolves that the Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill 2023 be deemed to be read a second time this day nine months, so as to allow sufficient time for commencement of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022, in line with the principles of this Bill.”. I welcome this evening's debate on this Private Members' Bill. I would like to start by thanking Deputy Bacik and the Labour Party for their …

My officials are working with their counterparts in the Departments of Justice and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, as well as the Office of the Attorney General, on further possible amendments. We are examining bringing forward additional amendments on Report Stage in this House in respect of donor-assisted human reproduction procedures which take place abroad, and parentage in circumstances where a donor-conceived child has been born abroad. Again, these are core things that were asked for b…

It took a huge effort and nearly two years for us to make the changes to the children and family relationships legislation, the original AHR Bill and the international surrogacy provisions just to get everything through Government. I want to make sure that the Bill before the select committee passes all Stages and is signed by the President before the election. As we all know, when an election comes, Bills that are working their way through the Houses fall. We want to provide certainty. One of the pieces that for m…

I thank the Deputy. If she provides me with the details I will look into the matter and revert to the Department and the HSE in respect of it. What I would say to those who are managing diabetes is that there is ongoing significant and important investment. We are all aware that is one of the chronic disease management pathways in respect of which GPs are being supported. We are investing this year in creating a diabetes patient register. The Deputy will be aware that we are rolling out a new service for gestationa…

We are very aware of the ongoing situation in Limerick in terms of the number of patients on trolleys. It is important to note that the chief executive expedited the appointment of the regional executive officer. I know first hand that she is on the ground and that things are moving better. I have spoken to her about the improved patient flow. One of the things people will now see in daily reporting is fewer patients on trolleys in the emergency department and more patients up the house in the wards. That is still …

I will revert to the Deputy.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that he has raised this with me previously to seek additional interns or, indeed, an intern allocation for this year. I have looked into the matter. The good news, as the Deputy will be aware, is that Cavan-Monaghan hospital has had a very significant increase in budget, in staffing and in physical capacity and infrastructure. The Deputy should rest assured that the Government will continue to invest in Cavan and Monaghan hospitals. I have asked the Departmen…

I thank Deputy Cullinane for the question and his very appropriate ongoing agitation or advocacy for more beds. It is well established and, I think, agreed by all of us that there has been a significant deficit in the number of acute, high-dependency and critical care beds in the system. Since the start of 2020, as the Deputy will be aware, we have been in the process of adding a very significant number of beds. The latest numbers show that since the start of January, we have added 1,126 more hospital beds, a very …

Important progress has been made on the 1,500 beds. We are looking at a modular approach and rapid-build technologies, which can cut several years off these projects. Typically, these come in blocks of 24 beds, as do the traditional builds. The Deputy will have seen that they come in blocks of 24 and 48 beds, up to 96 beds, and they come faster. We are looking at them for a number of sites around the country. We have a provisional allocation as regards where we would like to see them in order to provide maximum val…

That is exactly what we want to do. We want to move forward with this as quickly as possible. I am not familiar with the figure of 700 beds but I will check with the officials as regards the thinking behind it. The Deputy and I are in agreement on the need for more beds. Many beds have been delivered but we want to deliver many more. If we get agreement on providing all 1,500 beds, on the basis that 147 will be provided this year and in excess of 300 more are in the pipeline, there will be close to 500 in the pipel…

I thank the Deputy for the question, which is on a matter that is very close to my heart. The advancement of cancer services for patients in Ireland is a priority for me and the Government. The Deputy will be aware that we allocated €40 million to the national cancer strategy. That money has been put to very good use by our healthcare workers. We have hired nearly 400 additional staff with that funding, including more than 140 nurses and 40 consultants. We also allocated €30 million to new cancer drugs in that peri…

The €40 million was provided for 2021 and 2022, not since 2017. Those were the first two budgets of this Government. I asked exactly the same question the Deputy raised - namely, what is the full amount of funding sought under the national cancer strategy? The answer I was given was €20 million. In budget 2021, I allocated the full €20 million and a lot of money for new medicines. In 2022, I allocated a further €20 million, so that was €40 million for 2021 and 2022. The HSE was not able to use the full €20 million …

I would look forward to that. For years the Irish Cancer Society advocated for the abolition of inpatient hospital charges. We delivered that last year and the Irish Cancer Society deserves great credit for it. Many of the groups argue that we need quicker access. I am pleased to note that due to the investment in 2021, 2022 and 2023, waiting times are down across the board. Waiting times for patients are down across the rapid access clinics for breast, lung and prostate, which is a great testament to the work bein…