I thank the Deputy very much. I agree with him. I do not accept that either. We are a nation whose population deserves rapid access to these medicines. We have to strike a balance. We hear advocacy from the pharmaceutical industry regularly citing lengths of time. It has a particular view. Obviously, it wants Ireland to spend as much money as quickly as possible on its products. When I talk to people working within the service, the view is more nuanced. They say Ireland does quite well in accessing some drugs, and …

I will ask the Department to revert to the Deputy with a detailed note on the full process involved in the health technology assessments because there are various parts to them. What I can say is that for this coming year there are going to be some important improvements. One is that we are going to have a medicines tracker for the first time. This is something that Rare Diseases Ireland, patient groups and the industry have asked for. They say that at a minimum we need to know where the medicine is in the process.…

I thank the Deputy very much. I put women's healthcare services front and centre in this Government in terms of investment and expansion. I believe we have to make up for many decades of lack of investment. The House broadly agrees that thanks to the work of our healthcare workers there has been important progress over the past three years. We will launch a new women's health action plan later on this year for the next two years. The first two years – 2022 and 2023 - are done. Specifically in response to the Deputy…

I cannot comment on the individual case. I am not familiar with it. However, as the Deputy referenced, there was an incident in June 2022 when the HSE notified my Department of a maternal death in the mid-west following a home birth. At that time those services were then stopped. A review is being commissioned, which needs to happen quickly. I discussed this with a group of very experienced midwives who made the following point on exactly this to me: they said there are also maternal deaths in acute settings and we…

We have discussed the issue of homebirth and we need an answer to this that works for women in terms of choice and safety. While that is being progressed, significant improvements are happening across maternity care. Through the strategy we have hired an additional 465 staff who were very badly needed and who are making a big difference. I have been in many of the maternity units and I have seen the upgrades to the birthing suites. There are pools there now, for example. The midwives are saying that things that mig…

Not for a moment am I going to downplay the real pressures in too many of our hospitals for too many of our patients in accident and emergency departments. However, it is really important that as an Oireachtas we acknowledge the progress our healthcare workers are making. I can tell the Deputy, and I know he will have seen this himself from talking to them, they are working so hard to bring down the number of patients on trolleys in every hospital. There has been a national response to this situation. Looking at th…

There are two things I would like to say on this. I am fully in agreement with the Deputy on the cases in which people do not get the care they need. That can lead to catastrophic outcomes. A recent example is the report into the tragic death of Aoife Johnston in Limerick. Unfortunately, these things do happen. Sometimes they may be preventable and sometimes they may not but we have to do everything we can. I fully agree with the Deputy that there are too many incidences of people not getting the care they need as …

Let us talk about what is actually happening here. In the lifetime of this Government, more than 1,100 beds, approximately 1,000 consultants and 25,000 healthcare professionals have been added to our health service. We are by no means where we want to be as regards everyone getting the right care at the right time but it is absolutely and undeniably the case that this Government has invested in our healthcare service, has grown it and is reforming it at a level we would have to go back quite a long way to see. Of c…

I am pleased to introduce the Bill to the Seanad. As colleagues will be aware, the Bill passed all Stages in Dáil Éireann with broad support and today I am presenting it to the Seanad for consideration. In doing so, I am cognisant that this issue is not new to this House and that legislation with a similar purpose and intent was passed by the House in April of last year. In this respect I acknowledge the contributions of Senators and Together for Safety for their work in this area. It is evident that this Bill buil…

I thank colleagues for their contributions to this Second Stage debate. I am aware that this is an issue close to the hearts of Senators and the Seanad has played a leading in this through the cross-party sponsorship of a previous Bill. I also recognise the civil society work done to date on this by Together for Safety. It has played a really important role getting us to where we are today. I also recognise that there are diverse views on this issue and it is essential that we have an open debate, that we listen to…

I agree with the premise of Deputy Cullinane's question, which is that more capacity has been required. As the Deputy will be aware, we have added more beds, more hospital-based staff, including clinicians and non-clinicians, and more community-based resources than ever. There has been an unprecedented expansion of capacity. The second part of this, though, is that while that additional capacity is required, in reality some parts of the health service are being run more productively for patient outcomes than others…

-----there has ever been. The corollary to that is we must see increases in productivity and consistent-----

-----use of good practice in all our hospitals across the country.

I thank the Senators O'Reilly and Garvey for tabling the motion. I have to say I was very interested in it when I saw it. I was not familiar with the therapy and took the opportunity to look into it. It is impressive; there is no question about that. The unfortunate reality for all of us is that an awful lot of people in our country will interact with our cancer services, either directly as a patient or as a friend or family. We are blessed with very good cancer services in this country and I will speak about them …

No, it is not. That is absolutely not the case.

I thank the Deputy. This is an issue she and I have been involved with in the past. We once faced a situation where constituents were telling me, and no doubt were telling her too, that from Wicklow town, through Greystones and to Bray, they were unable to access a GP, whether as a private patient or a general medical services, GMS, patient. It is an issue around the country and is worse in some places than others. It is difficult in some parts of Dublin and in rural areas. We are in the middle of a large expansion…

I thank the Deputy and fully agree with the sentiment that these are valued and essential healthcare workers in our system. It is why in the lifetime of this Government we have had an unprecedented increase in management and administrative grades. The Deputy will be aware that the management and administrative workforce has gone from 18,000 to 24,000 in the lifetime of this Government. We have invested at a level that has never before been seen. When all of those funded posts were filled, as is the case with every …

I thank the Deputy. We are aware there are many groups representing victims and many Members of this House, including the Deputy, have called for the Government to initiate this interstate case on the Northern Ireland legacy Act before the European Court of Human Rights. The Government has received legal advice on the matter from the Attorney General and is considering next steps. We are fully aware the initiation of an interstate case would be a significant step and would have to be taken on solid grounds. It is n…

I take that point.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. I share his sentiments in respect of these awful situations where parents have lost babies. I am unaware of the correspondence from Safe Births Ireland but I would be happy to look at it and revert to the Deputy.