This is an issue on which the Department has been engaged closely with the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA. The authority is broadly satisfied that where there are shortages, there are substitutes available, as per the two examples the Deputy just provided. If the Deputy would like to send me on the details with regard to medical cards covering what the doctor has prescribed as well as generic substitutes, I will certainly ask the Department to get back to her with a detailed response.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." It gives me great pleasure to introduce the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022 to the Dáil. It is important landmark legislation and includes provisions around organ donation and transplantation, post-mortem practice and procedures, anatomical examination and public display of bodies after death. Crucially, this Bill will embed in law the concept that consent, where appropriate, is the defining principle…

I thank colleagues for their support for the Bill. It is great to see such a strong signal coming from Dáil Éireann and that there is cross-party support for the Bill. I thank Deputies for this constructive debate. Many good ideas have been raised, as have many reasonable questions, and I will try to cover some of them in the few minutes remaining. I echo the comments of Deputy Joan Collins, in that we are focusing on the great benefits for many patients who are waiting for organs. However, it is important to ackno…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Health pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 181(1).

I thank the Deputies for tabling this constructive motion. I have taken on board the points that have been made. I acknowledge that many Deputies in the House have raised this issue. It is one of which I am very aware and one on which were taking a lot of action. We all want to see more happen as quickly as possible. I want to lay out some of the actions we are taking. I acknowledge that for too many people this has become very urgent. We know many dentists have left the treatment scheme. I will cover the various a…

I move amendment No. 3: To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "recognises that: - this Government has delivered record funding to permanently increase capacity in our health service, with the Health Vote over €24 billion for 2023 up from €14.8 billion in 2018, and this is the largest allocation ever for the Department of Health; - since 1st January, 2020, 970 new acute hospital beds and 365 community beds have opened; - 65 additional critical care beds have opened since early 2…

What hospital was this?

I appointed him.

I am listening to him.

They are nurses.

I will speak on a point of information. With respect, regardless of the Deputy's views, many of which I understand are aired on social media, he is in here under privilege calling directly for the resignation of a public servant-----

-----who has no platform such as this to defend herself. I ask the Deputy, as Minister, to stop and to withdraw his request. By all means, he may criticise me or Government but I ask him, please, not to single out individual workers within the HSE of whom he may have a view. I ask him to stop calling for people to resign when speaking under privilege and to withdraw his request. By all means, he may continue with criticisms of me, Government or Ministers. However, the Deputy is referring to an identifiable individu…

He or she is.

About the individual.

I can confirm there is no link between the release of the €65 million to the disability sector and the transfer of functions. It is with the HSE at the moment. I have signed off on the approach. The HSE is now calculating the exact amounts for each of those organisations. I expect to have a detailed response from the HSE shortly. We will then communicate with each of the organisations as to the amounts they will get.

I saw the report. We are acutely aware of the costs for cancer patients and indeed for patients across the country. We have taken numerous steps. We reduced the threshold for the drug payment scheme from €114 to €80, we abolished pediatric hospital charges and we will abolish adult hospital charges now. In the next few months, we will be issuing GP cards to an additional 500,000 men, women and children. We will continue with the relentless focus on reducing costs for patients right across the board. In regard to th…

My view on this is the same as the Deputy’s, which is that these 35 children should have been given this drug at the same time as everybody else. It is very clear. I met my Dutch counterpart in Brussels last weekend and we discussed CF drugs and this very company. It is not just in Ireland that this behaviour is being seen. The Deputy will be aware of a very strongly worded letter which issued from the consultants and of their views on how this company was behaving. We need to get this drug for these 35 children as…

That is not a situation that anybody would want to find themselves in. If the Deputy sends me on the details, I will certainly take it up with the HSE and see where that is. My understanding is they need home nursing rather than home care in order to provide medical care at home. I might talk to the Deputy further about that.

We are very aware there are far too many children who are still waiting. Considerable progress was made in reducing the numbers waiting from more than 70,000 down to the low 50,000s. Unfortunately, the HSE is complying with a court ruling around assessment of need, which means that progress has stopped for now, and we are aware that a great amount of resources, unfortunately, had been pulled into the assessment of need area. These resources, from a policy perspective, should be deployed in treating the children the…

I thank the Deputy. As she will be aware, we allocated a great deal of money into the scheme. We have significantly increased the fees this year. The reality is the dentists themselves are withdrawing from the scheme. We can only presume that is because they make more money from private practice than they make from treating the public patients.