The Deputy's final point is very important. Have we systematically looked at what did and did not work and made decisions to improve protections? The answer is that we have. The expert nursing home group was put in place and came back with some very comprehensive recommendations. There has been full support from the Government and a lot of investment through the budgets. Those recommendations have been rolled out at pace and have made, and continue to make, a big difference in providing the best possible protection…

Your solution is a blank cheque to the energy companies.

Even Downing Street-----

-----has walked away from the Sinn Féin solution, which is a blank cheque to the energy companies. We will help the people, not the energy companies.

Even Downing Street has walked away from it.

Our thoughts are with the gentleman and his family. I will talk directly to the HSE. I am not sure whether the treatment abroad scheme is the mechanism required. It may well be but we will certainly consider any and all routes available.

I thank the Deputy for raising the point. The short answer is "Yes". We are expanding cancer screening services right across the board, including breast cancer. The Deputy will be aware that I have allocated money specifically in the budget for next year to expand it. The other initiative that is happening, which will be useful, is that we have just launched a new national genetics and genomics strategy so all of the screening and genetics work will work together in line with significant ongoing funding for the nat…

As the Deputy will be aware, funding for various services for children is in place. I have raised the case she highlighted with the HSE and I believe the Department has responded to her. It is an ongoing case. I will receive an update in approximately two hours and we will revert to her on it.

No, it is not.

More than 124,000 people have received the bonus, which is welcome. However, I am not satisfied on two fronts. First, the Defence Forces, the fire brigade and prison nurses have yet to be paid. I have instructed the Department of Health to take that back from the HSE and expedite that payment in the coming weeks. Second, the HSE is nervous of making payments and overpayments to section 39 and private organisations. I am seeking for them to move to a self-assessment model where each of these organisations will itsel…

The €100 million fund, as the Deputy is aware, is being allocated to section 39 organisations and others, including nursing homes, specifically to address the issues the Deputy has just raised. It is for additional costs, for example, driving patients from home to clinical settings. I cannot comment on the individual organisation just yet. If Deputy Murphy sends me a note on it, I will ask the Department and the HSE to take a look. On the broader question of whether the €100 million fund be used for issues such as …

I begin by acknowledging and paying tribute to the vital role community and voluntary organisations play right across the country. I pay tribute to our guests from the community and voluntary sector and acknowledge the extraordinary work they do. The work carried out by these organisations and by the people who work for and make up these organisations has a hugely beneficial impact on so many people. As the Deputies have said, these are very often the most vulnerable people in our society and communities. The servi…

Yesterday we announced a health budget of €23.4 billion for 2023. This represents an additional €1.1 billion in current expenditure and €117 million in capital expenditure. It includes over €250 million for new measures, bringing the core health funding to over €22.5 billion. It includes a one-off allocation of €757 million to deal with Covid-19 and its ongoing impact and the damage it has done to public health and our healthcare system. This investment shows the Government is fully committed to delivering on the v…

I move: (1) THAT for the purposes of the tax charged by virtue of section 72 of the Finance Act 2005 (No. 5 of 2005), that Act be amended, with effect as on and from 28 September 2022, by substituting the following for Schedule 2 to that Act (as amended by section 40 of the Finance Act 2021 (No. 45 of 2021)): “SCHEDULE 2 RATES OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TAX (With effect as on and from 28 September 2022) (2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect u…

I thank the Deputies. Some important points have been raised. I might ask the Department to revert to the Deputies with briefing notes. There are some good data on why this is important. I thank the Joint Committee on Health for its recently published pre-legislative scrutiny report on the vaping Bill. We will look to progress that soon too.

I move: (1) THAT for the purposes of the tax charged by virtue of subsection (4) of section 78 of the Finance Act 1980 (No. 14 of 1980)(as amended by section 240 and Part 3 of Schedule 5 to the Finance Act 2001 (No. 7 of 2001)), that subsection be amended, with effect as on and from 28 September 2022, by the substitution of “€55” for “€110”. (2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Tax…

I thank the Deputy and the committee for doing what was a very thoughtful and useful piece of work. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and I have gone through the committee recommendations in detail. We have paused the AHR Bill. We need that Bill and it is very important, but I would like to include whatever is agreed on Committee Stage in it. The Bill will require significant amendments on Committee Stage. That is what …

There are three groups of people involved and I am not satisfied with the progress regarding the group whose payments are still outstanding. The vast majority of people working within the public system have now been paid. I believe the figure is 97% or higher. There is another group of people comprising non-HSE staff. This group includes Defence Forces and fire brigade personnel and others and needs to be paid as a matter of priority. There is then a third group comprising private sector workers. The HSE has a genu…

May I just finish on this? I have asked the HSE to turn it the other way, that is, to have the private nursing homes assess themselves, to make the payments and to then carry out an audit to make sure the payments were correct.

As I said earlier, I am not satisfied with the rate at which this payment is being rolled out to staff in nursing homes. I have asked for it to be prioritised for the Defence Forces, the fire brigade and other public sector workers but also for those who worked in the nursing homes. The HSE is concerned because it does not have the level of transparency over these private businesses that it has over community organisations. I have asked for a self-assessment approach whereby the money will be paid out but then, cri…