I would be delighted to join the Deputy in Youghal and very happy to look at the site. The ambulance service is working with HSE estates to identify an interim solution for 2025 because we want this up and running. That is good news because it means the HSE can begin hiring the staff. We have a preferred site, St. Raphael's, and there is a final process and work that goes on; however, critically, the ambulance service wants to move with an interim solution right away. In the budget this week, I allocated an additio…

I think we are good.

I am going to talk about the health budget obviously. This year's health budget is about more services and faster access for patients, more capacity and urgent reform. The total health budget for next year is a record €25.8 billion, representing an increase of nearly €3 billion on 2024. In addition to this extra €3 billion, over €900 million of one-off funding from previous years has now been agreed as recurrent funding. New measures in this budget total €335 million. This funding is very welcome and much needed to…

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 2 October 2024, by substituting the following for Schedule 2 to that Act (as amended by section 53 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2023 (No. 39 of 2023)): “SCHEDULE 2 RATES OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TAX (With effect as on and from 2 October 2024) ". (2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory eff…

Financial Resolution No. 1 provides for the excise duty increases on tobacco products with effect from midnight tonight. The increase amounts to €1, inclusive of VAT, on a packet of 20 cigarettes in the most popular price category, together with pro rata increases for other tobacco products. The price of a packet of 20 cigarettes in the most popular category, assuming the full increase is passed through to the final retail price, will increase to €18.05. The excise duty component of this will be €10.89 and the tota…

A Cheann Comhairle, can I get your guidance? Will I speak to Financial Resolution No. 2 in the time remaining?

I know-----

I thank Deputies. I appreciate that it is an imposition on those who already smoke and who have an addiction. One of the things we are doing is increasing the supports to help people stop. For example, nicotine replacement patches have been made free of charge. There is progress being made. I appreciate that it is a burden. Ultimately, however, the biggest burden for anybody is to be caught by these tobacco companies and to be addicted. We know and we have very strong evidence that price is linked to reducing the p…

I move: (1) THAT the rate of value-added tax chargeable on the supply of electricity provided for by section 46(1)(caa) of, and paragraph 17(2) of Schedule 3 to, the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 (No. 31 of 2010) and the supply of gas provided for by section 46(1)(caa) of, and paragraph 17(3) of Schedule 3 to, that Act, being 9 per cent until 31 October 2024, be extended until 30 April 2025 and that section 46(1)(caa) of that Act be amended accordingly. (2) THAT this Resolution shall have effect on and fro…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am very pleased to be here this afternoon to introduce the Health Information Bill 2024 to Dáil Éireann. The Bill may be very technical in nature. It is, however, a landmark piece of legislation and it is going to help transform the services that are provided to patients. This Bill is the legal foundation for one of the most important health reforms in years: a digital health service. I wish to take a moment to thank officials for getting us to this point. This i…

I welcome our distinguished guests as well. It is a great honour to have you all here.

Part 2 of the Bill provides for the duty to share and contains sections 7 to 9, inclusive. Section 7 places a statutory duty on health service providers to share personal health data with other health services providers for the purposes of patient care and treatment. In keeping with data protection principles, such sharing must be necessary, relevant and proportionate. Section 8 introduces a legal obligation on health services providers to forward a patient's personal health data to another health services provider…

I thank the Deputies opposite for tabling tonight's motion. It provides a welcome and much-needed opportunity to discuss the additional capacity and reforms that are needed in the mid-west region to provide people with something they do not currently have and that they must have, which is a well-functioning emergency department and timely access to emergency and urgent care. It is every parent's worst nightmare to lose a child. That nightmare was compounded for Carol and James, parents to Aoife Johnston, who watche…

I said end of Quarter 1.

I will check.

I thank the Senator both for the amendments she tabled and her very considered contribution on what she is trying to achieve. I will not accept the amendments and will explain why. However, I fully agree with her healthcare objective, which is to make sure that people who are in addiction and need opioid substitution treatments can get them in as easy a way as possible. It is interesting that the note I got from the Department indicates it did quite a bit of work in preparation for today. I have been reading throug…

I thank the Senator. I see three layers to this. The first is the pharmacist using it himself or herself. If someone overdoses on the street, can a pharmacist go out to them and use naloxone? As the Senator said, that is already catered for and we already have provision to allow that to happen, subject to the pharmacist getting the appropriate training. I would certainly be more than happy to engage with the Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, the professional body, so more pharmacists get that training. There is a second l…

I thank the Senator for her amendment and her contribution. The good news is this is the Bill that creates what we were calling the minor ailments scheme and are now calling common conditions, with those requirements to be set out in secondary legislation. As to the report on how this scheme might work, we will not need the amendment the Senator has tabled because this is the enabling legislation. There are a few things happening. One is the expert group is finalising its work. It will be making recommendations whi…

I thank colleagues for their support in passing the Bill. As they have said, it does a number of important things. It provides an income disregard of €14,000 from medical assessment for anyone who wants to use the rent-a-room scheme so that should increase, maybe in a modest way, the provision of those who want to rent out their rooms, which we all know will help. The Bill also makes it easier for medicine substitution. It will give end-to-end oversight of where there are blockages and shortages, which is something…

They did get responses.