I thank Deputies across the House for their contribution to the debate. I also thank Deputy Stanley for bringing forward the motion.
As the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, announced, the Minister for Health and the Government are not opposing the motion, which provides a chance to update the Dáil on developments in this sector and to outline the Government's priority to fundamentally reform dental services.
As th…
TDs / Kieran O'Donnell
Kieran O'Donnell
Minister of State at the Department of Health and at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
113,996
words spoken in the chamber
113,996 as a minister, 0 as a TD
426
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
The record holds no parliamentary questions from them in this Dáil.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 256 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 10 |
| March 2025 | 15 |
| April 2025 | 12 |
| May 2025 | 17 |
| June 2025 | 15 |
| July 2025 | 15 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 11 |
| October 2025 | 12 |
| November 2025 | 23 |
| December 2025 | 6 |
| January 2026 | 30 |
| February 2026 | 18 |
| March 2026 | 10 |
| April 2026 | 2 |
| May 2026 | 20 |
| June 2026 | 9 |
| July 2026 | 10 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 4 |
| October 2026 | 17 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 191 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Limerick City 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister of State at the Department of Health and at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage 29 January 2025 to now
I thank Deputy Burke for raising this important matter. I know his keen interest in this area. I welcome the ESRI report on future capacity requirements in older people's care, which was published on 30 June and encompasses residential care for older people and home support. The analysis in the ESRI report utilises the Hippocrates model to update baseline estimates of demand in 2022 for residential care, both long te…
I thank Deputy Burke for raising this matter. He will be aware the ESRI health capacity review on future capacity for care for older people is the third in a series of capacity reviews on Ireland's health services, following reports on public acute hospitals and general practitioner services. The ESRI will publish further analysis later this year. I note the points that the Deputy raises in the other matters he highl…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am taking this Topical Issue debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. As the Deputy will be aware, the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation is the lead-Department on protected disclosure legislation and provides guidance on all protected disclosure processes and guidanc…
On behalf of the Minister of Health, who I am taking this on behalf of, I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter. The Department of Health encourages all staff to speak up and raise any concerns they may have relating to potential wrongdoings in the workplace.
The Department provides the necessary supports for any staff member who raises any possible wrongdoings. A staff member who makes a protected disclosu…
I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley. I was speaking to him this morning in advance of the debate. He sends his apologies. He has to attend a meeting with the UK fisheries minister this morning. He will be in direct contact with the Deputy in the coming days on the matter. I hope that provides some level of reassurance. I will deal with th…
I again thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. As I already stated, I am taking it on the behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who will be in direct contact with the Deputy in the coming days. He would like to have been here to take the debate in his capacity as the Minister of State with responsibility for this area but had a prior arrangement to meet the minister for fisheries in the UK.
Th…
I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for public expenditure and reform, Jack Chambers TD.
The community and voluntary sector plays a vital role in delivering public services across Ireland. Various organisations in the community and voluntary sector are contracted to provide services on behalf of the State and are provided with funding for thi…
I again thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. As I have stated, I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for public expenditure and reform, Deputy Chambers. Given how diligent Deputy McGrath is, I have no doubt he has already taken the matter up with the Minister. I ask him to outline the specific circumstances to the Minister directly following the debate.
As I mentioned, the community and vo…
No.
It is not being opposed.
I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"recognises that:
— a national policy on adult safeguarding will be introduced for the health and social care sector, as set out in the Programme for Government, and this policy will commit to the development of adult safeguarding legislation for the sector, including nursing homes, and will build on the range of existin…
The Deputy and I have engaged intensively at the health committee. I will go through the points she raised. With regard to the licensing, there is absolutely a lacuna there at the moment. Within a group of companies, the licensing inspection is on individual nursing homes and who they are run by, but the parent company is not under HIQA's remit. I want that to be changed. There is an acceptance in that regard.
In re…
The context here is quite simple. I always go back to the needs of older persons in nursing homes. What we saw in that programme with the residents in the nursing homes in Portlaoise and Beneavin was wanton neglect and abuse of older people. We want to look at the regulatory system and how we can improve it. All aspects will be considered. This is ultimately about improvements and ensuring that older persons have the…
I welcome that.
The Deputy should write to me about that.
I thank all the Members. Some 40 Members spoke in this debate. People were very constructive. Like everyone else, I was shocked by the programme. It was wanton neglect and abuse. I thank the Members for their very constructive engagement.
I will attempt to cover the areas that people brought up. What we saw happening on the programme was pure wanton neglect and abuse of older people. It is as simple as that. We have…
I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following:
"Dáil Éireann resolves that the Healthcare (Transparent Payments) Bill 2022 be deemed to be read a second time this day twelve months, to allow the Joint Committee on Health and the Department of Health to consider matters further.".
I acknowledge the intention behind this Bill and thank the Deputies for raising such an importan…
I welcome the opportunity to discuss nursing homes and the care of older people. To begin, I want to acknowledge the "RTÉ Investigates" programme that was broadcast on 4 June. This was a very hard-hitting and harrowing programme which highlighted a litany of poor care standards in two nursing homes, showing clear neglect and abuse of older people, namely, the Residence, Portlaoise, and Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin.
T…
I thank Deputy Ó Cearúil for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. At the outset, I should advise that the Water Services Act 2017 sets out the arrangements in place for the delivery of water and wastewater services by Uisce Éireann. The scope, prioritisation and progression of individual projects are a matter for Uisce Éi…
I thank Deputy Ó Cearúil very much. I accept the points he makes and how genuine he is in raising them and outlining the impact. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has made inquiries and was informed that there are operational challenges in the wastewater network in Celbridge, including Hazelhatch. However, under the national leakage reduction programme, Uisce Éireann is progressing with the replacement of 5.2 km of old wa…
I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dail Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— the Government aims to minimise the level of vacancy in every local authority area, and this is reflected in a decade of Exchequer investment in addressing long term vacancy, while acknowledging that there will always be a level of vacancy in the system, as tenancies end for various reasons and homes are p…
The message must go out loud and clear to local authorities that they should come forward with those additional voids and the Department will look at providing funding.
I thank all Deputies who contributed thus far to the debate on this motion. I commend the amendment to the House.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. I will provide some background and then address the Deputy's question.
Fezolinetant, marketed under the trade name Veoza by Astellas Pharma is a medicine used to treat moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats associated with menopause. The European Medicines Ag…
I once again thank the Deputy for his interest in this important area. I will bring his comments to the attention of the Minister for Health and the officials in the Department. As the initial reply stated, the next step in the agreed process is for the applicant company to submit a full HTA dossier to the NCPE. To date, a full HTA dossier has not been received by the NCPE, which awaits that submission from the appli…