Ken O'Flynn

1827. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the mechanisms in place to monitor and enforce compliance with animal welfare standards in relation to exotic pets, including inspections, licensing, and penalties; and the number of enforcement actions taken in each of the past five years. [75301/25]

1828. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the oversight which exists in respect of the sale of exotic animals through online platforms, pet shops, and private breeders; and whether he plans to strengthen regulation in this area to address animal welfare and consumer protection concerns. [75302/25]

1829. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine whether his Department has conducted or commissioned any risk assessments regarding public health, zoonotic disease, or environmental risks associated with the private ownership of exotic pets; and if so, to provide details of same. [75303/25]

1830. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has assessed the availability of suitably qualified veterinary and animal welfare expertise to deal with exotic species in Ireland, including in cases of abandonment or seizure; and whether gaps have been identified. [75304/25]

1831. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will commit to a formal review of Ireland’s approach to regulating exotic pets, including consultation with veterinary bodies, animal welfare organisations, and public health authorities; and the timeframe for same. [75305/25]

1908. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the longest period of time, in years, that any child has spent in State care since the establishment of Tusla in 2014; and to provide the year in which that duration was recorded, in aggregate form and without reference to any individual case. [74387/25]

1909. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently in State care who have remained continuously in care for more than 10 years, more than 15 years, and more than 18 years respectively; and to outline how these figures have changed in each year since 2015. [74388/25]

1910. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the statutory, regulatory, or administrative timeframes apply to permanency planning for children in long-term State care; and whether any mandatory escalation, review, or senior-level oversight is triggered once a child exceeds a defined duration in care. [74389/25]

1911. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department monitors compliance with permanency planning timelines within Tusla at a national level; if so, the performance indicators used; and how breaches of those timelines are addressed as a matter of governance and accountability. [74390/25]

1912. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has considered the introduction of statutory maximum periods within which a permanency decision must be made for a child in State care, subject to exceptional judicial review; and if not, to outline the policy rationale for the absence of such limits. [74391/25]

1913. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in respect of services funded by her Department, the governance and oversight arrangements that apply where internal investigations are carried out into the handling of cash or vouchers; the number of such investigations initiated between 2018 and 2024; whether each investigation resulted in a written report or assurance being furnished to the Department or to Tusla, or the HSE, as appropriate; if any findings of non-compliance, control failure, or breach of financial procedures were identified; if any disciplinary or managerial actions were taken arising from those investigations, including removals from post; and the measures her Department has taken to ensure that robust financial controls, audit trails, and safeguarding arrangements are in place across all funded services. [74404/25]

1918. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 464 of 27 November 2025, if the investigation referred to by the Regional Chief Officer in relation to the handling of cash, or vouchers between 2018 and 2024 was a criminal investigation involving An Garda Síochána, or an internal administrative investigation only; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [74499/25]

2074. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has issued any written guidance, directions, circulars, or instructions to the HSE since 2018 concerning the automatic approval of gender-affirming surgical procedures under the treatment abroad scheme; and if not, how ministerial oversight is exercised over approvals that carry significant and rising Exchequer cost. [74020/25]

2075. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to set out, in respect of the years 2015 to 2019 inclusive, the total annual expenditure incurred by the HSE on gender-affirming surgical procedures funded under the treatment abroad scheme; the number of patients funded in each year; the average cost per patient in each year; the highest and lowest amounts reimbursed per patient in each year; and whether her Department holds any records of projected or estimated expenditure for such procedures during that period. [74028/25]

2080. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 905 of 9 December 2025, if her Department receives, holds, or reviews data from the primary care reimbursement service on medical card eligibility decisions where discretion is exercised following a means assessment; the number of such discretionary eligibility decisions made in respect of persons aged over 70 in each of the years 2020 to 2025; the number of cases in which discretionary eligibility was refused following assessment in each year; and the arrangements in place within the Department to monitor trends, consistency, and outcomes in the exercise of discretion for older persons under the general medical services scheme. [74068/25]

2161. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the national datasets her Department requires for governance, planning, financial control, and performance oversight of all services funded under the health vote, for each dataset, whether it is currently fully operational, partially operational, or not in place; the legislative, policy, or administrative basis on which each dataset is required; and the timeline by which her Department expects full national data coverage to be in place across the health system, in tabular form. [74392/25]

2162. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if her Department has approved a national set of key performance indicators for monitoring recruitment activity, vacancy levels, clearance timelines, and the delivery of development posts across services funded under the Health Vote; if so, to list those KPIs and the date on which they were approved; if not, to state the reason such KPIs have not been approved, given the scale of the staffing and pay envelope; and the date by which full national KPI reporting will be operational and routinely available to her Department. [74393/25]

2163. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the controls used by her Department to oversee the staffing and pay envelope funded under the Health Vote pending the full rollout of the national integrated staff records and pay system; the proportion of the HSE workforce currently covered by that system; the projected completion date for national rollout; and whether her Department has identified any financial or governance risks arising from the absence of a fully integrated national staffing and pay dataset. [74394/25]

2164. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if her Department estimates the annual cost to the Health Vote arising from delayed transfers of care linked to housing shortages; the methodology used by her Department to calculate bed-day costs associated with delayed discharges; if such costs are reported to her Department on a routine basis; and the date by which she intends to introduce regular national cost reporting for delayed transfers of care. [74395/25]

2165. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the governance and policy framework approved by her Department for gender identity services for children and young people; the date of the most recent Departmental review of that framework; the role of her Department in setting safeguarding and clinical governance standards for these services; and how compliance with those standards is monitored at national level. [74396/25]

2166. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the national datasets her Department requires for planning, oversight, and safeguarding of gender identity services for minors, including referral volumes, diagnostic profiles, and treatment pathways; which of those datasets are not currently in place; and the timeline for establishing a national dataset aligned with evidence-based clinical governance standards. [74397/25]

2167. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health her Department’s policy for evaluating international clinical guidance prior to alignment with national healthcare frameworks; the assessments carried out by her Department on the WPATH Standards of Care between 2018 and 2023; and the timeline for completing a formal review of those standards in light of the Cass Review. [74398/25]

2168. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the national reporting requirements approved by her Department for waiting times in publicly funded addiction services; the reason a comprehensive national waiting-time dataset is not currently available; and the timeline for introducing full national reporting of assessment and treatment waiting times. [74399/25]

2169. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if her Department has adopted any population-based workforce planning benchmark or consultant-to-patient ratio for the provision of chronic pain services; if so, to specify the benchmark applied; and if not, to explain how the adequacy of current consultant capacity is assessed for governance and service planning purposes. [74400/25]

2170. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the average waiting time, by hospital group, for a first outpatient assessment in publicly funded chronic pain services at the end of Q4 2025; the longest waiting time recorded nationally; and the number of patients waiting longer than six months and longer than twelve months for an initial appointment. [74401/25]