Marie Sherlock

My question relates to Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire in Parnell Square. I ask the Taoiseach to make a personal intervention to get this building project done. This school is into its 23rd year of what was supposed to be temporary emergency accommodation. It spent a decade and a half trying to get its long-promised school project off the ground. Almost two years on from the sod being turned and two th…

I genuinely do not.

I am sorry but what is happening now?

I appreciate that but I need to hear what is happening now.

The Cabinet today approved the patient safety (licensing) Bill. It is long-awaited legislation and one we very much welcome, but will there be minimum staffing numbers in that critical legislation? The INMO has been campaigning on this for a long time. On cervical cancer, I hosted the 221+ group last week. We saw reports at the weekend that cervical screening is still failing women. Three women h…

I move amendment No. 165: In page 73, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following: “(10) Where an application is made to the District Court under subsection (1) for an order authorising the reception, detention, and care and treatment of a child in a registered acute mental health centre, the Executive shall report to the Court— (a) whether the centre concerned is age-appropriate for a child…

My thoughts are also with the loved ones of those on the flight from Ahmedabad to England. I have friends in Ahmedabad and we are very worried about them today. I also offer condolences on behalf of the Labour Party to Deputy Conway-Walsh on the loss of her mother. One of the most difficult decisions a family will ever have to take is to put a loved one into a nursing home. This decision places e…

The Tánaiste was the Minister for Health when the report of the inquiry into private nursing homes was published in 2020, with regard to the failures that happened in nursing homes. The Tánaiste was the then Minister for Health who saw those very clear recommendations, which have not been implemented. We have a plethora of reports within the Department of Health post-pandemic, mainly stemming fro…

I welcome that we are having this debate today but we should not be here. I give huge credit to the "RTÉ Investigates" team for putting together that programme. If HIQA had been doing its job, we would not have had to have it. Clare Doyle should not have had to take that enormous step on her part to tell the stories that had been relayed to her. I would argue that we need to hear more from her bec…

In the changes announced today, there is an air of desperation on the part of the Minister of State and the Government to try to drive up housing supply. By lifting the cap on rents in order to attract institutional funding, the Government is effectively condemning workers and families, in Dublin in particular, to a lifetime of astronomical rents when there are fewer and fewer options to buy. Youn…

Hear, hear.

I am sharing time with Deputies Kelly and Nash. I thank my colleague Deputy Smith for bringing this motion before the House. We have been here many times before. The reality is that we have almost 500,000 women, men and children now being starved to death in front of our eyes. Approximately 1 million more people are on the brink of starvation and, yet, there are 116,000 metric tonnes of food, mor…

There is a reality for public health patients that they have less access to lifesaving drugs compared to private patients and patients in the North, the UK and other countries. We know that only about one third of medicines approved by the EMA ever get authorisation to go on the market and onto the reimbursement lists here. An EU directive is aimed at broadening access to medicines. In recent days…

-----and why processing times are so slow. Will he commit to seriously ill people that we will ensure speed of access to medicines in this country?

It is the EU directive on medicinal products for human use.

I welcome that the O'Farrell family have finally got an apology today. Is it enough? I do not know but we all very clearly know that we are only here, 14 years on from that young man's death, because of the sheer persistence, tenacity and fight of a family. Lucia, Jim, Hannah, Gemma, Pia and Amy, you have been fobbed off and told that Shane was to blame for his own death. No family in this State s…

I welcome that we are having statements on this this evening. Although I, for one, would much rather we were talking about all the many other issues in the health service, such as the huge inequalities we see, particularly in the primary care system, we are back again talking about CHI this evening. When we look at the revelations at the weekend on top of the report last week, we are seeing anxie…

I thank Deputy O'Flynn and his group for this important motion, which raises a whole raft of really important issues with regard to care in the community and at home, and indeed for any person with care needs. While most of the conversation today is about older people, it is about care right across the ages. It is five years since the Minister of State's Government committed to a statutory right …

Ireland has one of the highest numbers of drug-induced deaths in Europe. We desperately need more services to save lives. Yesterday, the Health Research Board published numbers showing 128 people died while homeless in 2021. The overwhelming majority, almost 86%, had a history of substance misuse. There were 128 lives cut short way too early and, for the most part, that could have been prevented. …

Well, there are 100 beds.

Taoiseach-----

The vast majority of the statements here today reflect the absolute anger we all feel about the shambles in the assessment of needs. I refer to the shambles of the 529.77 whole-time equivalent unfilled posts in the CDNTs, the failure to retain staff in both primary care and the CDNTs, the reliance on private assessments because the State cannot get its act together and the devastation for parents …

This matter relates to the basic income for those involved in the arts. This is a ground-breaking scheme that threw a lifeline to 2,000 artists in 2022. I wish to get assurances from the Minister of State as to what will happen in August when the three-year lifetime of the scheme expires. Many artists are anxious about what is likely to happen. A review is under way, which is absolutely acceptable…

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive response. Notwithstanding all of the detail provided, the question still remains as to whether artists can have any assurance that the payments they receive will end in August or in December, given that the scheme is fully funded to the end of the year. When the review is complete and a decision is made, it will take time to revise some of the …

113. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health the action she has taken to ensure that community pharmacists will administer the free hormone replacement therapy, HRT, scheme from 1 June 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24511/25]