Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Did the Deputy not hear what I said?

No, it was not.

Sorry, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, this has gone too far.

It is not accurate in any sense.

That is true, but that is just not accurate.

Withdraw what?

It is a basic set of facts.

I sincerely thank Deputies from the Labour Party for raising this important issue. It is an area on which I and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, are placing a strong and deliberate focus. As I listen to Deputies from the Labour Party going back over the history of this, I recall that they did so in partnership with Fine Gael and that we stood together to introduce many important social change…

All I can say is we are in the process of looking at that. I do not want to say something that is wrong. I need to double-check, and I will correct what I say if necessary, but we are very much in the process of examining the safety, application and reimbursement process for the drug. That is the direction of it. I do not have my note to hand and if I am wrong on this, I will correct the record. H…

I move: That Section 125A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999) be amended, in subsection (1), to provide for the specified rate of stamp duty in respect of an insured person in respect of relevant contracts renewed or entered into on or after 1st January, 2026, and on or before 31st March, 2026, and on or after 1st April, 2026, in the manner and to the extent specified in t…

I thank the Deputy for the proposed amendment. The issue of reducing private income in public hospitals is one on which he and I agree. Indeed, we discussed it during the recent debate on the Estimates at the Oireachtas select committee. It is particularly pertinent given that this is the year it really kicks in. We have reached a critical mass of consultants on the public-only consultant contract…

Funding of €27.4 billion, as the Deputy knows, has been allocated to the health service for 2026, an increase of 6.2%. Next year a new approach is being taken to funding allocation with health budgets being devolved to the HSE regions, giving them greater autonomy to meet local needs while holding them accountable for ambitious targets and national standards. The National Cancer Control Programme…

We are talking about services that go beyond the cancer strategy. The Deputy correctly identified regional gaps that need to be filled by the regions, particularly where they are not meeting their targets or the same standard as other parts of the country. For example, this week, I was in Bantry, where there are two endoscopy suites, which are really important for bowel cancer and gastric cancers …

That is absolutely fair enough, except that this will happen under this service plan. On new money, we have additional money for new drugs, for example, in the drugs budget. We have an additional 3,300 people, which at a cost of €90,000 is all new money. They are all people who can be allocated not just to people with cancer, but people who have cancer with other things. This is the new money and …

I thank the Deputy for raising this with me again. We should always acknowledge the extraordinary role, as the Deputy has done, of our healthcare workers and the role they played during the pandemic. They went far beyond the call of duty. Treating Covid in a front-line way at that time was an exceptional thing to do. In recognition of that, especially from 2020, a temporary special scheme was int…

I appreciate what the Deputy is saying. I will make a couple of points in response. The public health sector recognised the risk that staff faced and because of that introduced a scheme that no other sector had. It was appropriate that it did, but it is important to state that so people have a full understanding of what was done. Eligible healthcare workers have had full pay for five years, which…

I recognise the sufferers of long Covid and the change for 159 people who have been receiving full pay and are going onto a different scheme. While there are supports available on that scheme and its duration is also considerable, it is a change and I recognise that. My Department has championed the extension of that scheme, which enabled them to have full pay for as long as they did, on a number …

Waiting times for radiology and diagnostic services have been an issue for some time and the Government committed to the implementation of the Sláintecare report of 2017, which included a maximum wait time target of ten days for a diagnostic test. A key step to achieving that is fully understanding the current position. Implementation of the NTPF’s national radiology diagnostic waiting list manage…

I completely agree with the Deputy. Looking at the number of diagnostic scanners and machines in public systems, we have 550 scanners of different forms, including 62 CT scanners, 28 MRI scanners and so on, but it is about the use of them. One of the things we need to consider is how we might use the scanners available in a complementary local injury unit sitting alongside a hospital and how we ca…

I agree with the Deputy. I am also conscious that we have increased the referral pathways for diagnostics, from physios for example. They are all good things, but they increase the number of referrals and, therefore, the waiting time. It is particularly important that the Deputy highlighted a case like that of his mother, who was referred for a scan and really needed it. There is the contrast with…

The hearing care plan working group was established to develop recommendations for a holistic and sustainable model of hearing care across Ireland. The group initially had a focus on the appropriate linkage of public and private provision to meet increasing demand for services in the short term and to consider the recommendations of the WHO World Report on Hearing in the development of the nationa…

The Deputy is right to identify the difficulty that would create. I do not have an answer at the moment as to the timeline of the public consultation, but I commit to getting that to the Deputy as soon as I can. The revised timeline for submission of a final report is quarter 1 in 2026 but that is more about the timeline for the broad work, as I understand it. Today or tomorrow, I will have a bett…

I would like to have a bit more detail that I do not have to hand but I commit to getting it to the Deputy today or tomorrow if that is all right.

I am committed to supporting Ireland's population screening programmes which are valuable part of our health service. The programme for Government commits to evaluate the current lung cancer screening pilot in line with the WHO criteria and to develop recommendations for a way forward. The pilot, which was led by researchers in Beaumont and the RCSI with support from the EU, the Irish Cancer Socie…

I am not in a position to give that date at the moment but I will try to come back to the Deputy as soon as I can. Very few countries have introduced lung cancer screening because of the uncertainty around its effectiveness. That does not mean we should not explore it. As the Deputy has done, I want to commend the pilot programme that has been introduced, instituting a community-based lung health …