Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

I am not in a position to say that because I do not know what the recommendation will be. Thankfully this is a country driven by science and scientific evidence. This is a matter of real concern to me. The Deputy referenced advances in cervical screening. While I have the opportunity, I want to reference that it is expanding and that there are home testing kits, which is a huge advancement for w…

I thank Deputy O'Shea. As he is aware, over €230 million is invested in public oral healthcare services annually. The dental treatment service scheme, DTSS, provides oral healthcare free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. Services are provided by private dentists and clinical dental technicians who hold a contract with the HSE. In the north Cork HSE area, there are currently 33 a…

In fact, there are 836 contractors on the scheme as of September 2025, although that is a reduction because there was a major data clear-out. There were 1,490 in 2019, when the number was reducing, and there are now 836. A number of inactive dentists were taken off the list in 2022. I can confirm that the fees paid to private dentists to engage in this scheme have increased by 40% to 60%, dependin…

I commit to trying to expand access to oral health and preventative oral health in every way. We need to look at the role of dental hygienists within the dental profession. In every other aspect of workforce planning in healthcare, we recognise that we do not have enough healthcare workers to meet our need. As I mentioned earlier, we are trying to have pharmacists work at the top of their expertis…

I thank Deputy Timmins. I think it may be closer to one in seven - possibly one in six - women who are affected by endometriosis, rather than one in ten. We are learning more about it together. Our specialist endometriosis services are monitored by the HSE's national women and infants health programme. At the end of September 2025, 719 specialist endometriosis surgeries had been carried out. The …

Not all of the surgeries take place in Cork and Tallaght but the most complex ones do. I have expanded a scheme to treat women who require complex surgery abroad. It was the case that they would go abroad and get the funding back via the cross-border directive. We very quickly put in place a scheme whereby people could get funding upfront for such surgery in many clinics in the UK and Europe. I ha…

There are not 35,000 people with endometriosis on outpatient gynaecology lists. Approximately 700 are waiting for endometriosis surgeries. An additional colorectal post has been prioritised and advertised for recruitment in Cork University Hospital. The time it will take will depend on the interest generated but I very much hope it will be done as soon as possible. The Deputy is correct. I do not…

I thank the Deputy for raising this case. He is right that this drug is reimbursed for post-menopausal women with osteoporosis. I would like an opportunity to check this but, as I understand it, the European Medicines Agency, EMA, originally assessed the drug for use in both women and men. However, the company withdrew the male indication during the process following concern over the benefit-risk …

The Government remains committed to investing in and developing the National Ambulance Service, NAS, including in the south east. The allocation in 2025 includes an additional €28 million of new service development funding for up to 180 additional posts. Those posts will focus on strengthening front-line emergency services, expanding alternative care pathways and developing specialist services, in…

We continue to invest at pace. There are an additional 500 NAS staff since 2020, with the total going from approximately 2,000 to 2,500, which is a very considerable increase of 26%. That increase is needed to ensure the distribution of staff and the different ways in which they can try to keep people close to home, particularly older people whom we do not want having to present at acute hospitals…

I recognise the work done by volunteer groups like Arklow Cancer Support and the support they give to cancer patients travelling for blood tests, infusion services and so on. The HSE is not a land development or transport company. I recognise there are many different groups providing an enormous service to cancer patients, some with some measure of State support and others not. While the HSE will …

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter again. It is fantastic to see the amplification and awareness of endometriosis in Ireland. That is part of what the framework is trying to do. We launched the framework on 18 October. I will set out the timeline again. This was in gestation for some period but it was becoming very clear that we were not meeting the needs or resp…

I did not know that. I am sorry I did not. I am so glad the Deputy and I have the opportunity to describe the pain women face every day. As she said, it is like a knife fight inside you and yet she comes to the Dáil, working an extraordinarily demanding job, as everybody here knows. It is exceptionally physically and emotionally difficult and that is just the job. That is on top of all the things …

I will do everything I can do try to drive clinical trials and research. I am launching the clinical trials oversight group this evening. This is an obvious space. It is under-researched more broadly though there is an opportunity for us in France that I might to talk to the Deputy about separately. It is really important that she mentioned fertility. Fertility is inextricably linked to the experi…

-----or women for whom it has come as a consequence of pregnancy. Can we just put a line under that now that it never happens ever again in an Irish medical facility that a teenage girl is told to go and have a baby and that will sort her endometriosis?

Cavan and Monaghan operate as a single entity with integrated managerial and clinical governance systems, care pathways and support functions. They are 46 km apart from each other. Cavan and Monaghan hospitals currently have two CT scanners and one MRI scanner. Two CT scanners is one more than is available to the people in Mayo, where there is only one CT scanner in Mayo university hospital. There…

There is nothing the Deputy likes better than a good campaign and nothing he likes less than a few facts. Staffing has increased by 70%. I am so glad to hear him acknowledge it today because there are so many times when I do not hear that about Monaghan.

That may be the Deputy's perception of all things but if he had been here he would have heard the dialogue around diagnostics, including from his party spokesperson, and the utilisation of them - he is sitting beside Deputy Conway-Walsh, whose county does actually does need a second CT scanner in Mayo University Hospital and the local injury unit. I was there this week.

The Deputy does not like answers that do not operate as convenient for him. He is the only Deputy this morning who talked across me as I was trying to give him an answer. He does not like facts.

The Deputy does not like an answer. I am entitled to give him an answer to his question. He asked me about Monaghan hospital. Here is his answer. Cavan and Monaghan have two CT scanners and an MRI scanner. They are the same unit. Staffing has increased by 70%. The budget has increased by 54% for Monaghan alone. What the Deputy does not like is how my colleague, Deputy Maxwell, reminds him of the n…

And health.

Hear, hear.

I thank the House for the opportunity to discuss what is a most important issue to all of us. At the outset, it is important that I clarify a technical piece in relation to protected disclosures and how they work. I am conscious that it was the subject of debate among the leaders last week, which I totally understand, but it is important that the House has clarity on it. The Protected Disclosures…

I want to try to address all the points, but there is a time limit. Let me try to address a couple of things quickly, and then some of the more detailed issues. In relation to the 2024 annual report for CHI, the annual financial statements are with the Comptroller and Auditor General. The intention is for it to be published by the end of the year. Forgive me, but I cannot recall who mentioned inf…

I move: That it be an instruction to the Committee on the Health Information Bill 2024 that, pursuant to Standing Order 194(2), the Committee has power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill in order to introduce a technical amendment to the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023, in order to bring public nursi…