I appreciate the absolute commitment to this issue by Deputy Byrne and the other Deputies from the area on behalf of the people of the region. I think we will end up with a good-sized primary care centre but we want to see progress on that and facilities expedited as much as possible. I certainly will continue to work with the Deputy and with the HSE to try to maintain the appropriate schedule to ensure the project p…
TDs / Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Minister for Health
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
182,871
words spoken in the chamber
179,569 as a minister, 3,302 as a TD
355
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 710 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 19 |
| March 2025 | 40 |
| April 2025 | 20 |
| May 2025 | 52 |
| June 2025 | 52 |
| July 2025 | 44 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 7 |
| October 2025 | 59 |
| November 2025 | 56 |
| December 2025 | 11 |
| January 2026 | 57 |
| February 2026 | 9 |
| March 2026 | 51 |
| April 2026 | 45 |
| May 2026 | 11 |
| June 2026 | 14 |
| July 2026 | 60 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 12 |
| October 2026 | 91 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 567 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dún Laoghaire 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Health 23 January 2025 to now
I appreciate the Deputy's question. My Department is committed to ensuring there is safe and equitable access to termination of pregnancy services. We have taken a number of important actions to give effect to that, on which I will update the House.
In line with the programme for Government, all 19 maternity hospitals are now providing termination of pregnancy services. There has also been a continuous increase in t…
I really do hear the Deputy. I respect that there are so many different views on this issue. I am broadly pro-choice and voted that way but I am not unreservedly pro-choice. Certainly, there are many elements of Deputy Murphy's Bill I simply do not agree with and cannot find a way to agree with. As Minister, I have tried to facilitate the broadest debate. I really do respect the very different opinions and the very d…
I apologise.
The very essence of democratic choice is that those who are elected by the people may come into this House and freely choose how they wish to vote. I have every respect for Deputy Coppinger's vote, just as I have every respect for the votes of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and of Deputies O'Shea, Ó Muirí, Kerrane and every single person in this House. I respect their vote, their perspective, how they represen…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 104 together.
I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge how consistently she raises this. She had a Topical Issue on it last week and I acknowledge her complete commitment to this issue and to the people of Roscommon. As she will be aware, the National Ambulance Service serves County Roscommon from three 24-7 bases located in Roscommon, Boyle and Loughglynn. Emergency ambulances servi…
I would be very pleased to speak with the Deputy about that in more detail. I think there is still a vacancy, based on the information I have, and I am glad the second vacancy has been filled. I would be very happy to discuss this with the Deputy more directly, but I am advised RRVs across the country are routinely crewed by paramedics or advanced paramedics and that is in accordance with the Pre-Hospital Emergency C…
I do not disagree with the Deputy and I respect the manner in which she consistently raises this and the concerns she has as a result of this not being resolved. I will it discuss it with the NAS and the region more generally. I will try to follow up and get this resolved. The Deputy and I will be pleased when that is so, for the benefit of the people of Roscommon and their safety.
I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the capital works ongoing at Mallow General Hospital. In 2023, a new ward block for Mallow General Hospital was constructed and opened. As part of that project, two additional floors were constructed to facilitate subsequent infrastructure investment at the hospital, as the Deputy is aware. The subsequent development of the ward blo…
It is an acute step-down unit for the larger model 3 and model 4 hospitals in the Cork and Kerry region that accepts patients who still require hospital care but no longer require an acute bed is absolutely critical. I have been looking at its usage. For example, during the fourth quarter of 2025, on average there were four vacant beds every day in Mallow hospital. There were 12 days in the fourth quarter of 2025 - r…
I totally agree. Of course they would and of course they want access. Two weeks later on Saturday, 27 December, there were 15 beds in Mallow. That is not the fault of Mallow hospital. The beds are there. What is important for the region is that people are moved out of other hospitals that are under pressure to make sure they get good care in Mallow hospital. Fifteen beds were vacant in Mallow hospital on Saturday, 27…
I thank the Deputy. I am happy to talk to him about the accident and emergency department in Beaumont Hospital.
Following recent investments, there are a number of significant proposals for capital investment and all are progressing through the requisite design and planning stages. As a live hospital campus, it is more complex as things have to be moved where patients are being seen. The planning, sequencing and ena…
It is contributing to PET, which is too long in Beaumont Hospital, twice what it should be. It is approximately eight hours; it should be four hours.
While trolley numbers have improved enormously in Beaumont Hospital, that needs to be improved and it is the next job for Beaumont Hospital.
I thank the Deputies for that. This is the issue with Beaumont. It is an exceptional centre of clinical excellence. It is the place you want to be for neurology and it is a place that provides extraordinary renal treatment, but we have to look at the hospital as a whole.
While it does extraordinary surgery and neurosurgery, when somebody like Mrs. Anderson's husband presents, he needs the care, the throughput and ac…
To clarify, the Northside Home Care Services are funded through a separate tender arrangement. It is different; it is not HSE and section 39. The organisation is in receipt of small grant funding under section 39 in respect of meals on wheels but that is different.
The HSE reached out to the Northside Home Care Services last week to remind them of the process for claiming an uplift in pay funding in respect of secti…
I assure the Deputy that much progress has been made on the path to providing the necessary oversight and regulation of assisted human reproduction.
The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act was signed into law by the President in July 2024. Some administrative sections of the Act have been commenced, specifically to establish the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority, or AHRRA. In addition, work is un…
I thank the Deputy for raising this. I also thank him for acknowledging the different management that is there now, Sandra Broderick and Ian Carter, who represent a different management culture from that which has gone before. I also recognise the considerable work that Bernard Gloster has done in taking disciplinary proceedings of the kind we have never seen in the health system in respect of some of the senior mana…
I thank Deputy Carrigy for raising this important issue in relation to Longford. I cannot speak about the individual position because I have only just become aware of it but I will find out for the Deputy. More broadly, it is not acceptable to have vacant positions. We have vacancies in the health service and we need them to be filled. We need that for the supports that children in particular need. However, I would p…
I thank the Deputy for the important question. I recognise that it is a very different Department in respect of statutory leave but I do want to say how we are looking towards a new maternity strategy and how we are trying to recognise all stages of pregnancy and the impact on women of the different adverse pregnancy outcomes that can happen. I will speak with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, m…
I thank the Deputy for the question. I would be obliged if she might share the details with me so that I can follow up directly to see what the specific circumstances are in the Mater, and specifically whether it relates to a particular condition or to broad access to the pain management clinic. If I could follow up with the Deputy directly, I will see what is going on.
The Deputy is right to highlight the opportunity Mallow presents and has presented for some time to HSE south west to provide step-down facilities and other healthcare facilities, particularly to help with the discharge from Mercy and Cork University Hospital. There have been beds there that have been available. I am having a full seminar with HSE south west on 5 February, when I will go through all of that in detail…
This is disgraceful.
Give the gardaí some respect.
You are politicising gardaí.