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.
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 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 Society and my Department…
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 check programme by i…
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 women who do not nece…
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 active DTSS contracto…
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%, depending on the nature of t…
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 expertise in their professio…
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 most complex endomet…
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 have actively asked cl…
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 necessarily want wo…
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 profile. It has been…
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, including critical car…
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. The south-east reg…
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 never be a transport…
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 responding or perhaps he…
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 we bring to work wit…
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 experience of endometriosi…
-----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 is no business case…
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 number of hospitals a…
And health.
Hear, hear.