Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

That is wrong.

I thank Deputy Burke for his question. It is certainly true to say that we have had enormous success with the RSV vaccination programme for infants, which significantly reduced infection, mortality and very severe illness for infants. I can confirm that we have sought a health technology assessment, HTA, for RSV immunisation by HIQA. The outcome of that will inform the policy decision that I make …

I thank Deputy Neville. He highlights an important thing, which is the practicality of setting up and extending GP practices. The State supports GP practices to the tune of approximately €1 billion per year. However, we need more. In the Deputy's area, where there has been particularly concentrated population growth at a quick pace, more GP practices are needed. I will discuss the idea of a refund…

I thank the Deputy and acknowledge the number of times she has raised different issues in different sectors in relation to misogyny and questions of harassment. I want to make it very clear as the Minister for Health that in every healthcare setting, all people are to be protected and respected - men, women, people of any race and people of any gender. People are to be respected in all contexts. W…

Today we stand here for respectful debate on behalf of the people we represent at a time of maximum geopolitical uncertainty. It is impacting globally and it is impacting our people. We know that, we see that and we feel that because we are elected representatives in a small, democratic State and we are connected to our people. We know in Ireland we are more impacted than so many others because of…

I thank the Deputy. Just to clarify and for accuracy, I did not bring a memo to Government. That is only a technical point. The Deputy is quite right. What we have decided to do is reflect on the judgment and on the needs of women going forward. The needs of women going forward are for critical care capacity for neonates. I am sure the Deputy has been in the unit in the Rotunda Hospital. They do e…

I agree. Of course, the heritage consideration was the dominant one in that third round for the decision-making. It still remains of importance to that area. However, balancing the public interest is something we do all the time. Dublin City Council and the inspector took the view that in the previous application, the public interest was overwhelmingly served by progressing with it. The deciding b…

The Deputy is exactly right. Holles Street and Elm Park is settled. The question on Limerick forms part of what we are trying to do generally in Limerick and I would be happy to update the Deputy but our policy is very much the same in respect of colocation there. The Deputy is right to identify the Coombe, which is quite close to St. James's Hospital, where we are investing significant additional…

There is no question but that the regulatory framework requires updating and modernisation. It is closely linked to the wider implementation of the national oral health policy. Ahead of comprehensive reform, several priority interim amendments have been identified particularly to strengthen the powers of the Dental Council of Ireland. The first amendment addresses the lack of a statutory basis for…

I agree with the Deputy. While the broad legislative suite is in place and there are existing powers are under the Dentists Act, I have no difficulty with a review and strengthening them where needed. I recognise the suite of legislative powers I outlined so we need to be very specific as to the additional powers necessary. I have no difficulty in strengthening the powers of the Dental Council of …

I agree with the Deputy. At the moment I am trying to develop a programme with Pat Healy in the HSE, who is doing excellent work on a very targeted programme of intervention to get on top of screening in schools and make sure we can address the backlog, particularly in relation to orthodontic work and specialised orthodontic work. I have given a direction to all of the various regions that I expec…

I agree with the Deputy. The two strategies have changed the landscape for people who are diagnosed with cancer. Today nearly 250,000 people in Ireland are living with or beyond cancer, 50% more than a decade ago. The evidence is that the chances of survival for more than five years for someone diagnosed with cancer in the 1990s was considerably less than what it is now. This is on foot of the ext…

The Deputy is right to highlight the variance. It is very different between hospitals. For example, the time for chemotherapy is within 15 days, which is so important. This information has been provided to him. In Cavan hospital, there were 174 patients and 174 of them were seen within 15 days. It was similar in Connolly hospital with 1,717 patients. Naas hospital is at 98%. I do not want to just …

This is very important. We have 58 seconds to have this conversation but it would be good to have a session at the Oireachtas health committee where we can go through all of the various regions and KPIs and recognise the variance. For example, we spoke in December about Galway, where there was a particular challenge. It reported 86% within the target in December, which was up from 68% in November.…

Under the national plan for radiation oncology, an equipment replacement programme is in place in St. Luke's in Rathgar, St. James's Hospital and Beaumont hospital, along with a phased expansion in Beaumont. The replacement programme is being progressed under the national development plan. It is included in the capital plan and the health sectoral plan. There are 23 linear accelerators, ranging in…

I agree with the Deputy. I would like us to be replacing equipment because we have used it so intensively. Part of this issue relates to the number of radiation therapists. There has been a very considerable expansion in that regard. We have 217 radiation therapists in Ireland, an increase of 21% since 2020. In the last six years, the radiation therapy training programme has grown by 32%, with mor…

I understand the Deputy's point. We want the machines working hard. There is considerable variance. It should not get to 20 years. We have a programme of replacement. The HSE has a key performance indicator target for 90% of patients to commence treatment within 15 working days. The figure for performance nationally is 79%. The majority are exceeding the target. Unfortunately, St. Luke's is consis…

I acknowledge that was a truly shocking case but I must be careful not to speak about individual cases in too much detail as it is a very sensitive matter. However, that does not mean I am not deeply concerned by it. I can say that the Medical Council is aware of that case and is actively engaging with the associated parties to get more information. The Medical Council has a responsibility to ensu…

I know UCD and its president, Orla Feely. It is a university led by a woman. That is a difficult position to achieve no matter what year we have reached. I know this medical student will have Professor Feely's full support. I will not speak about the particulars of courses, modules and all of those things I do not know about. It would be wrong of me to pretend I do, but I certainly know UCD will …

I thank the Deputy. I have not seen the email she referred to so am at a disadvantage in relation to that.

Okay, but I do not follow your Instagram, if you will forgive me. I deleted it from my phone and do not have access to it so cannot speak to that with the knowledge the Deputy has of yesterday's email or any of those things. What I can simply say again and again is gender-based violence is wrong and the way we handle it is very important. Incidents should be reported to An Garda Síochána, to the M…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 21 together. I assure the Deputies that the Government is committed to the continued development of our general practice service and improving access to GP services for all patients around the country. Over €340 million in additional annual investment in general practice has been provided under the 2019 and 2023 GP GMS agreements. Those agreements provide fo…

Correct.

I find myself in agreement with all of the five points Deputy Daly made, such that I do not believe it is necessary to repeat them. I look forward to working with him on the practical points he has made, particularly in relation to the out of hours framework, the premises structure, what we might do and how we might think about that, and the development of that in terms of a tax-efficient way of e…

Let me be very clear in relation to the recruitment. Any delay should only be in actually finding the consultant orthodontist and bringing them into the system. That does take time because people have to leave posts and so on but there should not be any delay at a HSE level recognising the level of need I have described to the Deputy and have described more broadly. In relation to GPs generally, …