I have already intervened with the HSE on two fronts. We will be producing a dental-specific plan. It is important to reference what the Deputy said about long waits, particularly for children. A specific intervention programme will last about two years. The Irish Dental Association has been involved with that. Let us not give the speaking points of private representative bodies either. I was at its conference and ra…
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
No, resourcing is not an issue. First, I want to go and see Clare myself to understand that better, and ask for a plan for the region for the development of services in Clare and Tipperary - Ennis and Nenagh - and not just Limerick. Overwhelmingly the focus in the mid-west has been on Limerick, which I understand. However, proper community care and proper integrated care requires a focus on Nenagh and Ennis as well. …
I begin by acknowledging the women who have had truly heartbreaking personal circumstances in pregnancy and whom I know are the motivation behind this Bill by the Social Democrats. Many Deputies in all parties, both in government and in opposition, know people who have struggled with the worst news in pregnancy. I think of all of those women who inspired the Bill, the Social Democrats' work on it and this debate. I t…
-----and I need more time and space to explain that.
That is not fair.
That is not fair. I said there was a fundamental problem.
Yes, but do not press a vote.
I am sorry. No, that is not what I said.
I am asking the Social Democrats to come and meet NWHIP with me to hear more of the reality. There are not 240 women travelling because of fatal foetal abnormalities. There are some, but there are many women travelling for other reasons because there are different thresholds in the UK and Ireland. Some who are travelling will never meet the threshold in Ireland because the UK threshold is about serous handicap and ot…
I thank the Deputy. I have not said anything about a supplementary budget. That was reported based on last year's, so I have no idea where that is coming from.
Taking the case of Limerick, there were 20 delayed transfers of care there yesterday. Over the past ten days, Limerick has ranged from having 15 people on trolleys to 70 people on trolleys, at an average of about 30 to 40 each day. I was in Clare on Monday. T…
Excuse me?
I am sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Today, which is International Nurses Day, I would like to recognise the presence in the Public Gallery of Caroline Gourley, president, and Phil Ní Sheaghdha, general secretary, from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO. Ms Ní Sheaghdha has been president of Irish Congress of Trade Unions since last July. I congratulate here on that. I understand…
I welcome the opportunity to address the House on statements on Michael Shine, and much more importantly, his victims and survivors. The abuse of trust and attack on the dignity and the person of patients by Michael Shine was a terrible betrayal. I have the deepest sympathy and concern for all the victims. I acknowledge the many people affected, including several I have been fortunate enough to meet. Reports suggest …
I do not think anybody wants to be involved in strikes of any kind. That is not how we do things, which is why we have the very comprehensive industrial relations architecture we have painstakingly built over some time. The HSE and my Department have engaged extensively, constructively and in good faith, as have the National Ambulance Service representatives, for more than two years to address the issues raised withi…
It is important to acknowledge that there has been 30% growth in the staff of the National Ambulance Service, which is a larger proportional increase than the health service received overall. We have invested an additional €75 million in the service since 2022 and staff members have increased by 761 since 2022. The total workforce is now 2,500.
Further investment planned for 2026 will deliver 21 extra crewed ambulan…
I am very invested in resolving disputes, and that is why we put so much effort into the industrial relations architecture that we have. It is important to highlight some of the models of the proposed reforms under the agreement reached between union representatives and State representatives in those structures, for example, a modernised pay and allowance structure, which replaces a complex pay arrangement dating bac…
I am sorry. I have this question as "not submitted".
I do not have a Priority Question from the Deputy. I will try to get an answer for her, but we have this question as "not submitted".
I will do my best to answer.
My apologies for the mix-up, whatever the source. I will get the Deputy a full and more official answer. Nevertheless, I will speak from my own experience.
The focus on delayed transfers of care is an integral part of the focus on trolleys - the whole thing goes together. What we are really talking about is patient flow. Hospitals that experience ongoing delayed transfer of care, DTOC, problems include Letterkenny U…
The Deputy is 100% right. It does not necessarily lie with the hospital management. For example, in Cork, with the IHA managers, there is no governance element to this. They are not CUH beds or Mercy Hospital beds, and nobody had better tell me that they think they are. They are beds for the south west, and they have to be managed from a single centre, which happens to be in CUH at the moment, but we will see about t…
I understand. For example, I visited a facility very like that. Please forgive me; I do not have the name in front of me but it is in the north of Dublin, an acquired brain injury-----
That is exactly it. Forgive me. It is looking to build the facility adjacent to the primary care centre.
Exactly. What we can do is work with an approved housing body, AHB, to build that residential. The HSE is for delivery of healthcare and we try to make it work as well as we can but here are the things we are not: we are not a transport company and we do not build homes. What we can do is partner with AHBs to make sure we are developing long-term residential that is adjacent and appropriate for needs of that kind.
O…
I would rather it did not.