76. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if she will consider an independent public inquiry into scandals at Children’s Health Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52528/25]
TDs / David Cullinane
David Cullinane
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1,614
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- constituency Waterford 29 November 2024 to now
- party Sinn Féin 29 November 2024 to now
My first question relates to the need for a public inquiry into spinal surgeries for children with scoliosis and spina bifida at CHI. I note the Minister met Harvey Morrison Sherratt's family with the Tánaiste recently and it seems a commitment was given to an inquiry. Will the Minister inform the House as to what form that inquiry will take and what her view of the timeframe will be in the terms of reference?
There are different models but it is important that this is an inquiry. That is what families are looking for. Obviously, there are different types of inquiries. We have seen in the past where inquiries were promised and they end up being reviews and investigations, very similar to the Nayagam review which is ongoing and still has not been published. This inquiry has to be comprehensive. It has establish all of the f…
Part of the problem here is that we have had almost a decade of failure and broken promises, some of which it must be said were political promises, and in more recent times a lack of transparency from Children's Health Ireland. Those very same families the Minister has met, and those parents and advocates she would meet, have been screaming from the rooftops about governance failures at CHI for many years. Many of th…
78. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if she is confident that sufficient capital funding has been provided for in the national development plan to deliver elective centres, 3,000 additional acute inpatient beds, digital transformation, and the entirety of health infrastructure commitments made by the Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52529/25]
Capital funding in health is really important. This capital allocation is one of the most important because it is linked to many of the big projects that are about reform of the health service. It is about more hospital beds and the 3,000 beds that were promised by the Minister's predecessor before the local elections last year. Elective hospitals have to be built, which is really important in following on from those…
I do not believe that is the biggest challenge at all. It is a challenge, of course, to get projects ready and obviously they have to go through planning processes and there are other processes as well. I met with senior officials in the Department before the last general election. What they set out to us was an ask of about €13.5 billion up to 2030. What was achieved was €9.5 billion. Even looking at some of the cos…
Despite all of the best efforts of people who will work in this space, even if they get them to shovel-ready, I have already outlined and done the maths. I have met with the Department. I know the money simply is not there to do all of these projects. It is a case of who is right or who is wrong when it comes to the funding. I would accept that the Minister wants as much as possible to be done, as I do, but it does c…
That is for 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., not 24-7.
101. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health her intentions regarding the provision of comprehensive endometriosis services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52532/25]
I welcome the agreement. The Minister's predecessor admitted a number of years ago that the engagement with the Irish Pharmacy Union was not what it should have been and the State was not making the best use of community pharmacies. A number of years ago, I published a very comprehensive plan that set out a lot of what is in this agreement, and more, in relation to what we could do. It included many of the important …
Carers do invaluable work and each and every one of us, in our constituency offices, deals with family carers almost on a daily basis, certainly on a weekly basis. I visited one family in Waterford last week. It was a woman who was looking after her father. She was actually sick herself. When I got to the house, she was physically lifting her father, who is much heavier than her, out of a bed and trying to manage tha…
Hear, hear.
There is no family that is not impacted by mental health difficulties and challenges at some point. We know early intervention is key to preventing serious illness, particularly for young people if a mental illness is caught at a young age and the intervention services are available. Jigsaw is an important service as part of the overall supports for young people.
In Waterford, unfortunately, we do not have a Jigsaw …
The Taoiseach left out my questions. This is just a reminder.
The Taoiseach skipped over them.
The school transport system is simply not up to standard. As previous speakers said, every year in the first week or second week back after the summer recess we are dealing with the same issues. In fact, all of our constituency offices are inundated in the months of July and August, but particularly August, with parents who are frustrated with the eligibility criteria, the concessionary criteria, the fact their child…
I have lost count of how many times Waterford Airport has been raised over the last number of years in the Dáil Chamber. I have certainly raised it dozens of times. A meeting took place between Government representatives, the Minister for Transport and members of the board of Waterford Airport a number of months ago. There was a lot of frustration in Waterford following that meeting because, after years of business c…
The Minister of State might be familiar with the phrases "Build it and they will come" and "Show us the money". He stated that it is up to the airport "to demonstrate that sufficient demand and industry commitment [should] exist to facilitate regular scheduled passenger services". That can only be determined when there is a runway. If there is no runway, no airline will come in. At the moment, jets cannot take off fr…
I was at an event about mental health a number of years ago where a presentation was given by an expert in the field who works on the ground. The person put up a photograph of a car that was held up, not by four wheels, but by plans and policy documents. She was illustrating the point that policy documents and plans are not in short supply. We have any number of them in mental health and the same goes for disability.…
Earlier this year, Deputy Conor McGuinness and I met with parents of children with disabilities from Waterford city and county. At the time, those parents were heartbroken because they had no idea if their child would have an appropriate class place. Many of them were sent on a wild goose chase, as they were told they had to contact schools themselves. In some instances, they had to contact 14, 15 and 16 schools only…
Hear, hear.
On a point of order, will copies of the speech be circulated?
The official notes given by the Minister can be read back to the Minister because those are the notes that are circulated.
That is a different matter.