Parliamentary questions

573. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department receives, on a scheduled and recurring basis, written reports from the Health Service Executive specifically relating to gender identity services provided to persons under 18 years of age; if so, the frequency of such reports; the categories of data included, including activity levels, waiting list numbers, safeguarding n…

574. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has required the Health Service Executive to provide any dedicated safeguarding assurance report, audit report, or governance review relating specifically to gender identity services for minors since 1 January 2020; if so, the date of each such report and whether it has been reviewed at Secretary General or Corporate Gove…

575. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department has established any formal oversight framework, reporting template, performance dashboard, or key performance indicators specific to gender identity services for persons under 18 years of age; and if not, whether she intends to establish such a framework. [15920/26]

576. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department maintains a formal monitoring or compliance framework to assess the timeliness and completeness of responses provided by bodies under her aegis to Parliamentary Questions and other formal requests from Members of the Oireachtas; and if so, the nature of that framework and the office responsible for maintaining it. [15921/…

577. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has recorded, since 1 January 2023, any concerns, warnings, or internal assessments regarding the adequacy or timeliness of responses provided by Children’s Health Ireland to Members of the Oireachtas; and if so, the number of such recorded instances and the governance actions taken. [15922/26]

578. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether decisions relating to the publication or non-publication of reports concerning Children’s Health Ireland are recorded in writing within her Department; whether a central register of such decisions is maintained; and the grade or office responsible for oversight of such publication decisions. [15923/26]

579. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department applies standardised criteria, guidance, or written policy when determining whether reports concerning bodies under her aegis should be published; and if so, to provide the title and date of such policy. [15924/26]

580. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has established, approved, or required any national key performance indicators relating to recruitment clearance timelines across the six health regions established under Sláintecare; if not, whether this represents a deliberate policy decision; and the governance rationale for not applying national clearance benchmarks i…

581. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Health the average ambulance response time in County Carlow and County Kilkenny; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15960/26]

582. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Health the number of ambulance bases in Carlow and Kilkenny; the location of each; the permanent number of ambulances assigned to each base; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15961/26]

583. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Health to provide a list of all HSE-funded meals-on-wheels services in Cork; the funding they have received for 2024, 2025 and 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15963/26]

584. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to specify the statutory provision, regulation, circular, or formal policy instrument under which elective procedures without medical indication are authorised within the public hospital system; and to confirm whether any formal legal advice has been obtained by her Department regarding the permissibility of allocating publicly funded hospital …

585. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has conducted, commissioned, or received any review assessing whether decisions by the six HSE health regions to authorise elective procedures without medical indication are applied consistently nationwide; and if she will provide details of any such review. [15977/26]

586. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has conducted any assessment of the impact on waiting lists, theatre utilisation, or paediatric surgical capacity arising from the allocation of theatre time to elective procedures undertaken without medical indication; and if she will publish any such assessment. [15978/26]

587. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to state under which programme headings, service plans, or budget subheads expenditure on elective procedures undertaken without medical indication is recorded; whether such expenditure is separately identifiable within Departmental or HSE accounts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15979/26]

588. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has conducted any internal policy or distributional analysis of the impact of maintaining current medical card income thresholds for persons aged 70 years and over following the 2025 State Pension increase; if so, the date of such analysis; whether the findings were submitted to her for decision; and if she will make a st…

589. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department sought advice from the ESRI in relation to the projected distributional impact of increasing medical card income thresholds for persons aged 70 years and over by €10 per week in line with the 2025 State pension increase; whether a policy recommendation was made to her arising from that modelling exercise; and if she will …

590. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any consideration was given in Budget 2026 to adjusting medical card income thresholds for persons aged 70 years and over in line with pension increases; whether this option was costed by her Department; and if she will outline the policy rationale for maintaining existing thresholds. [15982/26]

591. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has assessed the number of persons aged 70 years and over whose income exceeds the Department of Social Protection State Pension by less than €20 per week and who are therefore at potential risk of medical card ineligibility under current thresholds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15983/26]

592. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of External Governance Reviews undertaken pursuant to Sections 38 and 39 of the Health Act 2004 between 2022 and 2024 that identified material financial, governance, procurement, safeguarding or internal control deficiencies; the number in each year that resulted in enhanced monitoring arrangements, revised service level agreements, …

593. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of External Governance Reviews commenced between 2022 and 2024 that remain open; the average duration of review completion; and whether any review has resulted in referral to internal audit, external audit, or An Garda Síochána. [15985/26]

594. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether all non-statutory bodies in receipt of direct HSE funding, including those in receipt of less than €3 million annually, are subject to a structured governance review cycle; and if not, the criteria used to determine inclusion or exclusion. [15986/26]

595. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether summary findings of External Governance Reviews are published; and if not, the reasons for the absence of public transparency in respect of governance findings in publicly funded bodies. [15987/26]

596. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Health the total funding allocated in Budget 2026 for the provision of eating disorder services; the breakdown of this allocation, including funding for existing specialist eating disorder teams, funding for the development of new teams, funding for training and professional development of staff, and funding for inpatient and community-based servic…

597. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of persons under 18 years-of-age admitted to adult approved psychiatric centres in 2025 for the treatment of eating disorders due to the unavailability of age-appropriate inpatient CAMHS beds; the average and longest duration of such admissions; whether the Department or the HSE has undertaken any review, audit, or impact assessme…