Parliamentary questions

563. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the national monitoring framework which is in place within her Department or the HSE to assess the patient impact of essential medicine shortages under the general medical services scheme; and whether this framework includes tracking of clinical substitution, cost impact, or regional variation [13450/26]

564. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any additional expenditure has arisen under the general medical services scheme as a result of prescribing alternative products due to salbutamol nebule shortages since 1 January 2025; and if so, to provide the estimated amount and the basis of calculation [13451/26]

565. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health to provide an update on a new cardiovascular strategy; the expected timeline for its publication; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13452/26]

566. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health whether a new national cardiovascular strategy will be produced; if it will include nationwide screening and early detection of structural heart disease, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk assessment programmes; how Ireland will align with OECD and EU recommendations (details supplied); if dedicated resources will be allocated to pre…

567. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Health if she will urgently review the case of a person (details supplied) in relation to their personal assistant budget, where an increase was verbally agreed by the HSE but has not been reflected in recent payments; the reason the agreed hourly rate increase has not been implemented; the steps being taken rectify the matter as a matter of urgency; …

568. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Health to provide the weekly urgent and emergency care reports for each ED from 1 January 2026 to-date; the reason these reports are not available publicly on the HSE website as was previously the case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13477/26]

569. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the steps she is taking to immediately address the ongoing failures at the Central Mental Hospital, where patients continue to experience unacceptable conditions including heating system malfunctions and service deficiencies; to provide a clear timeline by which all necessary repairs and operational improvements will be completed; and if she w…

570. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Health the rates of non-attendance for bowel screening appointments for 2023, 2024 and 2025, broken down by individual hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13491/26]

571. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Health if she will outline each section of enacted legislation where the responsibility lies with the Minister to commence that section, which has not been commenced; if she will outline each section of enacted legislation that provides for the making of regulations by the Minister which has not been made by the Minister; if she will outline all s…

572. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health for the average ambulance response time in County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13531/26]

573. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health the number of ambulance bases in Galway; the location of each; the permanent number of ambulances assigned to each base; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13532/26]

574. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health the number of full time paramedic staff with the ambulances service in County Galway; the number of staff permanently located at each ambulance base within Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13533/26]

575. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health the number of requests for ambulance service that were not facilitated on 6 February 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13534/26]

576. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health the details of the means by which ambulance service triage call for ambulance requests; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13535/26]

577. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health the number of calls made for an ambulance request on 6 February 2026 in County Galway that were responded to where the ambulance arrived at the correct patient location, in tabular form (details supplied) [13536/26]

578. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Health the status of the progression of the development works on the new ambulance base at Recess, County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13537/26]

579. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Health the steps her Department is taking to address the gaps in the assisted human reproduction legislative framework that continue to affect LGBTQ+ families, including the lack of recognition for international surrogacy arrangements, the exclusion of some same-sex female couples from parental recognition pathways, the limited routes available to ga…

580. Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Health if funding will be made available via the mental health capital plan for a specific mental health crisis unit for County Wexford following discussions on Friday, 13 February with the HSE; if so, if she can outline a timeline for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13563/26]

581. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health to confirm that the estimate for immunisation has increased from €10,788,000 in 2025 to €54,377,000 in 2026 in the Revised Estimates for Public Services under primary care reimbursement services (details supplied); the cause for this increase in immunisation spend; the services or costs which fall under this increased allocation; whether any bud…

582. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to provide, the full list of all non-statutory bodies in receipt of direct funding from her Department in each of the past five years; the annual amount allocated to each body; the policy unit responsible for oversight of each body; whether a formal governance framework is applied by the Department to each body; and the statutory or administrat…

583. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department requires non-statutory bodies in receipt of direct funding to maintain a Department-approved safeguarding policy, a designated safeguarding officer, mandatory reporting procedures to the Department in the event of safeguarding concerns, compliance with Children First Act 2015 obligations, where applicable, and periodic ce…

584. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department maintains a central risk register in respect of non-statutory bodies receiving direct Departmental funding, conducts formal risk assessments prior to the allocation of funding, applies a risk-rating classification to such bodies, requires annual risk statements from funded bodies; and has defined escalation procedures whe…

585. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether funding agreements with non-statutory bodies include defined service-quality standards, measurable performance indicators, reporting obligations beyond financial statements, periodic compliance reviews conducted by Department officials and documented evaluation of service delivery outcomes. [13609/26]

586. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to outline the frequency with which policy units formally review governance documentation submitted by funded non-statutory bodies, whether site visits or structured compliance engagements are undertaken by Department officials; whether written governance assessment reports are generated by the Department; and the number of instances in the pas…

587. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to specify the oversight mechanisms operated directly by her Department in respect of non-statutory bodies receiving direct funding, separate from annual financial audit, expenditure controls and post-hoc review by the Comptroller and Auditor General; and to identify the policy framework governing such mechanisms. [13611/26]