Parliamentary questions

644. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to provide the annual estimated cost of maintaining parallel financial systems in voluntary hospitals, including software licences, staffing time and manual reporting processes, and to set out the projected savings associated with eliminating these duplicated systems. [68035/25]

645. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to publish the monthly IFMS compliance metrics for statutory sites, including the percentage of sites achieving full utilisation, and to provide the projected compliance rate for voluntary hospitals once deployment begins. [68036/25]

646. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to outline the savings originally projected in the 2015 business case for the Integrated Financial Management System, to identify the year in which those savings were expected to be realised, and to confirm whether these projections have since been revised. [68037/25]

647. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to confirm whether participation in the Integrated Financial Management System will be made an explicit condition of annual service-level agreements and the release of Exchequer funding to voluntary hospitals. [68038/25]

648. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to confirm whether her Department or the HSE has carried out any governance risk assessment relating to voluntary hospitals that have not yet been integrated into the Integrated Financial Management System, and to state whether any such assessment will be published. [68039/25]

649. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to outline the factors delaying the finalisation of the Integrated Financial Management System rollout schedule for voluntary hospitals, and to provide the expected completion date for full deployment. [68040/25]

650. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to detail the staffing and ICT resources required to support IFMS deployment to voluntary hospitals, and to provide the total estimated cost of these supports. [68041/25]

651. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the real-time financial oversight mechanisms that will apply to voluntary hospitals once IFMS is deployed, and to set out how this data will be used to strengthen governance, auditing and expenditure control. [68042/25]

652. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to provide a detailed breakdown of the 2025 overspend in acute hospitals, primary care, agency staffing and high-tech drugs, disaggregated by hospital group and HSE region. [68047/25]

653. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the specific management and expenditure-control measures that will be implemented in 2026 to prevent further overspends, including targets for reduced agency use and revised approval protocols. [68048/25]

654. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the breakdown of the 2025 agency-staffing cost increase between wage inflation, volume increases, and grade mix; and her Department's projected agency expenditure for 2026. [68049/25]

655. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the staffing levels per 100,000 population for medical, nursing and midwifery, health and social care professionals and administrative grades in each HSE region; and if the south-west region is above or below the national average for each staff category. [68050/25]

656. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to set out the current national policy governing circumcision procedures in public hospitals where there is no medical indication; and to specify the clinical, administrative and ethical basis for authorising such procedures. [68051/25]

657. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to confirm which public hospitals provide circumcision procedures without medical indication; and the number of such procedures carried out in each of the past five years, by hospital. [68052/25]

658. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to confirm whether non-medically indicated circumcision procedures in public hospitals are funded publicly, funded privately, or subject to co-payment; and the charging and accounting treatment applied. [68053/25]

659. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the governance structures, approval mechanisms and oversight processes that apply when theatre capacity, anaesthetists and surgical teams are allocated to non-medically indicated procedures. [68054/25]

660. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has carried out any assessment of the impact of non-medically indicated circumcision procedures on surgical waiting lists, day-case capacity and resource allocation, and to publish any findings. [68055/25]

661. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of theatre slots allocated annually for non-medically indicated circumcision procedures in each of the past five years, broken down by hospital group. [68056/25]

662. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if the HSE will establish a formal reporting process to identify approved posts that remain unfilled for more than six months; and the expected timeline for introducing such a system. [68057/25]

663. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to publish her Department's methodology for calculating the financial impact of long-term vacancies on agency spend, overtime costs and service capacity; and to confirm whether a standardised template will be introduced for HSE regions. [68058/25]

664. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the policy and operational basis on which the HSE seeks retrospective recovery of specialist-qualification allowances from staff who received the allowance in good faith; and if a formal appeals or waiver mechanism exists for such cases. [68059/25]

665. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if she will instruct the HSE to suspend retrospective recovery of specialist-qualification allowances in cases involving administrative error pending a full review of the issue. [68060/25]

666. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Health if she will address the concerns regarding the recent publication of the Standards and Criteria for Counsellors and Psychotherapists by CORU, raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [68063/25]

667. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health when national reporting for chronic pain expenditure, activity and outcomes will be introduced; and the steps her Department is taking to ensure that the HSE provides full and standardised national data for all hospital groups and community services. [68064/25]

668. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the current national waiting times for chronic pain assessment and treatment at primary, secondary and tertiary levels; and the longest wait recorded in each hospital group. [68065/25]