Questions

1455. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Health the HSE’s policy on providing employment-permit sponsorship to suitably qualified candidates recruited to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, dietetics and psychology posts; whether individual Health Regions or services may refuse sponsorship to an otherwise successful candidate; and whether a national policy applies. [65657/26]

1456. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Health the number of candidates in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, dietetics and psychology who were offered HSE posts in 2025 and to date in 2026 but were unable to take them up because they required an employment permit or employer sponsorship; the figures by profession and HSE Health Region; and the reasons sponsorship was not provid…

1457. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE dental surgeons and senior dental surgeons posts filled at Dundalk Orthodontist Unit as of 7 September 2026, in tabular form. [65519/26]

1459. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) is waiting on a dental appointment so long in Cavan. [65786/26]

1460. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health if her Department has undertaken an assessment of the cost and potential healthcare savings associated with providing funded access to ICS-formoterol combination inhalers prescribed as maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) (details supplied); if the findings of this assessment will inform Budget 2027; [65825/26]

1464. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) is waiting on an MRI in the Mater Hospital Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65780/26]

1467. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE environmental health officers, senior environmental health officers and principal environmental health officers employed by HSE as of 7 September 2026; if she will provide the same figures as of 31 December 2023, in tabular form. [65779/26]

1468. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE addiction counsellors and senior addiction counsellors posts filled within CHO3 as of 7 September 2026, in tabular form. [65778/26]

1469. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Health the number of trainee psychologists graduating from doctoral courses in 2025 and to date in 2026; the number of those graduates who took up positions within HSE within 3 months of graduating. [65777/26]

1471. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health the HSE supports that are available to people with Addisons disease; and if additional supports will be considered in the future. [65917/26]

1473. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Health the list of all services and the frequency of each, available at the Kilrush primary care centre as of August 2026; and the list of all services available in August 2024 and in August 2025, in tabular form. [65808/26]

1474. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health if the design brief for the new surgical hub building at Letterkenny University Hospital incorporates inpatient wards on the upper floors of the building and a link corridor connecting said wards to the main hospital; and if so, if the architectural design brief specifically references the need to isolate the surgical hub from such inpatient wards as ma…

1475. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Health if persons whose disability directly affects their ability to meet the BMI threshold of 30 for publicly funded IVF may be assessed on an individual clinical basis; if she plans to provide reasonable accommodation within the scheme’s eligibility criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65928/26]

1476. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health if, 13 months after she awarded a surgical hub to Letterkenny University Hospital, the HSE has identified the precise site on the hospital campus where the hub is to be built; and if not, the reason. [65937/26]

1477. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and dietitians who left HSE employment in each year from 2019 to 2025 and to date in 2026; the number newly recruited in each profession in each year; the number of new graduates from Irish higher-education programmes in each profession who entered HSE employment; and the …

1480. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Health to review the correspondence (details supplied); the steps this person should next take; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65744/26]

1481. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health to confirm that support will be given to counselling and psychotherapy professionals in the industry and to persons who require the service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66374/26]

1482. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his views on the current cost of student accommodation; and the steps his Department has taken to ensure the aforementioned cost does not obstruct students' plans to pursue third level education. [64165/26]

1483. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the steps his Department has taken to resolve the shortage of student accommodation in the State. [64153/26]

1484. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to review income thresholds for SUSI grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter [64290/26]

1485. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the level of interest there has been from HEI's to build PBSA on their lands as per the new Student Accommodation Strategy. [64297/26]

1486. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science whether his Department has assessed the future workforce skills that will be required to support increased adoption of artificial intelligence among Irish businesses over the next five years; and whether new training, apprenticeship or micro-credential programmes are planned to address anticipated gaps.…

1491. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he has undertaken an assessment of the financial sustainability of the higher education sector in light of indications from the Higher Education Authority (details supplied); the findings of any such assessment; the measures being considered to address the financial sustainability of the sector; and …

1492. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if supplementary funding will be provided in 2026 to address recognised legacy shortfalls in funding for public sector pay awards in the higher education sector; the estimated value of any such outstanding shortfall; and the measures planned to address these costs on a recurring basis through core grant…

1493. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the amount of funding provided towards closing the identified funding gap of €307 million per annum since the publication of Funding the Future in May 2022; the remaining annual funding gap each year; and the cumulative value of these funding shortfalls over the period for each year, in tabular form. [6…