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very much the Government's priority that we continue to improve service delivery, increase capacity across all the hospitals - acute, step down and community healthcare - and, indeed, reduce waiting lists and times, and also, to the Deputy's point, ensure that all patients and all citizens have access

hubs across the country in the Rotunda, the Coombe, the National Maternity Hospital, University Hospital Limerick and University Hospital Galway. There were approximately 760 women on a specific waiting list for treatment at the end of last year and the agenda is to get through the backlog

election is over and the dust is settling; the job of representation begins. There are 577 people on hospital trolleys today and almost one million people on treatment waiting lists. The stress and trauma of people not able to afford a home of their own persists. Parents

know the list is longer this year than it was last year, as the Minister alluded to, and there are 139 on the list now. There is an element of us not even running to stand still. We understand that no child has been scheduled for treatment abroad … this. A big deal was made about referring children to Great Ormond Street Hospital or Morgan Stanley hospital. One family have told me their child has been on the waiting list for 12 months. The child has been told they need surgery. The family believe the child

want that on the record rather than innuendo being spread. Every one of us here has probably had contact with the National Rehabilitation Hospital. It does great work to bring people, who were involved in accidents, suffer strokes or have different illnesses, back to full health … done there is acknowledged, it is widely known that there is basically a waiting list of a minimum of six months, which, for people who need the help and the expertise the National Rehabilitation Hospital gives, can be a long time waiting. In some cases if people

break down overnight. Parents have been dealing with years and years of long waiting lists and scandal after scandal. It has rocked people's faith in our children's hospitals. This is not to disregard the large amounts of good work being done by many people who work

would not be broken. People who get sick should know there will be a bed in the hospital and there would not be a million people on the waiting lists. These are all the services that people rely on. We say we have one of the most successful

teams, including additional optometry and orthoptic resources will help improve access and patient flow. Collaboration with University Hospital Waterford is also delivering practical benefits through the evaluation of waiting lists and the provision of additional clinics. Taken together, these actions demonstrate a co-ordinated focused response. Urgent cases

inpatient appointment. That number rose by more than 25% last year. By any measure, the 2025 waiting list action plan failed. Meanwhile, we are hearing advertisements from private hospitals like Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast. That is no way to run a healthcare service, to see private hospitals

language used in parliamentary questions of late is frustrating and now suggests patients might not be seen until 2030 in the elective hospitals around the country, including that in Cork. It is a commitment in the programme for Government. There is an envelope of €9.25 million under … seen until the end of this decade. It is incredibly frustrating. There are waiting lists out your ears to get appointments for certain procedures in CUH. We have been told repeatedly that the elective hospital in Glanmire will be a gamechanger. We need to get it back

hospital's own facilities were being used. If it were a private facility, that would be fair enough. If a private hospital wants to operate, let it operate. That is grand. I do not have any particular grá for privatised health services but if a private hospital wants … long-term financial problems. It restricts the public information. We must have full transparency to see how hospitals and services are performing and to get a better insight into waiting lists. Without that, public trust will be eroded. I know the Minister was unavoidably absent this morning

list for her son is 55 months. This is a disgrace. The blame for this waiting list lies with the Government. A man from Malahide in his late 80s has been in hospital for over a year. He needs to be at home with appropriate care. A hospital … cannot afford to pay continue to languish in queues waiting for scans, appointments, therapies and operations. The good news is this does not have to be this way. Sinn Féin has a plan to tackle the waiting lists and deliver a national health service for Ireland. We would

Health acknowledges that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. The delay in treatments is of concern, and it is putting a burden on patients and their families. The waiting list action plan 2025 was published in February, representing this Government's continued

some time when measured by people on trolleys. The waiting lists in Cork are absolutely exploding. This is at a time when Irish nurses right across the world are desperate to return home to work in Irish hospitals to do what they can to assist in what … view, still a crisis in our healthcare system. How can it be anything other when we have exploding waiting lists, growing numbers of people on trolleys, and appointments, elective surgeries and diagnostics constantly being postponed and cancelled? I find it difficult to understand why we could even

Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, who I know is committed to reducing waiting lists for both adults and children across all our services be they provided in acute hospitals or in the community. It is important to highlight that the HSE provides free optical services to preschool … recruit optometrists and orthoptists to support the delivery of ophthalmology services. Furthermore, the HSE has undertaken a comprehensive validation exercise of all ophthalmology waiting lists in south Tipperary to support the prioritisation of patients and the planning of additional clinical activity. The HSE remains fully committed to restoring

recommendations from completed reviews, upcoming reports, spinal services and the commissioning of the new children's hospital. It will continue to strongly invest in services and in tackling waiting lists, particularly for spinal procedures, by increasing capacity and substantial resources, and several initiatives are under way to improve

heads. There are sky-high house prices and extortionate rents, and those in need of council housing are spending years and years on waiting lists. The Taoiseach presides over a shameful level of homelessness. We have structural, ongoing, growing homelessness in Ireland at a rate none … looks like. People cannot get the healthcare they need when they need it. Our hospitals and accident and emergency departments are constantly overcrowded. Hundreds of thousands of people languish on treatment waiting lists. The trolley crisis is now a daily occurrence; it is mundane. It is taken

hospital has an average of zero people on hospital trolleys in 2024 and 2025. It has also had a 44% increase in staff, but with a different outcome compared to Kerry hospital. If I take St. Vincent’s University Hospital, which is the closest model 4 hospital … hospital, which I visited last week, has been good enough on its accident and emergency management. It is the rest of the hospital’s responsibility to support the accident and emergency department. A couple of weeks ago, however, it was one of the hospitals on a list

perspective, for us to prioritise the four public elective hospitals, complementing the surgical hubs. I have described this before as reform with a big "R" in the health service. If we really want to reform waiting lists and want to transition to a single-tier health service, with … also at the Oireachtas health committee, issues coming to me almost daily in my constituency, including hip, cataract and hernia procedures. Sometimes people wait over a year. One good friend of mine has been waiting 18 months for a hernia operation. Another friend of mine has been waiting

being referred to other hospitals to free up capacity in CHI. CHI is managing children who require much more complex, and also multistage, surgical interventions. For example, those children may undergo several procedures that may not result in a reduction in waiting list numbers. That is not important … hospital. As the House will be aware, the new children’s hospital is one of the most significant investments in the health and well-being of our children. I recognise, today, for example, that Sinn Féin has introduced a Bill that recognises the naming of the hospital

service that the HSE recruitment policies are preventing it from recruiting the necessary assistants to get those waiting lists down. That also has a knock-on impact on Letterkenny University Hospital. I wish to get a sense of what is happening and why it is happening

This question relates to diagnostic waiting lists and the number of patients waiting for various forms of diagnostic equipment in hospitals across the State. The numbers are quite high, as I am sure the Minister will see. What are her views and plans for how she will reduce

accident and emergency department is regularly at capacity, requiring the hospital to enable surge capacity. This has knock-on effects such as outpatient appointments being cancelled. That is not to mention people on trolleys and waiting lists. Dundalk and Drogheda are two of the largest towns

they received a letter to cancel it yet again. Harvey was in hospital five times that year and saw four different surgeons, and in August 2024, Harvey was removed from that waiting list with no explanation ever being given to his parents after 30 months waiting

wait. I want to give one specific example from my constituency. John is a young man who has been on the urgent outpatient waiting list for an orthopaedic consultant since February 2025. He has been waiting for well over a year and he still cannot get an appointment … cannot simply accept that thousands of people in Cork should remain on an orthopaedic waiting list for months or, in some cases, years. I have been raising this issue directly with hospital management and HSE South West for many months. I welcome the fact that the options

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the waiting list for dentistry services in Cork University Hospital and Cork South Lee, broken down by people waiting by two, three, four and five years. [44404/25

Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the average waiting list timeframe for hip replacement surgery in a hospital (details supplied) by persons waiting six months, 12 months, 18 months and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48253/26

Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Health the average waiting list timeframe for knee replacement surgery in a hospital (details supplied) by persons waiting six months, 12 months, 18 months and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48254/26

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the waiting list for neurology in CUH and the Mercy Hospital, broken down by people waiting 2, 3, 4, and 5 years. [23457/26

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the waiting list for orthopaedics in CUH and the Mercy Hospital, broken down by people waiting by 2, 3, 4 and 5 years. [23458/26

Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the number of persons currently on the waiting list for admission to the Central Mental Hospital; the average length of time each person has been waiting for admission; the number of persons awaiting admission broken down by gender; the average

Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Donegal will have an operation in Letterkenny University Hospital; if they are on the routine or urgent waiting list; if all options are being considered, including referring to another hospital both inside and outside the State

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health the amount of money paid to private hospitals via the NTPF from the outsourcing of waiting list elective in-patient and day-case surgeries at Letterkenny University Hospital, for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. [29148/25

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the waiting list for dentistry services in Cork University Hospital and Cork South Lee, broken down by whether they are waiting by three, six, nine, 12, 18 and 24 months. [44405/25

Minister for Health the number of patients currently attending the podiatry clinic at Merlin Park outpatients clinic at Merlin Park Hospital, Galway city; if a waiting list exists to access the services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [71556/25

Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health the number of prisoners on the waiting list to the Central Mental Hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50888/25

timeline for when she expects to see a comprehensive roll out of a full seven-day roster across the hospital network; when she envisages waiting lists can be sufficiently addressed without the need for insourcing and outsourcing initiatives; the additional number of healthcare staff required to achieve full

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Health to provide a breakdown of average accident and emergency waiting list times, broken down by hospital, in each of the years 2015 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23536/25

Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Health the number of people on waiting lists to access dermatological services in Monaghan Hospital in each of the years 2019 to date, by length of time waiting, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on the waiting list to see each consultant ENT surgeon at Cork University Hospital, by wait time. [5188/25

Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on the waiting list to see a consultant ENT surgeon at Cork University Hospital; the average waiting time for same. [16491/26

Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on the waiting list to see a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the Mater Hospital; and the average waiting time to see the consultants for first appointments. [71765/25

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Health the amount of money paid to private hospitals via the national treatment purchase fund from the outsourcing of waiting list elective in-patient and day-case surgeries at Kerry University Hospital, for the years

Health the position regarding the number of consultant rheumatologists serving Cork University Hospital (CUH) and South Infirmary - Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH); the position regarding current waiting lists for patients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37295/26

Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Health the number of people on the waiting list for colonoscopies at Letterkenny University Hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25504/26

Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Health the number of people on the waiting list for colonoscopies at Sligo University Hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25505/26

Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Health the details of the number of people on waiting lists to see a nephrologist, by hospital; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [74176/25

asked the Minister for Health the number of staff and the grade employed in cardiology at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda; if there is a waiting list for this unit; and the number of staff vacancies within the department. [74755/25

Minister for Health how the role of physician associates fits within current and future healthcare workforce planning, particularly in acute hospitals experiencing staff shortages and long waiting lists. [2144/26

Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Health the number of patients that are currently on waiting lists for joint replacements at Tullamore Hospital; the breakdown of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62961/25