Topics / Healthcare Policy

A subject heading for parliamentary questions

Healthcare Policy

999 questions from 121 TDs, between 22 January 2025 and 22 October 2026.

999
questions
990 written, 9 oral
121
TDs have asked
10
parties and groups
Independents counted together
6
departments asked

Questions per month

The record holds no questions for August, when the Dáil does not sit.

Jan 2025Oct 2026
Show as a table
MonthQuestions
January 202512
February 202523
March 202528
April 202522
May 202535
June 202536
July 202534
August 20250
September 202574
October 202524
November 202554
December 202528
January 202650
February 202673
March 202662
April 202691
May 2026147
June 202697
July 202633
August 20260
September 202626
October 202650

Who asks, by party

The party each TD belonged to on the day, in alphabetical order. Parties differ a lot in size, and members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them, so this shows who raised it, not how much a party cares about it.

  • Aontú25 from 2 TDs · 2 seats today
  • Fianna Fáil199 from 35 TDs · 48 seats today
  • Fine Gael162 from 20 TDs · 38 seats today
  • Green Party6 from 1 TD · 1 seat today
  • Independent42 from 6 TDs · 15 seats today
  • Independent Ireland258 from 3 TDs · 4 seats today
  • Labour Party70 from 10 TDs · 11 seats today
  • People Before Profit-Solidarity30 from 3 TDs · 3 seats today
  • Sinn Féin118 from 30 TDs · 39 seats today

The TDs who asked most

Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them. Each question counts once.

  1. 247
  2. 51
  3. 39
  4. 38
  5. 31
  6. 25
  7. 20
  8. 17

Asked of

Debated under the same heading

Debates whose official heading is exactly these words.

The questions

Naoise Ó Muirí Written 21 May 2026 · to Health
358. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Health the status of the review of the long-term illness scheme; if she will consider the inclusion of myasthenia gravis on the list of qualifying conditions; if her Department has assessed the financial and medical impact on older and vulnerable patients who require ongoing treatment such as mestinon up to four times daily; and if she will make a statement on the mat…
Robert Troy Written 20 May 2026 · to Health
247. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Health if she will urgently expedite an appointment for surgery for a person (details supplied); the reason this surgery has been cancelled on three occasions; and if she will ensure there will be no further cancellations in this case. [38008/26]
Mairéad Farrell Written 20 May 2026 · to Health
248. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Health following the Pans Pandas event in Brussels (details supplied), if she will commit to meet families in Ireland affected by Pans Pandas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38026/26]
Pádraig O'Sullivan Written 20 May 2026 · to Health
260. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health when the next iteration of the Ireland's Future Health and Social Care Workforce planning model will be published; whether supply and demand projections will be extended in that iteration to cover dentists, radiographers, radiation therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians, and social care workers, all of which were excluded f…
Barry Ward Written 20 May 2026 · to Health
279. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Health the position regarding the estimated cost to provide midwives, paediatric nurses, healthcare assistants and other relevant front-line staff to undertake the HSEL and breastfeeding module; and whether there are plans to expand uptake of this training nationally; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38117/26]
Emer Currie Written 20 May 2026 · to Health
282. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Health if Ireland has assessed the economic impact of untreated glaucoma and other vision problems across the population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38149/26]
Paul Lawless Written 20 May 2026 · to Health
305. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Health her views on a patient with a history of osteoporosis who is faced with a wait of over a year for a publicly funded DEXA scan while being offered immediate access on payment of €100 (details supplied); whether this practice undermines the principle of care being provided on the basis of medical need rather than ability to pay; and the action she will take to ensu…
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
964. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any internal HSE operational manual, assessment framework, decision-support document, checklist, or staff guidance exists for officials administering the Treatment Abroad Scheme beyond the EU Regulations themselves; and if so, if copies will be provided. [36560/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
965. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether officials administering the treatment abroad scheme are required to follow any standardised evidential criteria when assessing whether treatment is unavailable within the State or unavailable within a clinically appropriate timeframe. [36561/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
966. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any audit, quality assurance, peer review, or consistency-review mechanism exists for treatment abroad scheme eligibility determinations; and if so, to provide details. [36562/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
967. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any appeals, reconsideration, or secondary review process exists for applicants refused approval under the treatment abroad scheme; and if so, to provide details of the process and annual refusal figures since 2020. [36563/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
968. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any category-specific governance arrangements apply to overseas referrals under the treatment abroad scheme involving gender-related healthcare interventions, including enhanced approval, audit, safeguarding, or specialist review requirements. [36564/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
969. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of officials or clinical advisers currently involved in assessing treatment abroad scheme applications and whether any formal training programme or accreditation process applies to those making eligibility determinations. [36565/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
970. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE maintains any central database recording the clinical category, destination country, expenditure, approval rationale, and outcome of treatment abroad scheme referrals; and if not, whether the absence of such data has been identified as a governance risk. [36566/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
971. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any procedures funded under the treatment abroad scheme are classified internally by the HSE as elective, quality-of-life enhancing, cosmetic, experimental, or non-urgent; and if she will provide the classification framework used. [36567/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
973. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any independent value-for-money review has ever been conducted specifically on the treatment abroad scheme; if so, to provide the dates and findings; and if not, why not. [36569/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
974. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any national consistency review is carried out to assess whether similar clinical cases receive similar treatment abroad scheme approval outcomes across different hospitals or consultants. [36570/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
975. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department has assessed the governance implications of approving overseas procedures in the absence of a nationally agreed definition of "medical necessity". [36571/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
976. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department intends to establish a national classification framework distinguishing medically necessary procedures from elective or quality-of-life procedures for public funding purposes. [36572/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
977. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the treatment abroad scheme is subject to any formal fraud-risk assessment, expenditure-risk scoring, or internal audit programme specific to high-cost referrals. [36573/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
978. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Department or HSE has carried out any benchmarking comparing the cost of overseas treatments funded under the treatment abroad scheme against equivalent domestic provision or alternative care pathways. [36575/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
979. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any external clinical advisory body or independent review panel exists for disputed or high-cost treatment abroad scheme applications. [36576/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
980. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE or her Department maintains any database, framework, or internal assessment comparing the average cost of treatments funded under the treatment abroad scheme across different jurisdictions. [36578/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
981. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any analysis has been carried out on whether equivalent procedures funded under the treatment abroad scheme could be accessed at lower cost in alternative jurisdictions within the EU, UK or Switzerland. [36579/26]
Ken O'Flynn Written 19 May 2026 · to Health
982. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any formal value-for-money methodology applies when approving treatment locations under the treatment abroad scheme. [36580/26]