Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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22. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Covid-19 will next meet. [60869/22]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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23. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [1184/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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24. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [1568/23]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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25. To ask the Taoiseach if he will outline the work that has been carried out to establish an inquiry into the State’s handling of the Covid-19 which he announced in January 2023; the timeline for this inquiry; and the scope and nature of the inquiry. [1880/23]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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26. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Covid-19 will next meet. [1881/23]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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27. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [2028/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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28. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [2119/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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29. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet [3346/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 to 29, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on health is due to meet on 13 February. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and of Cabinet committees, I meet Ministers on an individual basis to focus on different issues.

I met with the Minister for Health and HSE leadership team just before Christmas to discuss the pressures being experienced across our hospitals, particularly in emergency departments around the country. This pressure resulted from an exceptionally high level of three respiratory viruses in circulation in the community, namely influenza, Covid-19 and RSV. The current challenges facing the health service have also been discussed at meetings of the full Cabinet each week, including a memo today brought by the Minister on emergency department overcrowding.

While trolley numbers have fallen significantly since the start of the month, the number of patients on trolleys is still unacceptable and much higher than we would like. Every effort is being made to bring about further reductions over the coming weeks.

Budget 2023 provides the highest allocation of funding for health and social care in the history of the State. It is designed to facilitate better access to affordable, high-quality healthcare and further advance our ambition to achieve universal health care for all, as set out in the Sláintecare plan. We are committed to continuing to expand the core capacity of our acute hospitals, with more health professionals and more acute hospital beds. We have almost 1,000 more acute hospital beds than we had just three years ago and 6,500 more doctors and nurses.

We are also reforming how and where we provide services. The enhanced community care programme continues to develop healthcare at a more local level. Work is progressing on the establishment of six new regional health areas and elective care centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway, as well as surgical hubs in the interim.

On the Cabinet committee on Covid-19, the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic has evolved from an emergency approach to one which is appropriately mainstreamed and targeted at mitigating the severe impacts of Covid-19 on the population. Consequently, responsibility for Covid-19 now falls within the remit of the Cabinet committee on health.

On the State's handling of Covid-19, a comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed Covid-19 will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experiences in dealing with the pandemic, something that is being done in other countries. It will help to ensure that we are in a better and stronger position if and when another pandemic or another similar type of health emergency befalls us. It is intended to establish this in 2023.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The independent review from the Mental Health Commission makes it clear that the failures identified in Kerry CAMHS last year are, sadly, reflected across the community health organisation network. I heard the Taoiseach say earlier that there is a plan to appoint a clinical lead in this area. I have to put to him that much more than that needs to be done, and done urgently. As with disability services, the ageing out of children and young people once they hit 18 years of age is an issue. There is also the fact that children and young people have been lost in the system, inconsistency in the rates of referral across regional services and a lack of any integrated system. I want to put it to him, in the limited time I have, that funding has to be increased in this area and ring-fenced. We also need new regulations under the Mental Health Act, focused on regulating CAMHS, to include national standards for monitoring the use of antipsychotic medication for children and young people.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The Tánaiste that told the Dáil that the situation in our child and adolescent mental health services was unacceptable. A couple of weeks ago the Taoiseach pronounced that the situation in our emergency departments was unacceptable. I put it to him that it is time for him and his Government to own their mistakes and disasters. They are not bystanders casually viewing these crises from another planet or from afar. Can the Taoiseach outline the steps he intends to take to stop further harm being done to vulnerable young people in those services, tackle the unacceptable waiting lists for those services and cut across a potential worsening of the situation as psychiatrists retire and the flow of new graduates is insufficient to maintain even current levels of service?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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There were 18 hospital protests around the country last Saturday in probably one of the most widespread and largest campaigns throughout the country in terms of what is happening in the health service. Tens of thousands of people marched in different sites, which is wonderful to see.

The Taoiseach mentioned overcrowding in accident and emergency departments. It is not happening because pesky people are getting sick too often. It is important to say that. Accident and emergency overcrowding is happening because of a lack of accident and emergency capacity in the State. Some 6,000 beds have been closed since 2008. There are 30% too few GPs. There are 700 fewer consultants than there should be. Incredibly, the Government has closed eight accident and emergency departments in the past 15 years. People cannot understand why the Government cannot join the dots between the accident and emergency capacity crisis and Government policies to close accident and emergency departments throughout the country.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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At the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020, 23 people died tragically in Dealgan House nursing home in Dundalk. Unlike other nursing homes, it was taken over by the RCSI hospital group. Families have been persistent in trying to get to the truth and much is in the public domain because of this. They met the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and have been promised a mechanism to offer them the truth and closure they need. They want a public inquiry into what happened at Dealgan House. The Taoiseach has spoken about the need for an inquiry into the State's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. We need a timeline and to know what work will be done and what the remit will be.

Is there a chance that these families will get a mechanism to provide them with the truth and with closure? Will the State learn lessons in relation to this pandemic?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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On the issue of health in the context of the Cabinet committee, I raised earlier the unacceptable failures in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS. We have continued to see unacceptable conditions in our health service over the winter season, with thousands of people marching across the country at the weekend. There were especially big crowds in Limerick and Navan, which the Labour Party was proud to support. Years of under-resourcing have put lives at risk and a full security audit is now required. The INMO have called for this after the awful fatal assault on an 89 year old man in the Mercy University Hospital, Cork. Our thoughts are with his family. Will the Taoiseach commit to the holding of a security audit of our hospitals? There has not been one since 2016. For years healthcare workers have had to endure attacks and assaults and it is deeply worrying that patients are unsafe.

Finally, I want to ask about the availability of a specific antibody drug called Evusheld. I have been contacted by people affected by chronic lymphocytic leukemia about the need for more supports to protect patients. The antibody drug Evusheld was rejected by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, due to cost but is available in other EU countries and has saved the lives of many people whose immune systems have not been working well. We know that those who are immunocompromised are particularly worried about the rise in respiratory illnesses over the past month or so.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Taoiseach has just over a minute to respond.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The failings in CAMHS was mentioned again and I addressed this earlier in response to Deputy Bacik's question during Leaders Questions. I accept the assertion that action is urgently needed. Deputy McDonald is absolutely right about that. Funding has been increased and will be increased further. Staffing levels have almost doubled in the past ten years and they will be increased more. We are going to appoint a new national clinical lead for youth mental health so that there is better clinical governance and clinical leadership. There will also be an assistant national director for youth mental health so that there is better management. There will be a new consultant contract, which is very attractive by international standards, which will hopefully lead to the recruitment of more psychiatrists. We also need to develop from a psychiatric-led model of youth mental health care but that is an issue for another day. We will give consideration to the Mental Health Commission's recommendation that it be given regulatory oversight of youth mental health services. That is a good idea on the face of it but we need to do due diligence on it.

Deputy Tóibín spoke about emergency department overcrowding which happens for lots of different reasons. It is related to capacity in hospitals; there are not enough beds but we are increasing the number of beds every year. It is also about community care and making sure that people can get out of hospital more quickly and are less likely to end up in hospital in the first place. It is also about patient flow and making sure that when patients are admitted, they get the tests and treatments they need in two or three days, not five or six days. The average length of stay in Ireland could be reduced further. The overcrowding is also happening against a backdrop of a rising population and one that is increasingly ageing. We have the highest life expectancy in all of the European Union now. That is in part a reflection of the quality of much of our health service. Of course, we are also seeing increasing frailty.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up.