Results 14,401-14,420 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: How about we all speak with one voice in calling out the xenophobia and racism and say that Ireland is doing everything it can? While our response is imperfect, we are doing everything we can to welcome people into our country, provide the children with education and provide the men, women and children with access to healthcare. Over 50,000 medical cards have been provided and we have...

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: -----which is why we are building more social homes than have ever been built.

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: More needs to be done and the Government is bending the resources of the State to that. However, could we please, for once, speak with exactly the unity Deputy Boyd Barrett talks about, call out the racism, bigotry, xenophobia and hatred and say to these men, women and children that they are welcome here-----

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: -----and that we will do everything we can to protect them? We will not get it all right but by God we will keep trying.

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will talk about the health sector response shortly, but I want to respond to some of the allegations I have just heard. It is extraordinary. People would think that colleagues opposite are the only people in here who care about people in this country. Deputy Bríd Smith spoke about feeding the myths, the lies and the hatred and yet she came in here and did exactly that.

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Deputy Boyd Barrett talked about unity and solidarity. He said he does not want people to fall for the tricks of the far right and then he laid out tricks of the far left. He said we should not conflate real social problems that everyone in this House cares about with xenophobia and racism. He then spent his entire speech conflating those two things. I have sat beside the Taoiseach...

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: He should think about that and for once reflect on the fact that there may be other people elected to our national Parliament who care about the citizens of this country and the people we invite into this country.

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy is very good at coming in here and accusing people of all sorts of things. He is very good at accusing the Government of not caring about the citizens of Ireland. However, he does not like it when people in government point out exactly what he is doing. I have the height of respect for Deputy Boyd Barrett and always have. He has essentially presented the march on Saturday as a...

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: -----and say there is no place in our country for racism, there is no place in this country for xenophobia and those who protest at places where children have fled from war in Ukraine. Those who protest outside on the streets are cowards and thugs in my opinion.

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Why do we not actually act with unity and solidarity, and keep these two issues separate?

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us speak with one voice on the fact that we must protect those fleeing persecution-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Dental Services (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: There are challenges in the provision of dental services and patients of all ages are waiting longer than they should to access care. This is not acceptable, but we are responding. This year, an additional €15 million was allocated in the budget to specifically deal with the issue. It is an unprecedented increase. Some €4 million of the allocation will target orthodontic...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Dental Services (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will make two points specifically on the DTSS. The first is that the fee structure did not keep pace with inflation and we saw a lot of dentists leave the scheme as a result. There are issues related to the administrative burden of the scheme but they have been a factor for a long time. In response to that, we significantly increased the fees paid to dentists, by between 40% and 60% per...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Dental Services (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: There was an issue with regard to young people which was driven in part by Covid. The school-based schemes were affected by Covid. Money is being put in to catch up on those schemes. The Deputy will be aware that, critically, I funded a new scheme this year. That will be very important in years to come. Almost €5 million has been provided for a preventative scheme for children...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Medicinal Products (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy asked if Ireland was more affected than other countries. This is something we have been looking at. There are some commercial entities that have been suggesting it, linking it to them potentially getting paid more money for their products. There is no evidence to suggest that Ireland is more adversely affected by the current global medicine shortage than anywhere else. The HPRA...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Medicinal Products (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The HPRA is doing a very good job. It is very actively engaged in this and I am open to seeing if there is a wider role it can play or more it can do. The HPRA publishes a list of shortages. It would be useful if it could show that in many of these cases, for example, it might be that the 12-pack of a medication is not available but the 24-pack is. The real squeeze is therefore...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Medicinal Products (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will get the Deputy a detailed note to ensure this information is correct. My understanding is that once a woman has a prescription from her obstetrician that the repeat prescriptions can then be filled by the GP. Under the scheme introduced this year, the product is provided completely free of charge. I will, however, get the Deputy a detailed note just in case there are some nuances...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Medicinal Products (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not know if "prescriptionable" is a word. It is now and will be forever recorded as such. My understanding is that it is up to any company to apply for market authorisation and to apply to be added to the reimbursement list. I think this would be the best solution to this. We have well established processes, clinical governance, safety reviews and contract negotiations in place,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Medicinal Products (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the question. He will be aware that many of the recent medicine shortages were caused by an exceptional increase in demand for certain products to treat winter illnesses; in some cases this demand was two to three times greater than the same period in previous years. This demand was seen right across Europe and around the world. I am pleased to be able to inform the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Medicinal Products (16 Feb 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his question. He will be aware that I secured funding of €1.3 million in budget 2023 to provide reimbursement support for Cariban, which I think is at the heart of his question. Cariban has been available since the beginning of the year for women suffering from hyperemesis, which is a severe form of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy that affects about 1% of...