Results 1-20 of 27,427 for speaker:David Cullinane

Haulage Costs for SMEs: Statements (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I do not think the Minister of State or the Government get it at all. People outside this building wonder whether they live in a bubble and whether they have any understanding of what it is like for ordinary families. The Government initiated these statements on the issues and rising costs affecting the haulage industry when the Government is responsible for those same rising costs. What...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: 77. To ask the Minister for Health her plans to reduce waiting lists for diagnostic scans; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64613/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: 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 those wait times and the number of people who are waiting for a diagnostic scan?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: The most recent figures are that almost 300,000 people are on a waiting list for a diagnostic scan. Over 77,000 of those have been waiting more than a year and over 46,000 have been waiting more than 18 months. That is far in excess of any Sláintecare targets. I gave examples earlier of CT scanners and other diagnostic equipment that is not being fully utilised, partly because we do...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I took an active interest in the area of diagnostics after my mother passed. She went for a check in an emergency department and was told she would have to wait for possibly 12 to 18 months for a CT scan. We had the money to send her privately. She had that scan done in a matter of weeks, was diagnosed with cancer and, unfortunately, within a year had passed away. I know how important it...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cancer Services (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: The Irish Cancer Society was before the Oireachtas health committee a number of weeks ago. It raised very serious concerns in relation to major delays in diagnostics and treatment, particularly in the areas of colonoscopy, breast and prostate clinics, imaging, surgery and radiation therapy. It raised concerns about severe staffing shortages in radiology, cancer nursing and radiation...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cancer Services (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I fully understand that cancer services go beyond the national cancer strategy. Of course that is the case. Across all of our acute hospitals, cancer services are provided that are outside the remit of the national cancer strategy. That strategy is also important in bringing together stakeholders. It is meant to bring consistency in services and it looks at where gaps are and so on. I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cancer Services (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: 75. To ask the Minister for Health the level of new funding to be made available for the national cancer strategy; if she will implement multi-annual funding frameworks in 2026; when a review of the strategy will commence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64612/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cancer Services (20 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: My first question is in relation to the national cancer strategy. The Minister might be aware the Irish Cancer Society has been raising concerns over the past number of weeks and months in relation to access to diagnostics, staffing shortages across cancer centres and cancer services but also insufficient and inconsistent funding for the national cancer strategy. The Minister might outline...

Health Information Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I support the amendment, but I will pretty quickly make a point about the digital transformation of healthcare. This is something the Joint Committee on Health has spent a lot of time looking at over the past number of years. I will not rehearse all of the arguments, because we know we have a long road to travel. There is a direction of travel now with summary care records. It will take...

Health Information Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: On the issue of voluntary hospitals, as the Minister has raised it, I raised this issue with the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, when he appeared before the health committee last week, as well as with Derek Tierney, the assistant secretary in the Department of Health. I have seen media reports of attempts to make sure the voluntary hospitals play ball in relation to the integrated financial...

Health Information Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I have a final point on this issue. I do not want to hold up the discussion on the Bill itself. I have read media reports between tensions between the Minister and some of voluntary hospitals. I do not want to get into that because I do not know the accuracy of it and I am not really that interested in it, in any event. The only interest I have is that the voluntary hospitals are fully...

Health Information Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I will not hold the Minister up on this. I would say we will get through this very quickly. It is a technical amendment and the Minister is right. It is the only section of the Bill that has not been commenced, but obviously it is an important section. As the Minister said, it gives the chief inspector the discretionary powers to commission an investigation, and that is an important part...

Health Information Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: We are into next year, I take it.

Health Information Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: It is very controversial.

Paediatric Spinal Surgery Waiting Lists: Statements (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: In 2017, the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, made a promise to children with scoliosis and spina bifida that long waiting lists would essentially end and that children would no longer wait in pain, deteriorate or lose the chance of life-changing and, in some cases, life-saving intervention. He promised that no child would be left waiting longer than four months for surgery. Since then, as we...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister and the Minister of State. First of all, I will make the point that I have been on the health committee for five years or more, I have seen lots of committee sessions on Revised Estimates, and there is a gap or a hole in the health budget almost every year. It has got smaller this year, thankfully, but we have had years where it has been much more significant. I have...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: It is the case that cost inflation would form part of what is called existing levels of service.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (19 Nov 2025)

David Cullinane: I know the percentage would vary but it is one of the factors when we look at how much money the health service needs every year. Before we look at new measures, there is additional funding needed simply for the health service to stand still. There are pensions and pay-----