Results 32,301-32,320 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The relatives of those who died deserve the truth. Ultimately, that is what they are seeking and they have every right to it. We have to deal with the reality in this country of what happens when public inquiries are set up. What tends to happen is everyone involved goes and gets lawyers. People go straight to the High Court and get injunctions stating they cannot be questioned and have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I recognise the ongoing advocacy from the Deputies on this issue. I ask Deputy O'Dowd to reflect on a charge he has made here today. I do not think it is worthy of him. I take that charge very seriously and I ask him to-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Like him and all of us, I take all of these lives seriously, regardless of anyone's age or anybody's background. That has nothing to do with it. I have met the families from Dealgan House and I have committed, and am happy to reiterate that commitment, to assist them in seeking answers to what happened to their loved ones. They have every right to that. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his question. To recognise their unique role during the pandemic, the Government announced the recognition payment for eligible healthcare workers. Eligibility guidelines are required. Those guidelines, as they apply to the HSE and section 39 organisations, are on the HSE website. I am happy that more than 124,000 workers have been paid. We are fast-tracking those...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: It is being done organisation by organisation and, therefore, there is nothing that any individual has to do. The HSE is engaging directly with the section 39 organisations. It has service-level agreements in place with a great many of them. Through them, it is engaging with the organisations. The HSE is providing them with the criteria and identifying the organisations that qualify....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I acknowledge that when we are trying to make a payment, which is a €1,000 tax-free payment that does make a difference to people, there is no amount that could fully recognise the work that people have done. However, it is a recognition and it is good by international standards, compared to what other European countries have done. There is no doubt that there are going to be workers...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his ongoing advocacy in getting the Bill across the line as quickly as possible. The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 passed Second Stage in the Dáil in March, as he will be aware, and was referred to the Oireachtas Select Committee on Health for Committee Stage. The legislation encompasses the regulation, for the first time in this country, of a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to make two points. The first is that in terms of what we want to amend, we have talked about surrogacy looking into the future, but there is also an issue about retrospective recognition, and parental recognition in respect of surrogacy arrangements undertaken prior to this Bill. That is something we have to do. I want that brought in, if at all possible, through Committee Stage...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank both Deputies. I am more than happy to meet representatives of the AHR professional group. They are having important meetings with the officials at the moment. It is a technical matter, clinically and legislatively, and they are working through that. I gather they are having a good engagement. Of course, I am very happy to meet representatives of that group. In response to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I join Deputy Danny Healy-Rae in acknowledging the extraordinary work that Kerry Parents and Friends Association provides. It provides critical services to adults with intellectual disabilities in the Deputy’s constituency, including day services, residential services, respite and outreach services. I am advised that the association has identified funding challenges to the HSE due to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I assure the Deputy, on my behalf, on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who has responsibility for disabilities, and on behalf of the Government, the work the association in Kerry does is acknowledged and hugely appreciated. Over €13 million of funding from the Government is provided to the association for the fantastic work that it does. On top of that, it was one...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: With regard to the funding for this winter, there is a service level agreement in place between the association and the HSE. This will be used with this section 39 organisation and all the others to determine their portion of the €60 million to €65 million provided just for the disability sector. That is a very significant amount. Broadly, the organisations will be able to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The HSE public dental service provides care for children up to 16 years of age. It includes emergency care, a fissure sealant programme and care for orthodontics. There have, as the Deputy correctly said, been significant delays in the provision of these services. These were significant before Covid-19 arrived and, as with many other patient...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: While we need to keep going, what has been done this year? A number of community healthcare organisations, CHOs, have already run recruitment initiatives to fill the vacancies that exist. Vacancies equivalent to approximately 72 whole-time equivalent staff have been filled so far this year. That is very welcome progress. The HSE dental service recently held a recruitment event. It...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Dental Services (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. I agree with all he has said. There are several layers to what we are doing. One is prevention. The programme we are now bringing in for children from birth up to seven years of age is really exciting. The second layer is building additional capacity in our public health service, which we have discussed, and the third is modernisation and reform. This is why we are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Nursing Homes (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I ask that the Deputy bear with me for just one second. I apologise.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Nursing Homes (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Nursing Homes (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The timelines will be worked through once we see the options. As we discussed earlier, families, some of whom I have met, have very reasonable and important questions. Essentially, they want to know what happened. In some cases, their loved ones died during the first Covid surge and they were faced with unimaginable difficulties in desperately trying to find out what was going on when not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Nursing Homes (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy's final point is very important. Have we systematically looked at what did and did not work and made decisions to improve protections? The answer is that we have. The expert nursing home group was put in place and came back with some very comprehensive recommendations. There has been full support from the Government and a lot of investment through the budgets. Those...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2022)

Stephen Donnelly: Your solution is a blank cheque to the energy companies.