Results 341-360 of 372 for speaker:Pádraig Rice

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Healthcare Policy (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I am deeply concerned about the state of transgender healthcare services. In 2022, Ireland was found to have the worst transgender healthcare services in all of the EU by Transgender Europe, TGEU. The only dedicated gender clinic has approximately 2,000 people on the waiting list. Only 162 were removed last year. Waiting times are between three years and ten years, which is not...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Healthcare Policy (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I thank the Minister. The pace of change is far too slow. This issue has been going on for many years. We need an acceleration and the delivery of high-quality services for people across the country. The current system is operating on an outdated model. As the Minister said, in 2019 the WHO reclassified transgender healthcare as a sexual health issue. Despite this, the services are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Healthcare Policy (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I fundamentally believe that the new model of care must be in line with the WHO guidelines. It must use an informed consent model and be delivered in the community, which is crucial. There are models in place in other countries that we can look to, including in Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Malta, Canada and parts of the United States. They are already operating this model of care....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Strategies (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 118. To ask the Minister for Health the date on which she will publish the new national sexual health strategy; the reason for the continued delay in doing so; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24091/25]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Strategies (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: It is ten years since the first sexual health strategy was published. That strategy expired three years ago and has still not been replaced. I raised this issue two months ago in the Dáil and was told it would be launched quite soon. Is the strategy still at design stage or has it been submitted to the Government for approval?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Strategies (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: It is great news that the strategy will be launched. I am looking forward to engaging with it and seeing the detail. When I raised this issue last time, the Minister of State talked about how stigma is a big issue and I agree with her on that. Services are also really important, however, and I think we can reduce stigma by having better services and supports for people. We need to make...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Strategies (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: We have huge innovations in the area of HIV - on PrEP, PEP and rapid testing - but I think we are not seizing the moment here. We could potentially end HIV transmissions in this country if we massively invested in this. People are waiting far too long to get access to PrEP clinics. There is a real chance here to have a game-changing moment, and I urge the Minister of State to seize that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Home Care Packages (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 123. To ask the Minister for Health to provide an update on the programme for Government commitment to design a statutory home care scheme, the timeline she is working towards, and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24093/25]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Home Care Packages (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: My question concerns the statutory right to home care. In 2017, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, said home care needed to be placed on a statutory footing. The same year, the then Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Deputy Helen McEntee, said a statutory right to home care and necessary regulations would be delivered in two to three years. Eight years...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Home Care Packages (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: It has been a year since the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that the delay was due to the funding model. At the time, the Minister of State said the nut had not been cracked on financing the scheme. In February 2025, the Minister for Health told me no final decision on future funding had been made and that further research was under way to enhance...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Home Care Packages (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I know that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Home Care Packages (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: It is taking far too long. The Social Democrats have concerns about the financialisation of elder care. In 2020, at the height of Covid, Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar said the model of care for older people had to change. Since then, the very large-scale commercial nursing home model has increased despite the fact it was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose. Ireland, alongside England,...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: Next week marks the tenth anniversary of the momentous marriage equality referendum, which was a landmark moment in our social and political history. Today, ILGA-Europe published its report ranking European countries on LGBT human rights and policy protections. Ireland was ranked 14th on that list, which is mid-ranking. There are significant gaps in access to trans healthcare, gaps around...

Driving Test Wait Times: Statements (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: The waiting time for the driving test needs to be treated like the emergency it is. The situation is getting worse, not better. As of April, the average wait time for the Wilton driving test centre in Cork was 35 weeks. In March, the relevant figure was 31 weeks. For the test centre in Mallow, the average wait time is 36 weeks, which is nine months. These are not just numbers. They...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 106. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will respond to matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); if he will request his Department to investigate this matter to ensure that all inspections are fulfilling their legal obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24714/25]

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 175. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 1897 of 29 April 2025, when the review to the provision of core funding scheme will take place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24743/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Service Executive (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 199. To ask the Minister for Health to provide further details in respect of the role and responsibilities of the new HSCP regional integration development leads in each HSE health region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24701/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 200. To ask the Minister for Health if she will direct Children’s Health Ireland to carry out a retrospective communication campaign to formally notify all families of children and young people who have ever received MAGEC rod implants of a field safety notice (FSN) issued by a manufacturer in December 2021, including those patients whose rods have been removed or who have aged out of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 203. To ask the Minister for Health if Children’s Health Ireland obtained explicit, informed consent from each family prior to a clinical decision being made to leave MAGEC rods in place to fuse in situ; if this consent process included the provision of written information outlining the known increased risks of adverse events associated with prolonged implantation beyond two years as...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances (14 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 204. To ask the Minister for Health if the use of MAGEC rods left to fuse in situ beyond two years in patients under the care of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions for use, was treated as off-label use under EU Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) 2017/745; if CHI ensured that a documented clinical justification was made; if families...