Results 48,601-48,620 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy has asked some new questions that are pertinent to patient safety in UHL. We might ask the Chair for a little indulgence in terms of the clock. The claims being made about staff vacancies and patient safety are disputed by me, the Department, the chief nurse and the HSE. I have written to the unions and asked for a list of these 2,000 alleged vacant posts. We have not got it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I commit to getting a note on haemodialysis. The following is relevant to all members and goes to the heart of this. The Deputy asked will it be a question of which region shouts the loudest. The region, quite rightly, that has had the biggest per capita increase in investment in healthcare in the time of this Government is the mid-west. The region that has had the biggest increase in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: To the Senator's opening point regarding Ian Carter, I have accepted it. With the greatest respect, if the Senator really wanted Ian Carter here, he should have invited him here.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: With respect, the Senator is going over it too. I have already accepted the point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: If the Senator is that keen to talk to Ian Carter, he is more than capable of inviting Ian Carter. That is the only thing I would say. I have accepted the point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: As regards any specific changes and considerations with regard to the terms of reference for the HIQA review, I would need to go back and look at the paperwork involved. I do not believe I could give an answer here that would be satisfactory to the Senator. I cannot point to individual lines or clauses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: As I was saying earlier on, an interim report will be coming to me in February. The Senator is perfectly entitled to challenge me. I fully accept that. The only challenge I would make back is that his party held the office of Minister for Health from 2011 to 2020 and it is only now that a HIQA review is being carried out. While I accept the urgency of this matter, with respect, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I will provide a clarification. It is relevant to the question the Senator is asking. Deputy Shortall stated earlier that HIQA recommended another emergency department and model 3 hospital in 2022 or 2023.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: That has been checked and the advice I have been given is that HIQA did not make such a recommendation. It did not recommend a second emergency department. I mention that for clarity. If the advice I am getting is incorrect, that is absolutely fine, but that is the advice I have. My view is that there is a strong case for a second emergency department in the mid-west. That is why I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: It was both. They get agreed between the Department and HIQA.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: It was definitely me and my Department. I believe HIQA was looking for the same thing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: We will get a note to the Deputy on the matter if that would help.

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not have an opening statement prepared. I thank the committee for facilitating today. I was keen for us to accelerate this legislation on the off-chance that the election is not in March of next year. It has the potential to save an awful lot of lives over many, many years. I thank colleagues for facilitating the session today.

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Cullinane. I agree with the broad thrust of what the amendments do, which is in part to say, let us continue with the targeted research and also to explore other ways we can reduce harm. One of the specific ways the Deputy has looked at is the reduction of nicotine content or "denicotinisation", which is a new word to me.

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the thrust of what Deputy Cullinane is trying to achieve. I am not going to accept the amendments, not because I do not agree with what he is saying, but because we can go broader than this. I got a briefing from the Department in response to the Deputy's amendments. There are two points to make. One is we are doing the research all the time. The research is ongoing, be it...

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: On 10 September, I brought a memorandum to the Cabinet on the proposed vaping legislation. I now have Government approval to draft the Bill. A comprehensive heads of Bill document is in place. My officials, including the two officials with me today, have put a lot of work into that. It was more complex than I originally envisaged. When we are restricting packaging and colouring, there is...

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: No. It is the opposite.

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The official advice from the HSE for smokers is not to take up vaping but to use nicotine replacement therapy, NRT. As the Deputy is aware, we have made those products free. The initial indications are positive in terms of the impact that is having. What the Minister, Deputy Chambers, did by way of taxation is consistent with our public health position, which is not to move people from...

Select Committee on Health: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2024)

Stephen Donnelly: The HSE view, and, obviously, it knows what it is talking about from a clinical perspective, is that the way to help people give up smoking is through smoking cessation programmes, NRT, etc. Speaking personally, I know people who have moved from cigarettes to vapes. I believe them when they say that if vapes did not exist, they would be smoking. In the UK, there is a focus on vaping as an...