Results 8,181-8,200 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for his contribution and questions and I look forward to working with him. I agree that the structure of the Estimates is difficult to interpret. I have expressed myself on the record for many years on this. We need to find better ways of providing this information to the Oireachtas. One of the most important roles of the Oireachtas is to hold the Government to account...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Kelly for his offer of support. We worked together well on the health committee and I hope we will continue to do so. I wrote down many questions but I missed some because I was still writing. I will get the Deputy detailed responses in writing and I am happy to meet him to discuss them. I agree with the Deputy on the presentation of financial data and we have covered...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Shortall for her kind words and look forward to working with her and everybody else. The Deputy said quite fairly that if we are serious about accelerating Sláintecare, then we will work together. To be unambiguous, we are deadly serious about and committed to Sláintecare. It is the pathway to universal healthcare, the introduction of which is ultimately our...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, absolutely. The Deputy's question about the roadmap for the resumption of services is one that I have also asked. My understanding is that it will not be ready next week and may take several more weeks. It is something I will be looking into with urgency. I will get back to the Deputy when I know more. On the question of whether legislation is required in respect of foreign...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I was asking the same question last week and I will get back to the Deputy on it. It is something that needs to be looked at in a lot more detail.

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Kenny for his comments. I am sure we will agree on many things because we are all committed to universal healthcare. That is the goal. We all want to stabilise the system, get through Covid, deal with the reduction in capacity and make sure people can get healthcare when they need it. I am sure we will disagree on plenty of the details but I think we probably agree on the...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for his kind words. The private hospital deal ends today. As of tomorrow, there is no deal in place but we are looking at a new arrangement with private providers as a short-term measure to ensure we can replace lost capacity in the public system while dealing with the pandemic. With regard to Roscommon, I will have to undertake to get back to the Deputy on the...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not sure that there were so many specific questions. In response to what Deputy Flaherty said about orthodontics, it is a major issue that any child would have to wait eight years for orthodontic services. It is a failure on all our parts. Consultant surgeons and dentists tell us it is far cheaper to intervene early because in dentistry in particular early detection and treatment is...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I share her views on Spinraza. It is a matter that I and my colleagues in the previous Dáil campaigned hard for. As the Deputy spoke about a specific family, if she provides some more details, we can then get a briefing to her. How we avoid knock-on impacts on our health system because of Covid is a profound and seminal question for...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I acknowledge the work that has been done by Deputy Cullinane on this matter. The Deputy and I have been in the Dáil together for many years. I have heard him advocate consistently for this. I appreciate his reference also to Deputy Butler who has advocated and fought very hard on the matter too, as have all the Waterford Deputies. Indeed, we have a new Deputy in this Dáil who...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Collins for raising these issues. Deputy Collins and I were in the Chamber, along with others, discussing this very issue with the INMO during the past ten days. The situation our front-line workers were in was incredibly difficult, and not just front-line workers but also a lot of the management staff and non-clinical staff who were just as essential at keeping everything...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Murphy. My preference is to start from a position of transparency. We must also be mindful of issues of commercial sensitivity and of protecting individual identities in cases. We all know information has to be withheld in those cases. I am puzzled by the comparisons I have heard and I would need to see the underlying reports. It was alleged earlier on that the cost,...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: In the first instance, the issue being raised with me by nurses and midwives is the full implementation of what was agreed after the strike last year. I joined them on the picket lines and I have no doubt the Deputy joined them on the picket lines as well. We need to look at that first and foremost. I want to be careful about how I say this. I was going to say the primary concern of the...

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: If the Deputy does not mind, what I will do is ask for a briefing on why it may or may not be possible to do so. It may be that there are issues of commercial sensitivity involved but I will ask the question.

Vote 38 - Health (Revised) (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank all of the Deputies. It has been a long, detailed and good session and we have touched on many of the issues that have been raised. We have discussed our extraordinary healthcare professionals on the clinical side, the administrative side and the support side in the HSE, the Department and right across the system. There has been wide and deep recognition of the role everybody has...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Tests (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 362 and 363 together. As this is an operational matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Tests (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 364 to 366, inclusive, together. As this is an operational matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Provision (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Dental Services (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) provides dental care free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. These services are provided by independent dental practitioners who have a contract with the HSE. Fees paid to dentists under the DTSS are set out in the Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to Registered Dentists) Regulations 2009 and the Health Professionals...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Dental Services (30 Jun 2020)

Stephen Donnelly: The Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) provides dental care free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. These services are provided by independent dental practitioners who have a contract with the HSE. Fees paid to dentists under the DTSS are set out in the Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to Registered Dentists) Regulations 2009 and the Health Professionals...