Results 18,521-18,540 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Written Answers — Department of Health: Maternity Services (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Ireland’s first National Maternity Strategy was published in 2016 and is currently being implemented on a phased basis by the National Women & Infants Health Programme. In relation to your question on the extent of the implementation of each of the Strategy’s recommendations, I have asked the National Women & Infants Health Programme in the HSE to respond to the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Maternity Services (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Implementation of the National Maternity Strategy, including the provision of appropriate maternity environments in our hospitals, is being led by the HSE National Women & Infants Health Programme. I have therefore asked the HSE to reply to you directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: There has been considerable progress in reducing infection levels since the peak of the wave of infection in late 2020/early 2021 because of the widespread commitment and adherence by the public to the public health measures in place. While there is still a high level of infection nationally, the situation is considered reasonably stable and significant progress is being made in relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 458, 459 and 461 together. Officials in my Department are considering terms of reference for the proposed inquiry into the historical licensing and use of sodium valproate in Ireland, as well as the establishment of a stakeholder group to address ongoing concerns relating to the use of this drug. The HSE does not collate comprehensive data on the number of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The recommendations in the report referred to by the Deputy are largely operational matters for the Health Service Executive (HSE); as such, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Reports (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and the Office of Government Procurement developed a template to facilitate the monitoring and reporting of Green Public Procurement (GPP) by government departments. This template includes details relating to contracts issued over €25,000 by priority sector which...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: As the Deputy may be aware, a national Work Safely Protocol (previously the Return to Work Protocol) has been developed as a collaborative effort, led by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and involving primarily the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), with significant input by public health from the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Protocol sets out the minimum measures...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Before conducting a clinical trial of an unauthorised medicine in Ireland, the trial sponsor is required to secure regulatory approval from the Health Products Regulatory Authority, as well as ethical approval from a recognised ethics committee. I am not familiar with the particular trial in question; however, I have asked officials in my Department to write to the hospital concerned to seek...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Vaccination Programme (13 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Ireland’s COVID-19 vaccination programme strategy is to distribute all available vaccine as quickly as is operationally possible, prioritising those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19. The programme is based on the principles of safety, effectiveness and fairness, with the objective of reducing severe illness, hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 infection. The immunisation...

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to update the House on the impact of the cyberattack on our health services. Last week, the State was subject to a sophisticated ransomware attack. Information communication technology, ICT, infrastructure at the Department of Health and the HSE, including national and local IT systems, were the subject of a serious and malicious cybersecurity...

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The HSE and the Department have their own in-house ICT teams. The HSE has partners and there is back-up from the NCSC. For example, on Thursday, when the Department of Health spotted suspicious activity, the Department's IT team contacted the centre and took advice from the centre on how to respond.

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: Apologies, I did not answer the Deputy's other question on IT spent. I will do so quickly. The HSE spend in 2019 was €130 million; last year, it was €145 million. We have allocated a significant increase this year to €203 million. I am sure he will welcome the fact that in this year's national service plan, I allocated funding to almost double the ICT staff. From a...

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The answer is both. It will take time for the security experts to give us a full view across the systems as to exactly what information is available. Is it possible that sensitive information has been successfully downloaded? Unfortunately, it is.

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: No. There are 80,000 such devices and a full audit is going on at the moment. If the HSE has that information already, which it may, I will seek to have it provided to the Deputy.

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: It may well, and I will ask for that information to be provided for the Deputy.

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The briefings we have in terms of timelines are as follows: on Thursday, suspicious activity was detected by the Department of Health’s IT team. It contacted the National Cyber Security Centre, which provided technical advice on what to do in response. Further to that, there were attacks on both the Department of Health’s systems and the HSE’s systems. The information...

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: What I can tell the Deputy is that we have had several reasonably extensive and technical briefings and there has been nothing in any of the briefings I have seen that has suggested additional attacks continued. It is worth saying, though, that the experts made the point repeatedly that the systems, including the HSE systems, the Department of Health systems and numerous other systems, both...

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: The latest position is as follows. In order to bring all HSE services back, the current estimate is that it is going to take several weeks as these services and devices are gone through one by one. However, at the same time, there are certain priority areas which are being focused on, and these include radiology, radiation oncology, patient administration systems and the voluntary...

Recent Cyberattack and its Impact on the Health System: Statements (18 May 2021)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. Daily updates would be very useful. At the moment, the very latest I got from the HSE, just before coming into this session, is that to get all of the systems back up and running, that is, the 2,000 servers and the 80,000 machines, is going to take several weeks. It is a huge effort, with hundreds of people involved right across the country. At the same time, there are...