Results 21-40 of 372 for speaker:Pádraig Rice

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

Pádraig Rice: 115. To ask the Minister for Health if her attention has been drawn to a series of investigative reports into transgender healthcare in Ireland (details supplied); if she will commit to reclassifying trans healthcare as part of sexual health rather than mental health, in line with the World Health Organization; to provide an update on the new model of care currently being developed; and if...

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....

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I first raised the issue of children enduring unnecessary hip surgeries with the Taoiseach in March. It is nearly two months later and we are still none the wiser about what went on. A draft audit of the surgeries in three hospitals between 2021 and 2023 has been in the public domain for months. That audit found a large portion of surgeries in two of those hospitals were potentially...

Parental Choice in Education: Motion [Private Members] (8 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I thank Deputy Cummins for her work on the motion and also over many years on this issue and wider education issues. The pace of change is far too slow. We heard during the week in the audiovisual room from a parent who said, “I wonder if I am doing this for my children or my grandchildren.” That is how frustrated parents are about the pace of change. Across County Cork,...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (8 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: I also congratulate the students on winning the debating championship. I welcome the emerging preferred route for the Cork Luas, but major questions remain. We do not know how much the Government intends to invest in this crucial project. We do not know if a second north-south route is planned. Crucially, we do not know when the Cork Luas will open. This project cannot be left like...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Same-sex Marriage (8 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 410. To ask the Minister for Health the number of same sex marriages registered in the State in each of the years since 2015, by year, in tabular form. [22998/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: General Register Office (8 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 411. To ask the Minister for Health the number of marriages registered in the State in each of the years since 2015, by year, in tabular form. [22999/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Food Labelling (8 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 453. To ask the Minister for Health her views on the cross-Government working group that was established in 2022, under the aegis of her Department, to discuss EU regulation on the provision of food information to consumers; her views on the conclusions of this working group as they relate to Irish language packaging and food labelling in Ireland; if she will consider policy measures, up to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (7 May 2025)

Pádraig Rice: 35. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will respond to matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); if the area may be reconsidered to be included in the State intervention area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22495/25]