Results 4,741-4,760 of 24,567 for speaker:Róisín Shortall

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: 156. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to increase the disability allowance payment given the sharp increase in the cost of living and in particular given that many persons with disabilities face additional costs to cover daily essentials; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28294/22]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: 157. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to re-introduce the diet supplement payment given the sharp increase in the cost of living and in particular given that many persons with particular medically certified dietary needs for example diabetic and gluten-free diets face additional costs to cover daily essentials and prevent malnutrition; and if she will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Cost of Living Issues (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: 164. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps that she is taking to protect pensioners against the sharp increases in the cost of living;; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28530/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Funding (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: 212. To ask the Minister for Health the reason that funding to mainstream, the headache pathway and the active neuro projects under the Sláintecare Integration Fund confirmed in November 2021 has not yet been released; if his attention has been drawn to the significant challenge in retaining and recruiting the specialist staff needed to deliver these initiatives in view of this delay;...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I thank the Chair and thank our guests for the presentation. I have a couple of questions for Dr. O'Carroll, if that is all right. One of the recommendations is to include properly resourced GPs who can treat hepatitis C among any community-based population. What would it entail, in Dr. O'Carroll's experience, to resource GPs properly?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Does that entail a GP being linked in to a clinic in a hospital, going on Dr. O'Carroll's experience which has been successful with that cohort of patients? In the general run of GPs, are there steps that can be taken to create a better awareness among GPs and stress the importance of testing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: In relation to blood testing generally, is there any experience internationally of standard blood tests which would include hepatitis C testing across the general population or is it just the case that high-risk groups would be tested?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Is there any cost factor involved where a standard battery of tests might be used for particular groups, for example, in cases where there is a suspicion of drug use in a young person? Is there a substantial additional cost in testing for hepatitis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Does Dr. O'Carroll see any case for testing the population generally in the run of the regular battery of blood tests?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I thank our guests for the presentation. I am interested in recommendation 3, which is "Unblock existing policy barriers, and set policy to enable elimination". How is policy being set at the moment? I am not clear about the governance structure for the treatment of hepatitis. Our guests might speak about that for a few minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I appreciate what Mr. Keane was saying there-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: -----and the case he made makes absolute sense. If there is a governance structure around the programme, and the partnership has set out the three levels, why have these barriers not been removed? Whose responsibility is it to ensure the service meets the clients' needs and that these things are changed and updated?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. My question is, why are those blockages still in place? For example, how often does the national treatment programme meet?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Okay. Presumably, there have been recommendations from that programme to the clinical advisory group that these barriers be removed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Why then have they not been removed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: I meant that, presumably, the national treatment programme is the overarching body in this regard-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: -----and that if it requests the clinical advisory group to do something, there needs to be a response to that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Why is that not then pursued by the national programme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Elimination of Hepatitis C: Discussion (1 Jun 2022)

Róisín Shortall: Is the national treatment programme not active or robust enough to pursue the clinical decisions?