Results 41-60 of 12,121 for speaker:Colm Burke

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disease Management (6 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: 388. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 846 of 14 October 2025, the action her Department and the HSE are taking in view of the statement of the Chief Operation Officer of St James’s Hospital (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60525/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disease Management (6 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: 389. To ask the Minister for Health the action being taken by her Department and the HSE to deal with the alarming increase in paediatric TB cases occurring since 2017, with the age-specific incidence rate for children having risen from 0.8 in 2023 to 1.3 in 2024, in particular taking in to account that the number of TB cases in children under one year of age in 2024 equalled the total cases...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disease Management (6 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: 390. To ask the Minister for Health the action her Department and the HSE are taking to deal with the challenges which the Irish Mycobacterial Reference Laboratory at St James’s Hospital is facing, which supports TB diagnosis nationally, is now at full capacity and unable to meet the growing demand for rapid diagnostics, especially for drug-resistant TB; and if she will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disease Management (6 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: 391. To ask the Minister for Health the action the Department and the HSE are taking in view of the fact that Ireland is not on track to meet WHO End TB Strategy targets, and current resourcing falls short of national guidelines requiring immediate assessment of suspected TB cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60528/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disease Management (6 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: 392. To ask the Minister for Health the action her Department and the HSE are taking to deal with the rising incidence of TB which increased by over 30% in 2024, with a fourfold rise in MDR-TB cases and a significant increase in paediatric TB; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60529/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disease Management (6 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: 393. To ask the Minister for Health the action her Department and the HSE are taking to deal with the capacity issues in dealing with TB cases, in view of the fact that emergency reviews have doubled from 2023 to 2024, which said reviews are used to prevent hospital admissions and to start treatment urgently thus preventing onward transmission; and if she will make a statement on the matter....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: In Scotland, the RSV vaccination programme has resulted in a 62% reduction of people in the age group 75 to 79 being admitted to ICU. RSV is a respiratory virus that, despite being very common, can cause serious complications. We have a growing elderly population. The vaccination programme can help keep people out of hospital. Will the Government give serious consideration to introducing...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: If Deputy Timmins wants to come in then I will leave him in at this stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2025: Committee Stage (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: While people say that we do not have a property tax, in real terms it is taxed when a person passes away, as there is an inheritance tax. We have very low thresholds before a person gets into paying inheritance tax compared with the UK. It is €40,000 for a nephew or niece, which is very low in real terms. It is €400,000 for a child. I may be wrong on the figures but it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for the presentation and for all the work that is being done. I will focus a bit on my own area in Cork and long-term planning there. We have a substantial increase in population in Cork, and the Cork-Kerry region has increased substantially, but we have not had any increase in the number of hospital beds in the last 20 years in real terms. Where are we now in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: I am aware of that. I am saying that some services are not available under the treatment purchase scheme. We do not have any private hospitals that are allowed to offer the same service here and come in under the treatment purchase fund.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: There are not any for ophthalmology.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: Is that an extra 24 beds?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: Are there 25 step-down beds at Blarney?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: We have been talking about the issue of an elective hospital over the last four or five years and we have still not even gone to planning. Will this be dealt with? When will it go for planning? Once it goes through the planning process, at what stage are we talking about developing it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: Will a planning application be in by the end of this year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Long-term Planning in the Health Services: Discussion (5 Nov 2025)

Colm Burke: When the HSE gets through the planning application, and there is obviously a timeframe for planning, will it again be put on the long finger as regards doing the work? We are under severe pressure in Cork. Quite a lot of work is now being transferred out of Cork because the capacity is not there. I am just wondering-----