Written answers

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Department of Health and Children

Parliamentary Questions

9:00 am

Photo of John DeasyJohn Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 66: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of parliamentary questions received by her Department since the commencement of industrial action by employees; the number and percentage of questions that have not been answered due to industrial action by staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20255/10]

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if all parliamentary questions that have not been answered by her in recent months and for which Deputies have been invited to resubmit, are assumed to be resubmitted unless she is told to the contrary; and if she will answer them as soon as she is in a position to do so; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20184/10]

Photo of Chris AndrewsChris Andrews (Dublin South East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 237: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if the staff at the Health Service Executive Parliamentary Affairs Division intends to clear the backlog when they cease their industrial action; if questions raised over the past few months will be answered in due course; if Deputies' staff have to duplicate their work and raise the questions a second time. [20063/10]

Photo of Mary HarneyMary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 66, 94 and 237 together.

A total of 1083 Parliamentary Questions were taken by my Department during the period from 3rd March 2010 to 13th May 2010. Of these, 767 (71%) have not been answered due to industrial action by certain staff both within my Department and in the Health Service Executive.

Responding to the information needs of the Oireachtas is a priority for my Department and I very much regret that in recent months it has not been possible to provide a substantive response to many Parliamentary Questions due to industrial action. All Parliamentary Questions affected by the action have been answered by my Department to the effect that the industrial dispute has prevented the supply of substantive answers, and Deputies have been consistently advised to raise the question again in due course should the matter remain of ongoing concern. This approach was designed to prevent a backlog of questions building up, particularly as a significant proportion of the questions related to cases where the information being sought by the Deputy through the Parliamentary process might, in the circumstances, be obtained by alternative means.

The Department of Health and Children will handle in the region of 6,000 Parliamentary Questions this year, approximately half of which will be referred to the Health Service Executive, either for the provision of information to the Department or for direct reply to the Deputy. A considerable proportion of these will concern personal inquiries on behalf of individuals seeking services from the HSE. In such cases, the information can also be obtained by addressing the inquiry directly to the relevant service area of the Executive, and where members of the public do so on their own behalf, their inquiries are not affected by the current dispute.

I fully appreciate the frustration of Deputies who are currently unable to obtain information through the usual Parliamentary channels. While alternative access is available for individual cases, Deputies may wish to resubmit, on resolution of the dispute, any questions in respect of wider service, operational and policy issues that have not been answered and are still a cause of concern. My Department and the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive will, when the current industrial action is resolved, continue to assist Deputies as before.

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