Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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3171. To ask the Minister for Health whether consideration has been given to opening an additional specialist centre to treat obesity, given the current waiting time for semi-urgent cases is six years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43698/25]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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The Association for the Study of Obesity on the Island of Ireland (ASOI) developed clinical care guidelines “Obesity in Adults: A 2022 Adapted Clinical Practice Guideline for Ireland”.

They were developed with the Irish Coalition for People Living with Obesity (ICPO) and the HSE Obesity National Clinical Programme (NCP) alongside 70 specialists from all over Ireland have been working on adapting the Canadian CPGs for use in Ireland, using the ADAPTE framework.

In Budget 2025, Funding of €2 million was allocated to complete the roll out of Phase 1 of implementation of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) National Clinical Care Programme (NCCP) Model of Care for the Treatment and Management of Obesity. Phase 2 will also commence ensuring that access to treatment will increase across primary, secondary and tertiary treatment services.

As the opening of an additional specialist centre to treat obesity is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy as soon as possible.