Results 301-320 of 1,103,759 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Willie O'Dea OR speaker:Michael Ring OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh) in 'Committee meetings'

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Gino Kenny: Does the Minister of State accept that in terms of the overall harm reduction budget and the money that is given towards task forces across the country, there has been a reduction, particularly in the last 12 years? Obviously, he is only in the position a number of months but does he accept that in 2012 more money was being allocated towards task forces than there is now?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Gino Kenny: Yes, I accept that but many people on the ground who are at the coalface will say there needs to be much more funding in terms of the evolution of drug dependency and drug use in communities. That has to be acknowledged.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Gino Kenny: Thanks a lot.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Gino Kenny: I thank the Minister of State for that. Just to confirm, he referred to the safe injection facility. I would probably term it slightly differently. The "safe consumption room" is probably a better term. Is he saying this facility will be open in December?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Gino Kenny: That is good news. I have a final question. Regarding harm reduction activities, wastewater drug surveillance is referred to in the press release. What exactly is that?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Gino Kenny: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: To pick up where I left off before I had to leave, regarding the handling of the budget going forward, the whole principle of the RHAs is that the area is to be profiled. There would be an allocation of funding based on established need, population size, socioeconomic profile and so on. I know there is a huge amount of work under way in the Department on that. We have not had a briefing...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The classic example is when people are ready to be discharged from hospital but they are not discharged because there may not be enough of a home care budget locally. There should be that discretion to spend money where it makes the most sense.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: We had been getting regular briefings in the Department but we have not had any since before the summer.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It would be important to organise that. I will go back to the issue of nursing numbers. I am thinking specifically about community and public health nurses, who are vital, whether it is for older people, infants or others. There are major shortages there in terms of unfilled posts. Is anything being done to address that issue? Is anything being done to take it out of the rest of nursing...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It is the ultimate early intervention service. It is madness and very wrong if there are widespread vacancies. The presentation referred to facilitated access to hundreds of thousands of diagnostic scans for GP patients. Will the Minister clarify how that system works at the moment? I am hearing mixed views on it. In some cases, people are saying they can no longer go to a hospital for...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Is the Minister saying that anybody who is referred for diagnostic testing by a GP is entitled to that free of charge?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: The point was made to me by somebody that they were going to a private provider because VHI did not reimburse if it was done in a hospital. What is the situation regarding that?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Is that for any diagnostic test?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: Chair, can I have two minutes to discuss the drugs services? I will be very quick on this. There is a lot of concern across the board about community drugs task forces - local and regional drugs task forces. The allocation to them has more or less stayed static for several years. I think it is €4.2 million this year.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I am talking about the drugs and alcohol task forces.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: That is for other things apart from the task forces.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I am specifically asking about the task force funding.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: It is modest given the work of task forces which are the lynchpin in disadvantaged communities in terms of responding. It does bring together the various partners.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Róisín Shortall: A point I want to make about the task forces is that increasingly they are aiming to be partners in the provision of community services, whether that is family support or bringing together education partners. The task forces are facilitating a lot of that joined-up thinking and activity to have a comprehensive response in areas where drug use is very prevalent. The task forces are saying...