Results 321-340 of 1,159,978 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Áine Brady OR speaker:Áine Brady85 OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Denise Mitchell OR speaker:Áine Brady10 OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Áine Brady20 OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Colm Brophy OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Simon Harris OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:Richard Bruton8 OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Chris Andrews7 OR speaker:Seán Crowe) in 'Committee meetings'

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

Seán Crowe: We will resume. Deputy Róisín Shortall has indicated she wishes to speak.

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)

Colm Burke: The total budget is €40.5 million. The social inclusion budget has increased by €40.5 million in two years.

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)

Colm Burke: I gave the figures earlier. The drugs budget is €4.2 million and this is for new initiatives in the whole drugs area. The budget for 2025 will be €4.2 million in addition to what is in 2024. The total social inclusion budget is €40.5 million of an increase. It has increased from €220 million to €260 million.

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)

Colm Burke: It is for a whole range of services.

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)

Colm Burke: There is €1.5 million additional funding for task forces. The funding will support a co-ordination role of 24 drugs and alcohol task forces across the country including the increased demand for services, especially for due to the use of cocaine. There is an increase but other initiatives are being started.

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)

Colm Burke: We are working on a number of projects. For instance, I am working on one project where we talk about transferring a whole lot of services out from night support facilities to a day centre. We are talking about doing that. As I outlined earlier, the supervised injection facility will open in December. There are a number-----

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...