Written Answers Nos. 1022-1042
1022. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health in the absence of an internal audit or evaluation since 2020 of the adequacy of governance and oversight arrangements for non-statutory bodies funded directly by her Department, if any review is now planned; and, if so, to state the anticipated timeframe and scope. [14678/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs non-statutory bodies are external to my Department, my Department relies on reputable external third party audit firms to review the three small non-statutory agencies concerned.
The decision on what policy units to audit within my Department is based on a risk-based approach as determined by the management of the Internal Audit Unit.
Where risk is assessed as lower, then the Unit will be subject to less frequent audits. The grants paid to non-statutory bodies are around €5 million. The non-statutory bodies are public interest, not-for-profit organisations involved in the provision of patient welfare services and safe food with no adverse audit findings and as such are assessed as lower risk.
If policy units responsible for governance and oversight have not been subject to internal audit over recent years it is due to their lower risk profile. This is common practice in both the public and private sector.
Similar to other organisations, it is not the practice of the Internal Audit Unit to announce in advance their planned audit program on the basis that this would seriously undermine the benefit from conducting such audit.
1023. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the capital cost of the extension at Heather House, Cork University Hospital; the date construction was completed; the date on which the additional 19 high-dependency beds were certified as physically ready for use; and the planned date for operational opening [14685/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Health Service Executive is responsible for the delivery of the public healthcare infrastructure projects, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly in relation to this matter.
1024. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the total number of funded beds at Heather House; the number currently operational; the number temporarily or permanently closed; and the reasons for any non-operational capacity [14686/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter I have requested the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy as soon as possible.
1025. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether recruitment approval has been granted for staffing of the 19-bed high-dependency unit at Heather House; the number of WTE posts required; the number filled; and the timeline for full staffing [14687/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a recruitment matter we have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.
1026. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health when HIQA registration was sought for the new high-dependency unit at Heather House; whether any conditions or compliance issues were raised; and the expected date of regulatory approval [14688/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter I have requested the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy as soon as possible.
1027. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of children in the care of Children's Health Ireland who were assessed for, offered and received spinal treatment abroad in 2024 and in 2025. [14696/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am cognisant of the challenges families have faced in relation to paediatric orthopaedic services, in particular spinal services, and I am actively driving multiple efforts to address these challenges.
Several initiatives are underway to help improve access to services including a ringfenced theatre, additional outpatient clinics, and national and international outsourcing to maximise capacity.
As this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1028. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE’s activity-based funding, diagnosis related group (DRG) systems, or other service-line costing methodologies allow for the estimation of aggregate expenditure on pain-medicine outpatient services and interventional pain procedures at national or regional level; whether such aggregate estimates have been compiled in the past five years; and if she will publish any such analyses. [14709/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1029. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has assessed whether the absence of programme-level expenditure analysis for high-prevalence chronic conditions, including chronic pain, is consistent with public financial management standards and performance-based budgeting principles; whether any review of this matter has been undertaken since 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14710/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraFunding for chronic conditions forms part of the wider HSE budget for acute and community services. Since the establishment of the HSE Health Regions, the allocation of funding for individual service areas, including chronic conditions, is now made at regional level. This reflects the broader move towards devolved decision-making under Sláintecare, enabling Health Regions to prioritise resources in line with local population needs and service configurations. This approach is consistent with the shift to regional autonomy and was approved and communicated to the HSE in the Letter of Determination for 2026, which issued to the HSE in October 2025.
The Department does not monitor HSE expenditure at the level of individual disease or conditions, including high-prevalence chronic conditions. This is not a gap in financial oversight; it reflects how health services are organised, delivered and financed. Services are funded and managed on an integrated care basis rather than through separate disease-specific budget lines. Extracting a single disease-specific expenditure figure would not reflect how the Irish health service, or indeed any modern integrated system, is organised. Budgets, staffing and accountability are aligned to services and care pathways, not to individual diagnoses.
Performance monitoring and Equity of access across Health Regions takes place under the HSE Performance and Accountability Framework, with the Department monitoring HSE delivery against the National Service Plan, identifying variation between regions, ensuring consistency of service provision, and intervening where necessary to address access issues.
1030. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has conducted any formal review, risk assessment, or governance oversight exercise since 1 January 2024 specifically concerning systemic governance, patient-safety risk indicators, or organisational controls at Children’s Health Ireland; if so, to state the date of each such review, the division of her Department responsible, and whether a written record was produced. [14725/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra1031. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health if her Department has not conducted any formal review of governance or patient-safety risk indicators at Children’s Health Ireland since 1 January 2024, to state the reason no such review has been undertaken at Departmental level. [14726/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra1032. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department maintains a centralised internal register, inventory, or tracking mechanism recording reviews, audits, investigations, or independent reports concerning Children’s Health Ireland; if so, to state when it was last updated; and if not, to confirm that no such centralised register exists within her Department. [14727/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra1033. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether her Department relies exclusively on HSE-established structures, including the CHI Improvement Steering Group, for oversight of governance and patient-safety risks at Children’s Health Ireland; and to outline the formal reporting arrangements between that Group and her Department. [14728/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1030 to 1033, inclusive, together.
I am very cognisant of the challenges CHI has faced in recent years and am actively driving multiple efforts to address these. This includes strengthening governance and oversight, driving down waiting times, and ensuring increased engagement and timely communications with families of patients.
There have been a number of reviews recently focused on the paediatric services in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), touching upon patient safety and governance issues.
As the HSE is responsible for managing and delivering, or arranging to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services, the HSE CEO has established the CHI Improvement Steering Group to co-ordinate oversight of the range of matters of focus in CHI, including the implementation of recommendations from completed reviews and upcoming reports.
This Group coordinates oversight of the implementation of the recommendations from completed Reviews including the Boston Review (2023), HIQA Review (2025), the Internal Examination of a particular clinical department (2022), and the Dickson report (2017), the Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip Audit (2025), and ongoing Reviews including the Audit of governance and equity in patient access and waiting list management at CHI and the External review of the Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgical service at Temple Street. This Group, co-chaired by the Chief Clinical Officer and the REO Dublin Midlands, and meets on a regular basis.
Senior Officials from my Department are standing attendees at this group. Where appropriate, matters are escalated to HSE CEO, and further to my Department as necessary.
1034. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Health to advise if there is a full roster of advanced paramedics at Roscommon; given this was the reason she gave as to why the Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) was not on the road 24/7, when the RRV will be back on a 24/7 basis; if staffing of the roster was indeed the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14782/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1035. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health the level of funding provided for tobacco cessation services from 2015 to 2025, and to date in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14793/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
1036. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health the funding which has been provided to establish the vaping and nicotine use prevention campaign; if annual funding will be made available to it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14794/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraFunding of €300,000 was provided to the HSE in Budget 2025 to develop and deliver a youth vaping and nicotine prevention campaign. Funding of €200,000 to continue this campaign was provided in Budget 2026.
1037. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health the plans her Department has to establish a stop vaping service, modelled on the successful QUITLINE service, to support individuals quit e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine products; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14795/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe policy focus regarding vaping is on preventing youth uptake, and there are a range of ongoing legislative and non-legislative actions to achieve this. For young people who do smoke or vape, Quit 4 Youth is a specific 7-week HSE programme to get help to stop.
For adults, the HSE provides safe, effective and clinically sound stop smoking services, which are free and easy to access across the country. These services have been designed for people who smoke cigarettes and incorporate behavioural support and access to free stop smoking medicines.
The adult service is currently able to support smokers who also vape (dual-users) to quit. Stop smoking advisors do sometimes provide behavioural support to people who come to the service to stop vaping, where capacity allows. Work is ongoing to assess the level of demand and the types of support that might be safe and effective to stop vaping.
The priority in this area continues to be increasing access to life-saving stop smoking support, in line with our National Stop Smoking Clinical Guidelines. 1 in 6 adults currently smoke, and smoking causes almost 100 deaths and 1000 hospitalisations every week in Ireland. There are benefits to stopping smoking at any age.
Funding for the HSE Quit Programme has increased in recent years, from €13 million in 2021 to €21 million in 2024. This includes rolling out free stop smoking medication, doubling the number of clinics to provide behavioural support, and expanding the peer-led ‘We Can Quit’ groups.
This has led to record numbers accessing the service and significant increases in successful quit attempts.
1038. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Health the work which is being undertaken by her Department to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with brain cancer; if her Department is increasing funding for brain cancer research and clinical trials in Ireland, improving access to specialist neuro-oncology services, reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment and providing stronger supports for patients and families, including follow-up care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14837/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe first part of this PQ has been referred to the HSE for direct response.
As the lead funding agency for health and social care research, the HRB operates through a combination of project and programme grants, capacity building initiatives, collaborative research networks and infrastructure investment. The HRB awards funding in the region of approximately €60 million each year following international peer review and open competitive calls. Only those grant applications deemed excellent are considered for funding. The HRB funds research performing organisations across the island of Ireland to conduct high quality research, and the HRB partners with national, EU and international funding partners to leverage resources and to advance projects with shared goals. The HRB actively participates in EU trans-national programmes, providing opportunities for the Irish research community and leveraging EC co-funding.
The HRB does not typically issue calls restricted to specific disease conditions but considers submissions from the research community in any and all areas of clinical research, population health sciences and health services and policy research. In this way, there are ongoing opportunities, modes and instruments for applicants from all disciplines, career stages and areas of health/diseases to compete for funding, including research on brain cancer and clinical trials.
In a small number of instances, the HRB has developed and run targeted research calls. Examples include investment in cancer clinical trials infrastructure and trial networks aligned with the National Cancer Strategy and the Ireland-Northern Ireland Cancer Consortium.
Figures are provided for brain cancer research funded by the HRB in the last ten years, based on responses to open competitive calls, and an overview of clinical trials supported by HRB in this area.
HRB EXPENDITURE ON BRAIN CANCER RESEARCH
The total amount of HRB funding that was expended on brain cancer research based on responses to competitive calls between 2015 and 2026 (to date) is approximately €1.9M, across eight grants, as captured in the table below.
GRANTS FUNDED BY HRB
|
Funding Scheme |
Year Awarded |
Ref |
PI |
HI |
Title |
Amount Awarded |
|
Investigator-led projects |
2024 |
ILP-POR-2024-045 |
Dr Ailish Malone |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences |
Enhancing health, function and participation through rehabilitation for children and young people, and their families, after childhood brain tumours (the Brain-Restore Youth study) |
€428,692 |
|
European Research Area- Transcan 3 |
2023 |
ERA-TRANSCAN-2022-002 |
Professor Jochen Prehn |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences |
Tackling tumor heterogeneity and PLASTIcity as resistance mechanisms in Glioblastoma |
€369,833 |
|
European Research Area- Transcan 3 |
2023 |
ERA-TRANSCAN-2022-003 |
Dr David Finlay |
Trinity College Dublin |
Metabolically optimised NK cell therapies for Glioblastoma |
€369,880 |
|
HRB-Health Research Charities Ireland Joint Funding Scheme |
2022 |
HRCI-HRB-2022-021 |
Professor Kathleen Bennett |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences |
Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, but now what? Exploring the rehabilitation needs of people with brain tumours in Ireland |
€344,766 |
|
Investigator-led projects |
2022 |
ILP-POR-2022-007 |
Professor Annette Byrne |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences |
Interrogation of novel Glioblastoma Subtypes towards an improved Precision Medicine Approach for Brain Tumour Patients |
€369,998 |
|
Summer student scholarships |
2025 |
SS-2025-033 |
Ms Ksenija Agafonova |
Trinity College Dublin |
Assessing the role of GPR55 in brain tumour related epilepsy. |
€3200 |
|
Summer student scholarships |
2017 |
SS-2017-083 |
Ms Charmi Dholakia |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences |
FASN promotes cancer cell survival in Estrogen Receptor Positive Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis |
€2000 |
|
Knowledge Translation Awards |
2024 |
KTA-2024-034 |
Professor Kathleen Bennett |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences |
BRAIN-Restore: Rehabilitation needs of people with brain tumours in Ireland |
€34,470 |
CLINICAL TRIALS FUNDED BY HRB
• The conduct of clinical trials is different from all other types of health research. Clinical trials require access to specialised facilities, skills, coordination services and supports and they are typically highly regulated.
• The Health Research Board (HRB) as the leading funder of health research in Ireland has been driving the growth of clinical trials in Ireland and putting in place the supporting research infrastructure with the overall aim of facilitating clinical trials in Ireland that can benefit patients, the healthcare system, and the economy. Facilities are located at hospital sites to enable the conduct of trials and intervention studies, to provide specialist support services and to link with national clinical trials network.
• In 2021, the HRB made new five-year grants for cancer clinical trials infrastructure across the country totalling €21.6M, taking into account regional, national and international developments in healthcare and in cancer research and innovation.
• This investment sought to build on previous investments of over €70 million to build and enhance the capacity of hospitals with significant cancer services to conduct high-quality clinical trials of cancer therapies in an all-island context, aligned with goals and targets set out in the National Cancer Strategy and broader Government research and innovation goals.
• The investment of €21.6M between 2022-2026 supported six Cancer Clinical Trials Groups (including one on behalf of a (distributed) Radiation Oncology Group) (€14.3M), working collectively and synergistically through a National Cancer Clinical Trials Network (€7.3M).
• HRB investment in the National Cancer Clinical Trials Network that is hosted by Cancer Trials Ireland and the Cancer Clinical Trials Groups enables funding of studies across different areas of cancer.
1039. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of CervicalCheck smear test samples sent to foreign laboratories for testing in each of the past five years and to date in 2026; to provide the figure as a percentage, in each year, in tabular form. [14861/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1040. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of persons who contacted the HSE's drug and alcohol helpline in each of the past ten years and to date in 2026, in tabular form. [14862/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1041. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the total amount paid out in compensation by the HSE in each of the past ten years and to date in 2026. [14863/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1042. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the total amount paid by the HSE to debt collector companies in each of the past ten years. [14864/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
