I am deeply concerned about the state of transgender healthcare services. In 2022, Ireland was found to have the worst transgender healthcare services in all of the EU by Transgender Europe, TGEU. The only dedicated gender clinic has approximately 2,000 people on the waiting list. Only 162 were removed last year. Waiting times are between three years and ten years, which is not acceptable. The journal.ie recently published a harrowing report on those services. One patient described feeling traumatised after going t…

I thank the Minister. The pace of change is far too slow. This issue has been going on for many years. We need an acceleration and the delivery of high-quality services for people across the country. The current system is operating on an outdated model. As the Minister said, in 2019 the WHO reclassified transgender healthcare as a sexual health issue. Despite this, the services are still being treated here under mental health. Being transgender is not a mental health condition but not having access to these service…

I fundamentally believe that the new model of care must be in line with the WHO guidelines. It must use an informed consent model and be delivered in the community, which is crucial. There are models in place in other countries that we can look to, including in Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Malta, Canada and parts of the United States. They are already operating this model of care. That is where we need to be looking for best practice. The development of this model of care must be accelerated and crucially, it m…

It is ten years since the first sexual health strategy was published. That strategy expired three years ago and has still not been replaced. I raised this issue two months ago in the Dáil and was told it would be launched quite soon. Is the strategy still at design stage or has it been submitted to the Government for approval?

It is great news that the strategy will be launched. I am looking forward to engaging with it and seeing the detail. When I raised this issue last time, the Minister of State talked about how stigma is a big issue and I agree with her on that. Services are also really important, however, and I think we can reduce stigma by having better services and supports for people. We need to make sexual health services everyday, normal and accessible throughout the country. There are currently ten counties in Ireland with no …

We have huge innovations in the area of HIV - on PrEP, PEP and rapid testing - but I think we are not seizing the moment here. We could potentially end HIV transmissions in this country if we massively invested in this. People are waiting far too long to get access to PrEP clinics. There is a real chance here to have a game-changing moment, and I urge the Minister of State to seize that and increase the investment and access to services. On the online testing, it is fine if people do not have symptoms, but people w…

My question concerns the statutory right to home care. In 2017, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, said home care needed to be placed on a statutory footing. The same year, the then Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Deputy Helen McEntee, said a statutory right to home care and necessary regulations would be delivered in two to three years. Eight years on, they remain underdelivered. We know the regulations are finally progressing but what is happening with the statutory scheme?…

It has been a year since the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that the delay was due to the funding model. At the time, the Minister of State said the nut had not been cracked on financing the scheme. In February 2025, the Minister for Health told me no final decision on future funding had been made and that further research was under way to enhance the evidence base. Is this still the case? It has been eight years and the Department should have figured it out by now. Politi…

I know that.

It is taking far too long. The Social Democrats have concerns about the financialisation of elder care. In 2020, at the height of Covid, Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar said the model of care for older people had to change. Since then, the very large-scale commercial nursing home model has increased despite the fact it was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose. Ireland, alongside England, now has the most privatised nursing home system in Europe, with 81% of all nursing home beds in the State being privately run. Of…

I also congratulate the students on winning the debating championship. I welcome the emerging preferred route for the Cork Luas, but major questions remain. We do not know how much the Government intends to invest in this crucial project. We do not know if a second north-south route is planned. Crucially, we do not know when the Cork Luas will open. This project cannot be left like the Dublin metro, which has been delayed now by 25 years. There is a history of announcements of key infrastructure projects in Cork th…

I thank Deputy Cummins for her work on the motion and also over many years on this issue and wider education issues. The pace of change is far too slow. We heard during the week in the audiovisual room from a parent who said, “I wonder if I am doing this for my children or my grandchildren.” That is how frustrated parents are about the pace of change. Across County Cork, there are 350 Catholic schools but only 13 multidenominational schools. There is no real choice or option for parents when there is that level of …

I welcome this important debate. As others have said, this is a serious issue. I have concerns about Government backbenchers trivialising it by talking about victories in camogie matches. That is perhaps something for them to reflect on. It is not appropriate. There are serious issues in the operation of Children's Health Ireland. We need to understand how we got here, the impact of the scandals on children and their families and where we go from here. I will touch on a few issues. I want to look at the pre-CHI his…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which provides Members with another opportunity to raise our concerns about the yet-to-be published audit into hip surgeries at CHI as well as the long-standing failures in the organisation. I first raised the issue of hip surgeries with the Taoiseach on 1 March yet almost two months later we still have no more information. Were it not for the reports in The Ditch we would still be in the dark about the latest scandal at Children’s Health Ireland. Last July The Di…

Where is the promised amendment to the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill? In July of last year, the Dáil passed the first assisted human reproduction Bill, which has still not been commenced. A second Bill, to close the gaps in the law, was promised within weeks, but we still have no sight of it. Two days before the election, the then Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, wrote to campaigners to say that the legislation would be commenced on 1 June. That is two months from today, yet we still do not have a…

I start by acknowledging that we live in very turbulent and troubling times. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel's destruction of Gaza and Trump's threats of a trade war are examples of this. As a result, foreign policy debates like this are increasingly important. We need these discussions and debates on Ireland's role in the world, what it means to be neutral today and how we prepare for a less certain tomorrow. It is also important to acknowledge from the off that these are complicated and complex policy are…

From today, the crisis in our health service will deepen. This morning, 6,500 psychiatric nurses began industrial action in a dispute over unsustainable staffing levels. On Monday, a further 80,000 healthcare workers are planning to start a strict work to rule. At the core of this dispute is the pay and numbers strategy, a strategy which none of us has seen. This so-called strategy is just a recruitment embargo by another name. It has led to the introduction of severe recruitment caps, the abolition of thousands of…

I am deeply concerned about the rise of homophobia both at home and abroad. The decision of the Hungarian Government to ban Pride events is the latest example of the full-frontal attack on LGBT human rights and fundamental freedoms. Banning Pride is a violation of the right to self-expression, peaceful assembly and freedom from discrimination. It is also stands in sharp contrast to our European values of human dignity, democracy and equality. Will the Government raise this issue at this weekend’s European Council m…

There is currently no active sexual health strategy for Ireland. The previous strategy was launched a decade ago by Leo Varadkar when he was Minister for Health. We have long been promised a new strategy but it has not been delivered. For the third year we are lacking a comprehensive strategy or vision for sexual health. The sexual health services are thin on the ground and starved of resources. Will the Minister of State commit to prioritising sexual health? When will this long overdue strategy be published?

It is welcome to hear that this strategy is to be launched but this is not the first time it has been promised. As the Minister of State knows, there was a review in 2023. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, promised a strategy in 2024 and the then the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, followed up by promising a strategy in Q1 of 2025. I welcome that progress has been made but it is urgently needed. As the Minister of State said, sexual health infections have increased by 31% and the incidence of gonorrhoea…