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Wednesday, 15 Sep 2021

Written Answers Nos. 751-761

Home Care Packages

Questions (751)

Verona Murphy

Question:

751. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Health the immediate and urgent measures being taken to address the now critical deficit in the delivery of homecare hours to persons approved for care packages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44151/21]

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Written answers

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Home Care Packages

Questions (752)

Verona Murphy

Question:

752. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Health the number of approved HSE homecare hours in County Wexford; the number of HSE homecare hours at present being delivered in County Wexford; the number of approved hours at present waiting allocation of delivery to approved clients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44152/21]

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Written answers

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Mental Health Services

Questions (753)

Verona Murphy

Question:

753. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Health the vacancies within the CAMHS Wexford south services that are presently with the national recruitment service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44153/21]

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Written answers

As this is a service matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Minister as soon as possible.

Covid-19 Pandemic

Questions (754, 755)

Gary Gannon

Question:

754. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Health the hours for the HSE helpline for principals; and if he will extend the hours following issues arising from principals not being able to access timely communication. [44193/21]

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Gary Gannon

Question:

755. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Health the current number of staff working on the dedicated helpline for school principals. [44194/21]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 754 and 755 together.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Question No. 755 answered with Question No. 754.

Health Services

Questions (756)

Holly Cairns

Question:

756. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Health if safe transport will be provided for a person (details supplied) that needs to travel from west Cork to CUH for a weekly appointment. [44204/21]

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Written answers

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Covid-19 Pandemic

Questions (757)

Holly Cairns

Question:

757. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure that residents of shelter housing provided by section 39 of the Health Act 2004 organisations (details supplied) are enabled to return to residences which were suspended for Covid-19 reasons. [44205/21]

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Written answers

As this is a service matter, I have asked referred the question to the HSE and asked that they respond to the Deputy directly.

Vaccination Programme

Questions (758)

Holly Cairns

Question:

758. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Health if he will make the HPV vaccine available free of cost to all persons who would medically benefit from same including those who missed receiving it in school. [44206/21]

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Written answers

The immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC). The committee's recommendations are based on the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in relation to immunisation. It makes recommendations on vaccination policy to my Department. The NIAC continues to revise recommendations to allow for the introduction of new vaccines in Ireland and to keep abreast of changes in the patterns of disease. Therefore, the immunisation schedule will continue to be amended over time.

In 2009, the NIAC recommended HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination for all 12 to 13 year old girls to reduce their risk of developing cervical cancer when they are adults. In September 2010, the HPV vaccination programme was introduced for all girls in first year of secondary school.

In June 2017, on foot of the NIAC’s recommendation that the HPV vaccine should also be given to boys, my Department asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to undertake a health technology assessment (HTA) to establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of extending the immunisation programme to include boys in the first year of secondary school.

The HIQA completed the HTA in December 2018, recommending that the HPV immunisation programme be extended to include boys. A policy decision was made to extend the HPV immunisation programme to include boys, starting in September 2019, with the introduction of a 9-valent HPV vaccine.

The ages at which vaccines are recommended in the immunisation schedule are chosen by the NIAC in order to give each child the best possible protection against vaccine preventable diseases. As the HPV vaccine is preventative it is intended to be administered, if possible, before a person becomes sexually active, that is, before a person is first exposed to HPV infection.

Therefore, the gender-neutral HPV vaccination programme targets all girls and boys in first year of secondary school to provide maximum coverage. All vaccines administered through the School Immunisation Programme are provided free of charge.

My Department will continue to be guided by NIAC's recommendations on any emerging evidence on this issue in the future.

Anyone not in 1st year of secondary school or age equivalent in special schools or home schooled during the 2020/2021 school year who wishes to get the HPV vaccine, must go to their GP or sexual health clinic and pay privately for the vaccine and its administration. This applies to everyone whether or not they have a medical card/GP visit card, as it is outside of the HPV immunisation programme.

Abortion Services

Questions (759)

Holly Cairns

Question:

759. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure that the provision of abortion services by telemedicine, in particular the initial appointment with the general practitioner, as allowed during Covid-19 restrictions, will stay in place permanently. [44207/21]

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Written answers

As part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to protect public health and limit the spread of COVID-19, the Department of Health and the HSE worked together to put new arrangements in place to allow termination of pregnancy services in early pregnancy to be provided remotely.

For the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency, where the need for social distancing, reducing personal contacts and reducing the burden on medical practitioners are paramount, it will be possible for a woman to access a termination under section 12 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 (i.e. before 12 weeks) from her medical practitioner by telephone or video conference consultation.

The arrangement enabling remote consultation will be reviewed once the public health emergency is declared over. There is regular ongoing engagement between the Department of Health and the HSE to monitor service provision, facilitate the smooth-running of the service and resolve any issues that may arise.

Brexit Issues

Questions (760)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

760. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the degree to which he remains confident that ways and means can be found to ensure that the negative impact of Brexit on Irish food exporters can be alleviated to the greatest extent possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44173/21]

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Written answers

There is no doubt that the outcome of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which has resulted in the UK leaving the EU Single Market and Customs Union, presents significant challenges for Irish agri-food exports to UK. However, my focus, and the focus of the Department, is to continue to maximise the volume and value of Irish agri-food exports to all destinations, including the UK market.  This requires a comprehensive approach which includes support for our existing and potential future UK trade, as well as further diversification into EU and third country markets.

The Department and its agencies have invested hugely in this work. Encouragingly, despite an extremely challenging year in 2020, agri-food exports totalled €14.3 billion, with 37% going to the UK.  The latest trade data for 2021 has also seen the value of Irish agri-food exports to the UK recover from a decline in the first quarter, to now being ahead of that for the same period last year.

The UK remains a priority market for Irish agri-food exporters, and while the EU-UK TCA provides for zero tariffs and quotas, there are additional documentary and import control requirements which have the potential to impact on our exports to UK.

The Department has been engaged in a wide range of activities to get ready and to help industry get ready for these new requirements. 

We have engaged extensively with all stakeholders in the supply chain through trials, testing, information webinars and training sessions. The Department is also implementing an extensive additional staff resource plan to support the increased demand for export health certification, and IT systems and infrastructure have been upgraded across the country to support the provision of export health certification to businesses.  

I, and my Department, also continues to be very active in opening up new opportunities in third country markets through our Trade Mission programme and key direct customer engagements. These activities have been maintained virtually since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am looking forward to restarting a round of face-to-face engagements in the coming period.

I also continue to work on the opportunities provided by recent EU Free Trade Agreements with third countries, and to press for the removal of technical market access barriers across a range of third country markets.  All of these activities are part of my ambition to grow the export footprint of the industry, including in the UK market, despite the challenges which Brexit has raised.

Departmental Expenditure

Questions (761)

Carol Nolan

Question:

761. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has utilised the services of organisations (details supplied) at any time from 1 January 2015 to date; if so, the expenditure costs related to same; the purpose of any such engagements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43232/21]

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Written answers

My Department has utilised the services of Common Purpose Ireland on three occasions since 1st January 2015, at a total cost of €9,500.

The purpose of these engagements was to the facilitate the attendance of three Senior Managers on the Common Purpose Ireland Meridian Programme which was a leadership development programme designed to provide insights into leadership and how to effect change, bearing relevance to the then restructuring of Human Resources, and also to the implementation of the Civil Service Renewal Plan.

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