Parliamentary questions

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1616. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 87 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to introduce mandatory autism training for all health and social care workers in the Health Service Executive and in Section 38 and Section 39 organisations who provide services on behalf of the Health Service Executive; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57300/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1617. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 89 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to provide funding to health service providers (including general practice and dentistry) to make their services and built environment more autism-friendly; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57302/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1618. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 90 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to formulate guidelines for autism-friendly service design and built environment design within health services, including general practice, physiotherapy, dentistry and mental health services; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57303/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1619. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 91 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to direct Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to cease its practice of refusing to serve children on the basis of an autism diagnosis or a suspected autism diagnosis; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57304/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1620. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 92 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to initiate an independent review of CAMHS practices in respect of service provision to autistic children and investigate reports of discrimination against autistic children referred to CAMHS; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57305/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1621. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 93 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to initiate meetings between CAMHS and disability services to establish how best to provide mental health services to autistic children, taking into account the current lack of capacity within CDNTs to provide multi-disciplinary supports including mental health interventions; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57306/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1622. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 94 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to establish how best to create a pathway for autistic adults to access multi-disciplinary supports, including mental health interventions; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57307/23]

Healthcare Policy

Pauline Tully

1623. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Health if, in line with Action 95 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to offer individual health plans to autistic people, including health check-ups, to ensure that they are supported in accessing health services; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57308/23]

Budget 2024

Pauline Tully

1827. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the amount of additional core funding that was allocated in Budget 2024 to the higher education sector. [57014/23]

Third Level Education

Pauline Tully

1828. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in line with Action 54 of the Final Report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism, if his Department has, or if he has plans to, liaise with the Department of Health to increase the number of places in third-level courses in occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, social work and nursing and work to match these numbers with clinical placements. [57103/23]

Third Level Education

Pauline Tully

1829. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to increase the number of places in third-level courses in planning in line with 55 of the Final Report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism. [57104/23]

Third Level Education

Pauline Tully

1830. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in line with Action 57 of the Final Report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee, if his Department has plans to liaise with the Department of Education and the Central Applications Office to provide prospective students with information regarding Leaving Certificate results and third level placements in sufficient time to allow for higher education institutions to engage with students who may have need for additional supports. [57105/23]

Third Level Education

Pauline Tully

1831. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in line with Action 61 of the Final Report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism his plans to provide multiannual funding based on the academic calendar to allow higher education institutions to undertake comprehensive, long-term planning to establish supports for disabled students as well as tailored supports for individual students before the beginning of the academic year. [57106/23]

Third Level Education

Pauline Tully

1850. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if, in line with Action 88 of the Autism Committee’s Final Report, he has plans to ensure that understanding autism training is a component in all higher education courses relative to health and social care, including medicine, nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, social work and psychology; and the estimated first- and full-year cost, respectively, of implementing this proposal. [57301/23]

Beef Sector

Pauline Tully

49. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is concerned with the latest evaluation changes by an organisation (details supplied) which has greatly devalued some cattle breeds; if he will address this issue by requesting a rollback to the previous evaluation until full clarification is received; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55819/23]

Departmental Funding

Pauline Tully

100. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the actions he is taking to ensure that an organisation (details supplied) is adequately funded and prevent it from having to initiate closure procedures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55759/23]

Disability Services

Pauline Tully

140. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his views on the adequacy of engagements that occurred with disability organisations and disabled persons' representative organisations in relation to the national disability strategy and the Green Paper on Disability Reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55758/23]

Departmental Consultations

Pauline Tully

358. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 121 of 7 December 2023, the names of the disability stakeholders and disabled persons organisations that her Department engaged with prior to the launch of the green paper. [55956/23]

Social Welfare Benefits

Pauline Tully

153. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 701 of 7 November 2023, to detail the benefits available to people who have a disability; and to detail the number of people currently in receipt of each of these benefits. [55669/23]

School Facilities

Pauline Tully

326. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Education the position regarding permission that was sought to proceed to tender stage by a school (details supplied) that has been approved since March 2022 to build a special educational needs base; and the timeframe for a decision on this matter. [55122/23]