Thursday, 26 Nov 2015

Written Answers Nos. 174-182

National Cancer Strategy Publication

Ceisteanna (174)

Billy Kelleher

Ceist:

174. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health when his Department will publish a new cancer strategy. [42187/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

A National Cancer Strategy Steering Group is working on the development of a draft Cancer Strategy for 2016-2025. The draft Strategy will be submitted to me for consideration by the end of the year with a view to publication early in 2016.

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland

Ceisteanna (175)

Michael Ring

Ceist:

175. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Health why the Irish nursing board has not issued a reply to an application for registration by a person (details supplied) in County Mayo; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42197/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

I wish to thank the Deputy for the matter raised.

Given that this is an operational matter, it is appropriate that it should be dealt with by the NMBI. I have referred the Deputy's question to the NMBI for attention and direct reply.

If you have not received a reply from the NMBI within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Hospital Waiting Lists

Ceisteanna (176)

Michael Healy-Rae

Ceist:

176. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of an operation for a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42198/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual.

The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014, has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has been adopted by the Health Service Executive, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists.

In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Health Services

Ceisteanna (177)

Finian McGrath

Ceist:

177. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health the status of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 1 who requires long-term care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42202/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Health

As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Services for People with Disabilities

Ceisteanna (178)

Clare Daly

Ceist:

178. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) in County Dublin will be considered for placements with any of the service providers Prosper Fingal, Gheel, Praxcis Car, or Eve in a timely manner in order that travel and other preparations can be made. [42231/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Health

Each Local Health Office area in the Health Service Executive (HSE) has a dedicated Disability Manager to coordinate the delivery of services to people with disabilities. It is open to the individual and their family to pursue this matter with the Disability Manager for their area who can be contacted at the HSE offices, Fujitsu House, Unit 100, 4th Floor, Lakeshore Drive, Airside Business Park, Swords, Co. Dublin, telephone [phone].

As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, she can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.

Hospital Services

Ceisteanna (179)

Gerry Adams

Ceist:

179. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland hospital group's winter capacity plans to deal with the busiest time of the year; the measures that are in place to deal with capacity at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda in County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42237/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

Additional funding of €16.9m (€8.9m revenue and €8m capital) was provided in July to support acute hospitals over the winter period. This ‘winter capacity’ funding is being applied to a range of initiatives including additional bed capacity. In preparation for the 2015/16 winter period, hospital groups have provided comprehensive winter resilience plans to the HSE, outlining how they will implement an integrated approach across primary, community, social and acute services to manage winter pressures. This approach is intended both to avoid unnecessary admissions to acute hospitals and to expedite discharges from hospital efficiently.

A total of 135 hospital beds which had been closed for refurbishment or for infection control purposes during 2015 are to be re-opened by the end of November. As of the 19th November, 91 of these beds are already open. A further 301 beds are being added to support the acute hospital system over the winter period across various locations, including Limerick, Drogheda, Galway and North Dublin - all areas which are regularly identified in the media as pressure points for the delivery of emergency care. All of these actions are intended to enable the HSE to deliver the objective of reducing the number of patients with Delayed Discharges by one-third to less than 500, and the number of patients on trolleys in EDs waiting for admission for over nine hours to fewer than 70.

In relation to the RCSI Hospital Group winter capacity plan, as this is a service matter, I have requested that the HSE respond to the deputy directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.

Diplomatic Representation

Ceisteanna (180)

Patrick O'Donovan

Ceist:

180. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for details of the ambassadors from Ireland who have come from the private or public sector, from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or from other Departments, by Department; the number of years that each ambassador has served as an ambassador to date; the locations of the ambassadors' service, all in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter [42076/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Irish diplomats, including Ambassadors and Heads of Mission, are career civil servants employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; a number of Ambassadors have served in other Government Departments prior to transferring to my Department. The information on the location of each Ambassador is set out in the table below:

MISSION	Grade	Posted as Head of Mission since
Ambassador Abu Dhabi	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Abuja	Senior Development Specialist	2014
Ambassador Addis Ababa	Counsellor	2012
Ambassador Ankara	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Athens	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Bangkok	Deputy Secretary	2014
Ambassador Beijing	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Berlin	Second Secretary	2013
Ambassador Berne	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Bratislava	First Secretary	2013
Ambassador Brasilia	Principal Officer	2014
Ambassador Brussels; Embassy (including PfP)	Counsellor	2012
Ambassador Brussels; Permanent Representative to the EU	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Brussels; Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU	Assistant Secretary	2012
Ambassador Brussels; Permanent Representative to the EU – Political Security Committee	Counsellor	2013
Ambassador Budapest	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Bucharest	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Buenos Aires	Assistant Secretary	2014
Ambassador Cairo	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Canberra	Counsellor	2012
Ambassador Copenhagen	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Dar-es-Salaam	Principal Development Specialist	2012
Ambassador Edinburgh	First Secretary	2013
Ambassador Freetown	Development Specialist	2011
Ambassador Geneva; Permanent representative to the UN	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Hanoi	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Helsinki	Assistant Secretary	2015
Ambassador Holy See	First Secretary	2014
Ambassador Jakarta	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Kampala	Senior Development Specialist	2014
Ambassador Kuala Lumpur	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Lilongwe	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Lisbon	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Ljubljana	First Secretary	2015
Ambassador London	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Lusaka	Senior Development Specialist	2015
Ambassador Luxembourg	Assistant Principal	2014
Ambassador Madrid	Former Secretary General	2014
Ambassador Maputo	Principal Development Specialist	2014
Ambassador Mexico	Counsellor	2013
Ambassador Moscow	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Nairobi	Principal Development Specialist	2014
Ambassador New Delhi	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador New York Permanent Mission to the UN	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Nicosia	First Secretary	2013
Ambassador Oslo	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Ottawa	Assistant Secretary	2010
Ambassador Paris	Second Secretary General	2014
Ambassador Paris; Permanent Representative to the OECD and UNESCO	Counsellor	2012
Ambassador Prague	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador Pretoria	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Ramallah	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Riga	First Secretary	2015
Ambassador Riyadh	Principal Officer	2014
Ambassador Rome	Deputy Secretary	2013
Ambassador Seoul	Counsellor	2013
Ambassador Singapore	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Sofia	currently vacant
Ambassador Stockholm	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Strasbourg; Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe	Assistant Secretary	2011
Ambassador Tallinn	Assistant Principal	2010
Ambassador Tel Aviv	Counsellor	2015
Ambassador The Hague	Assistant Secretary	2014
Ambassador Tokyo	Assistant Secretary	2014
Ambassador Valetta	First Secretary	2014
Ambassador Vienna; bilateral Embassy and Permanent Representative to the International Organisations	Assistant Secretary	2014
Ambassador Vienna; Permanent Representative to the OSCE	Assistant Secretary	2013
Ambassador Vilnius	First Secretary	2014
Ambassador Warsaw	Counsellor	2014
Ambassador Washington	Deputy Secretary	2013
Ambassador Zagreb	First Secretary	2014

Diplomatic Representation

Ceisteanna (181)

Patrick O'Donovan

Ceist:

181. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for details regarding appointments (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42077/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

The Government, on foot of proposals made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, nominates officers to Ambassadorial posts. The nominated Ambassadors are subsequently appointed by the President. Generally, Irish diplomats, including Heads of Mission, are established career civil servants employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Officers in Head of Mission posts are drawn from the Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Counsellor and First Secretary grades and equivalent.

Departmental Expenditure

Ceisteanna (182)

Patrick O'Donovan

Ceist:

182. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will revert to this Deputy (details supplied) regarding credit cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42078/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

My Department comprises two separate votes, Vote 28 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Vote 27 International Co-operation. The Department's general policy on use of credit cards is restrictive and, as a general rule, cards will only be authorised for officers who, due to the nature of their work or for particular circumstances, have a compelling business need for an official credit card.

Official credit cards may only be used for transactions arising in the course of official business. The card is used to pay for air and train travel, hotel bookings, etc on behalf of diplomatic officers based at the Embassy.

Eight Ambassadors have credit card facilities for use for the official business of the Embassy.

The relevant Embassies are:

Abu Dhabi

Berne

Canberra

London

Mexico

Ottawa

Paris

Tokyo

The Department’s Financial Management System does not record official credit card transactions separately from general payments. Therefore a separate breakdown of costs charged in respect of each official credit card is not readily available. Each individual transaction is charged to the relevant expense code in the Appropriations Account such as travel, accommodation, etc.

Official credit card bills are analysed and each transaction certified as in order before payment is made. All relevant supporting documentation is retained for audit purposes.