512. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when the Government will publish the Action Plan on the Disability Capacity Review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32493/23]
354. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he plans to grant voting rights to members of the Ukrainian community now residing in this country as a result of the invasion of their country by Russia in the forthcoming local elections. [32291/23]
691. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health for an update on the processes to mediate the pay concerns of workers within section 39 organisations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30921/23]
690. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the measure he and his Department are taking to ensure supply of HRT medicines following shortages of utrogestran and oestrogen patches; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30912/23]
688. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health if he will engage and meet with a union (details supplied) to discuss the fees pharmacies receive from the State for all the State drug schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30889/23]
683. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health for a breakdown, by CHO of the provision of optometry services for all ages; what is and is not covered; the waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30859/23]
682. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the average wait from accepting a job application to starting work for people applying for work permits from abroad in each hospital under HSE management; how many of these have not started work after accepting a place, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30858/23]
418. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection if there is a rule preventing a person on disability allowance or invalidity pension from taking up an unpaid directorship in a company; if such applies in respect of a community group or charity; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30860/23]
398. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what powers, if any, the EPA or a local authority have under the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008, or any other legislation, in relation to directing Uisce Éireann to take corrective action where systems under its control are causing pollution of designated bathing waters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31291/23]
303. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Education if she has a plan to address the urgency for a new school building for a school (details supplied); if she will follow up her commitment to visit the school at the earliest possible convenience; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30922/23]
290. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Education if she will provide an update on the approval for a new school extension project (details supplied) as of June 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30517/23]
288. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Education what plans there are to maintain staffing levels in a school (details supplied) to ensure there will continue to be a teacher per class in the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30508/23]
206. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Finance if, when a company is paying a pension out of its company funds, the pension is liable to the pension levy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30846/23]
318. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health when catering and cleaning staff in a facility (details supplied) will be paid their pandemic payment. [30333/23]
317. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health how many workers who are eligible for the pandemic payment are still waiting to receive payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30332/23]
156. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Finance what plans there are to reform the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30224/23]
74. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport if he will meet with a campaign group (details supplied) to discuss development of the south-east rail network; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30225/23]
60. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport for an update as of June 2023 on the development of the MetroLink project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30227/23]
56. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport if there are any plans to curtail access for HGVs in urban towns following the example from a town (details supplied) where eight pedestrians have been killed in the past ten years in incidents involving HGVs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30226/23]
11. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport his views on the reported underspend by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30223/23]
131. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the 14 local authority housing units approved for construction at a location (details supplied) in May 2015 have finished construction; if so, their completion date; the final number of units delivered; the total cost of the project; if the development was officially opened by a Minister; if so, when that happened; if not, the reasons for the project not proceeding; the current status of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30108/23]
130. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the 30 local authority housing units approved for construction at a location (details supplied) in May 2015 have finished construction; if so, their completion date; the final number of units delivered; the total cost of the project; if the development was officially opened by a Minister; if so, when that happened; if not, the reasons for the project not proceeding; the current status of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30107/23]
129. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the 39 local authority housing units approved for construction at a location (details supplied) in May 2015 have finished construction; if so, their completion date; the final number of units delivered; the total cost of the project; if the development was officially opened by a Minister; if so, when that happened; if not, the reasons for the project not proceeding; the current status of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30106/23]
128. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the targets set out in appendix 1 of Laying the Foundations: Housing Actions Report, produced in 2016 by the then Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, were met in respect of Meath County Council; and the final spend on same. [30105/23]
698. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the WTE number of dietitians employed by Naas General Hospital; and the specific services in which these dietitians are employed, in tabular form. [29587/23]
697. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of heart transplant procedures carried out to date in 2023, in tabular form. [29586/23]
696. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE plastic surgeon registrars working in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form. [29585/23]
694. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE vacancies, by job title, at the HSE National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics; and the estimated full-year cost of filling these vacancies, in tabular form. [29583/23]
693. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE clinical specialist physiotherapists in musculoskeletal triage at St. Vincent's University Hospital in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form; and if this number will be further increased. [29582/23]
692. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE orthodontists employed by the HSE in CHO5 in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form. [29581/23]
691. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of WTE consultants in emergency medicine based at Portiuncula University Hospital in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form. [29580/23]
690. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the full-year cost to recruit one additional WTE genetic consultant and one extra WTE genetic counsellor, in tabular form. [29579/23]
689. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the major capital works that were carried out at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan in 2022 and to date in 2023; the nature of these works; and the additional capital works that are scheduled to be carried out at this hospital over the next 12 months, in tabular form. [29578/23]
681. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health how much each section 38 and 39 organisation receives from the HSE per hour to fund personal assistant services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29454/23]
524. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to confirm that as part of the Personalised Budgets Demonstration Projects Pilot that when PAS funding is unbundled from existing services how much of that HSE budget is retained by organisations who will no longer provide a PA service to disabled people in this project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29455/23]
389. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of people on local authority housing lists who are wheelchair users or persons with disabilities requiring UD+ or UD++ accommodation; if he will provide data as to the percentage of social housing builds per each local authority which are being, or are due to be built, to UD+ standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29687/23]
355. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if properties currently under construction at a location (details supplied) have been acquired by an approved housing association for social, affordable and cost rental homes; and if locals will be afforded the opportunity to apply for these homes. [29068/23]
1289. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health what plans he has to address the high cost of parking near a Dublin hospital (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28394/23]
1288. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health what plans he has to address hospital parking charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28393/23]
1279. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health if he will account for the reason that a medical card was withdrawn from a person (details supplied) in five successive months, and had to be reinstated in each of the five months before being withdrawn entirely, prior to the expiry of the three-year term of their medical card. [28318/23]
1278. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health the reason court safety orders or court barring orders older than 12 months are not accepted as proof of relationship estrangement by the medical card assessment unit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28317/23]
1136. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health if there have been any circumstances where the State has covered the cost or provided the direct funding for pectus carinatum bracing for an individual, through either the cross-Border Directive or on a discretionary basis to be carried out within another state; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27269/23]
674. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will request his Department to provide requested information (details supplied) covering the period from the 2020-2021 declarations, that is, after the April 2020 Report of the Consultative Committee on Urban Gulls to the 2022-2023 extension of the declarations, in tabular form. [27287/23]
673. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he and his Department accept that intense noise and faecal pollution for five months each year and serious attacks and blood injuries, including on children in schools in communities impacted by high-density urban gull colonies, are negative impacts far more serious than the impacts (details supplied) of small species such as sparrows and starlings, cited in the CJEU's judgement as justifying derogations in urban areas, and therefore that proactive general derogations are required in all such impacted areas listed in his Department's National Urban Gull Survey 2021. [27286/23]
672. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will assure that all new or amended regulations pertinent to the annual State-wide derogations from protections afforded to wild bird species will comply with the specific affirmation of the European Court of Justice (EU Commission vs. the King of Belgium 1985-87 Case No. 247) that the higher-ranking interests of public health and security must override the protection of birds and their habitats, as specifically catered for in Article 9.1.a, first indent, of the 1979 Birds Directive, and as specifically catered for in The Wildlife Act 2000 (Amended), Section 59 and in S.I. No. 477/2011 - European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011. [27284/23]
671. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will he confirm to the Deputy that measures that have been deployed as national policy since 1986 to lethally control several wild bird species (e.g. the Grey (Hooded) Crow, the Magpie, the Jackdaw and other species), have been implemented specifically to protect public health and safety under the "Member States shall protect, manage and control …(wild bird species)…" provisions of the Birds Directive, and does he accept - following the recommendations and evidence-based legal advices of his predecessor's Consultative Committee on urban gulls (2019-2021), and the results of his Department's Urban Gull Survey (2021), and internal legal advice (2022), that it is incumbent on the State to protect public health and safety from the officially recognised threats that are posed by seabirds nationally (Avian Flu), and rapidly expanding urban seagull colonies; and if he does so accept, can he state when will effective control measures be announced, how they will be deployed and, in particular, whether he will advise local authorities as to their responsibilities in the matter. [27283/23]
670. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he stands over his Department and the National Parks and Wildlife Service's long-standing and continuing legal requirement, backed up by a threat of fines and prosecutions, whereby parents, guardians or others who may be legally or otherwise responsible for the protection and wellbeing of infants, young children, elderly, vulnerable and/or immune compromised people, and for example, responsible for hygiene and infection control and/or the care of patients in medical centres or hospitals, except in Balbriggan only, must apply to his Department for a State licence to protect anyone in their care from seagulls that may be nesting in close proximity in significant numbers, species that are known to be aggressive and to swoop and attack people, and are the subject of stark public health warnings on three Government websites, including his Department's website for almost a year now. [27282/23]
669. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department intends to conduct any consultations, for example, with Dáil Éireann and/or with the general public, in respect of new draft regulations for wild birds derogation declarations; and if so, if a date has been scheduled for this. [27281/23]
668. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when and by what means his Department intends to publish the results of its public consultation on the 2023-2024 wild birds derogation declarations. [27280/23]