149 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children when, in view of the success of the acute medical admissions unit at St. James Hospital, acute medical admissions units will be introduced to hospitals, noting an article (details supplied) which claims up to 3000 lives could be saved by the introduction of such units; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[17311/08]
6 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Transport if he has been consulted on the recent proposal of the Dublin Airport Authority in its recently announced expansion plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[17532/08]
339 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science if the schools her Department has promised in Fingal will be built and open in September 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16002/08]
338 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science if the protocol agreed with Fingal County Council known as the Fingal School Project is being implemented in full as agreed between her Department and Fingal County Council; if her Department honoured its agreement to pay an amount of 50% of any savings that Fingal County Council achieved on the acquisition of school sites to Fingal County Council in order that the council could invest those moneys in school and community amenity facilities as agreed in the Fingal School Project; the amount that has been made available by her Department for such facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16001/08]
337 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science if the proposed new Skerries school in Kelly’s Bay will open in September 2008 as promised by her Department; if her Department has paid for the site and taken it into the ownership; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16000/08]
336 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will report on the building of a permanent school in Applewood, Swords; if her Department agreed to take up the offer of a site there; the stage it is at; when planning permission will be lodged for a permanent school rather than a prefabricated school; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15999/08]
120 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children her views on the impact financial cuts having on laboratory testing for MRSA and other hospital acquired infections; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16779/08]
119 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason patients are spending unacceptable amounts of time on trolleys in accident and emergency in view of the implementation of her accident and emergency ten-point plan combined with her description of the accident and emergency situation as a national emergency in March 2006, the subsequent establishment of the accident and emergency task force and the publication of the ED task force report and the setting of target waiting times; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16778/08]
51 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of respite beds that have been closed around the country; the number of respite beds she expects to close over the coming months; the provision her Department made to offer alternative respite services to those affected by these closures; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16351/08]
12 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children her estimation of the number of general practitioners needed in the next ten and 20 years; her views on whether under current education and training arrangements there could be a serious shortage of GPs in the very near future; the action she will take to address this impending shortage; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16777/08]
11 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if, in view of the reported plans to outsource the reading of all 300,000 cervical smears outside this State to another continent, causing the closure of all cervical smear laboratories here and the consequent loss of more than 100 highly skilled specialised jobs involved in the teaching and reading of cervical smears at a time of economic downturn, she will confirm that the accuracy rate of the non-Irish tender was only 85% compared to 95% in the Irish laboratory at University College Hospital, Galway; her views on whether it is untenable to leave Ireland in a position where we will have no laboratories for cytology screening, and that Ireland will be at the mercy of the vagaries of the international commercial laboratory operators; if she will reconsider the path she is taking and instead properly resource, update and fund adequately the screening laboratories here as formerly agreed by her Department and all the stakeholders in Limerick in 2005 as per the Dr. McGoogan report on cervical screening services; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16776/08]
9 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she is satisfied that the finance allocation to the Health Service Executive in 2008 will enable it to deliver the 2007 level of services in addition to specific service improvements; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[16775/08]
404 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if, taking account of the expensive process of removing and disposing of asbestos safely according to regulations, there are grants available to assist in the removal and disposal of asbestos roofs from domestic dwellings; if not, his views on introducing such grants, particularly in the case of hardship and where health issues and risks may arise; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15117/08]
349 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science the procedures in place to deal with allegations of verbal or physical abuse of students by teachers; if, in particular, there are guidelines to deal with such allegations which are fair to all parties and cause the minimum disruption to both the student concerned, other students and the teacher; if there is a policy of temporarily relocating such students pending the outcome of any investigation; if the student has the right to be heard and represented in such an investigation; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15382/08]
287 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if there are funds provided to combat coastal erosion particularly in the north County Dublin-Fingal area; if there is a plan in place to address coastal erosion; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15121/08]
169 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the availability of occupational therapy and speech and language therapy assessment and services for a person (details supplied) in County Laois; when such services will be made available to the person as early intervention is critical to their future.
[15162/08]
159 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the recent call from an organisation (details supplied) for smoking to be banned in cars which carry children under 16 years of age, in view of the fact that pollution from such smoking is 11 times greater than the pollution and level of intoxicants from cigarettes in pubs which initiated the original smoking ban; if she will further report on the recent call for the legislation to apply to psychiatric institutions which are also places of work; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15079/08]
158 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she has been in contact with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform or intends to contact that Department to make representations to regularise the ability for non-consultant hospital doctors from non-EU countries to have their families join them and to make provision for them to visit family members at home in cases of force majeure ; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15075/08]
156 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will confirm a recent report (details supplied) that a €500,000 medical CT scanner is in storage behind a filling station in Monaghan while a leaded room for the CT scanner in Monaghan Hospital remains empty and radiographers and trained nurses are available in Monaghan to use the scanner but the Health Service Executive, despite promises since 2004, has not made a decision on what to do with the scanner, even though it is costing €600 a week to store the scanner; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the average cost of hiring a private ambulance and nurse for a patient from Monaghan to go to Cavan Hospital for a scan is €748 per patient; her views on whether this is a sensible use of scarce resources in the current climate of cutbacks and cost savings; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15063/08]
160 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the stocks and plans for continued supply of necessary unlicensed medicines here (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15088/08]
155 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the recent tender for supply of unlicensed medicine to the Health Service Executive; the criteria used for the selection of the successful tender; the reason the HSE terminated the tender process; if complaints were made to the Competition Authority regarding the tender process; the nature of the complaints; the Competition Authority’s views on the complaints; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[15059/08]
181 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the cost of the location study carried out by The Health Partnership on the proposed location of a hospital in the north east; the expected completion date for the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13900/08]
140 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will make a statement on the chronic under-provision for both primary and secondary school places in Lusk, Balbriggan, Balrothery, Donabate and Swords; her immediate plans to address this serious and stressful situation for parents and their children; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13719/08]
97 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the cost of the new community nursing home opened recently in Cherry Orchard Dublin; the time frame from the original decision to approve the unit by the HSE, to planning permission, to final construction and opening of the unit; the locations of any further units; the number of beds in those units and the target deadline for the opening of those units; if funding for the requisite staffing for those planned units is in place; if the recruitment embargo does not apply to these proposed community units; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13764/08]
82 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the locations where health service cutbacks are planned in 2008 in the context of the €370 million shortfall in the spending allocation provided to the Health Service Executive in Budget 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13688/08]
81 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason the pre-budget outlook for 2008 estimates the day-to-day cost in 2008 of maintaining health services at 2007 levels to be only €14,133 million, when the Health Services Executive estimated the cost to be €14,707 million; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13687/08]
80 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps she will take to ensure that formal communications processes and procedures are put in place within hospitals in order that in the event of an incident there is an immediate and appropriate response to the patient; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13686/08]
79 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps she will take to ensure that a review is conducted of communication within hospitals, between hospitals and with the Health Service Executive to ensure effective communications, policies and procedures are in place to provide an efficient and coordinated response to the patient when a serious incident arises, as recommended by the Health Information and Quality Authority report into the misdiagnosis of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[13685/08]
329 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of speech and language therapy graduates for each of the years 2000 to 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12881/08]
183 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the unavailability of laser treatment for neurology conditions in the neurology department of Beaumont Hospital apparently due to delays in installing new cleaning technology; if this is the case, the interim measures in place to ensure patients in pain can access timely treatment for their neurology conditions (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12967/08]
177 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will confirm that an audit of services is taking place at Sligo General Hospital; if this audit covers breast cancer services, all cancer services and all services; if this audit is being carried out by the Health Information and Quality Authority, the terms of reference for the audit; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12938/08]
166 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients inappropriately placed in acute hospital beds in each of the hospitals (details supplied) who are in need of alternative post-acute care; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12887/08]
165 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of step down, long term care and rehabilitative beds for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the location of these beds; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12886/08]
164 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of orthodontists recruited nationally by the Health Service Executive for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the number of orthodontists recruited in 2008; the number of vacancies that have to be filled; the number of orthodontists employed in Dublin HSE areas for the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12885/08]
163 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children in Dublin identified as needing orthodontic treatment for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the number of children who received treatment; the number of children waiting to receive treatment; the length of time they have been waiting; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12884/08]
161 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children in Dublin identified as needing occupational therapy for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the number of children who received therapy; the number of children waiting to receive therapy; the length of time they have been waiting; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12882/08]
162 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of occupational therapists employed nationally by the Health Service Executive per annum for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the number of occupational therapists recruited in 2008; the number of vacancies that have to be filled; the location of these posts; the number of therapists employed in Dublin HSE areas for the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12883/08]
160 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of speech and language therapists recruited nationally by the Health Service Executive for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the number of speech and language therapists recruited in 2008; the number of vacancies that have to be filled; the number of therapists employed in Dublin HSE areas for the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12880/08]
159 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children in Dublin identified as needing speech and language therapy for each of the years 2000 to 2007; the number of children who received therapy; the number of children waiting to receive therapy; the length of time they have been waiting; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12879/08]
148 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the status of the proposed fair deal nursing home legislation; if the legal drafting difficulties have been successfully addressed; when the legislation will come before the Houses of the Oireachtas; her views on interim arrangements for families who are being forced to sell homes while this legislation is delayed; if her Department has consulted with the stakeholders, in particular Age Action Ireland, who are looking for consultation on the proposed legislation; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12813/08]
146 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the application for funding for a new community crèche (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12965/08]
61 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the pharmacists contract and the uncertainty regarding the future trading arrangements with community pharmacists; when the person appointed to examine proposed fees paid to pharmacists is expected to report and make recommendations; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[12517/08]
765 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Education and Science the amount her Department has spent in the years 2004 to 2007 and to date in 2008 defending legal actions taken by parents of autistic children and other similar actions looking for services for their children; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11806/08]
372 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the status of recommendations made by the Forum on Older People established by the Health Service Executive following the publication of the Leas Cross review in late 2006; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11872/08]
371 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of physiotherapist posts that currently remain unfilled; the number of physiotherapists on panels available for appointment to those posts; if it is the policy of the Health Service Executive to interview unqualified undergraduates for such posts; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11866/08]
362 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if arrangements are being made to address the concerns of independent midwives regarding professional indemnity cover; if so, the measures being taken to ensure continuity of cover and independent midwife services in the community; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11805/08]
361 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of people employed in her Department; the costs associated with the number employed in the years 2003 to 2007; and the number employed in 2008 with projected costs for 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11804/08]
360 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children her views, in the interest of patient safety and more professional service, on bringing in regulations to standardise the certification and employment qualifications and experience required for phlebotomists, in particular phlebotomists employed in high throughput jobs in hospital environments where currently no standard regulations apply regarding employee qualifications and experience; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11803/08]
359 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the timely availability of BCG vaccination in the Dublin area and nationwide and in particular in a health centre (details supplied) in Dublin 13 where a mother has reported she is unable to get a BCG vaccination for her baby because there is a waiting list of 400 for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11802/08]
328 Deputy James Reilly asked the Minister for Health and Children the estimate provided by the Health Service Executive, as part of the 2008 estimates process, to her Department and the Department of Finance, of the of the cost of delivering the existing level of service in 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[11666/08]