Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Dún Laoghaire · Fine Gael · Ireland
“It will be provided by a registered pharmacist in accordance with the relevant pharmacy legislation, including this Bill. Section 2 of the Bill makes various amendments to the Irish Medicines Board Act and the Pharmacy Act. Those amendments ensure that whole legislative framework is cross-referenced correctly.”
“We now have a common conditions service where you can go to a pharmacy instead of a GP to get a diagnosis and prescription for eight basic conditions like conjunctivitis or urinary tract infections - the kind of things that just come up in people's lives all the time. We would like to expand more and more what pharmacies can do.”
“In particular, the board will be focusing on aspects of menstrual health, on aspects of postpartum mental health, particularly in traumatic birth cases, on something we have overlooked for some time, which is endometriosis, on women who are finding it difficult to access services in different ways, as Senator Harmon suggested, and on more…”
“The extension to 41- to 45-year-olds could possibly be €5 million to €8 million because there are statistically fewer women in that bracket trying to conceive, so the numbers are higher. It really is a question of funding. I remind Senators that they have also asked me to fund various other programmes.”
“That followed confirmation from the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and the Health Products Regulatory Authority that the patch and ring are classified as medicinal products, not medical devices. That is just a correction there.”
“That is why we have put so much money into supporting them in different ways, including the conclusion of a €50 million increase to their fees and to provide for the opportunity to raise private funds in this way, for example, the common conditions service. I want to see pharmacists doing more.”
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“Of the additional public health nurse posts allocated in budget 2025, six whole-time equivalents were allocated to Dublin south city west and Dublin south-west IHA’s, which are areas with a significant mismatch between demand and capacity as the Senator correctly identified. Recruitment for these positions has been prioritised. Candidates have been selected and are scheduled to commence their roles through the public health nursing sponsorship scheme in September 2025. That is six additional WTEs for that area commencing in September 2025. Reconfiguration and integration of services, reorganisation of existing work and redeployment of staff will continue to underpin broader contingency plans. I absolutely fully acknowledge the very important concerns of parents when access to these important public health nursing services is limited.”
“Child health developmental assessments have, in some instances, been impacted by that approach. However, and this is so important, the HSE advises that the Dublin south-west integrated healthcare area, IHA, which covers the area of Dublin 12, is working to address service provision. Efforts under way include the development of partnerships between acute hospitals and community partners to provide graduate nurses with an opportunity for a clinical rotation to the community and to initiate a similar opportunity for experienced registered nurses working within hospitals. That development is in the initial stages and is one of a number of measures that will improve the public health nursing workforce into the future.”
“The Senator and I both know there have been known challenges with the recruitment and retention of public health nurses, especially within parts of Dublin and in particular in the area the Senator represents. A community nursing oversight group was established by the HSE specifically to identify those challenges related to recruitment and is progressing the recommendations from that work. Short-term temporary solutions to prioritise resources and service provision have been put in place, including prioritising birth notification visits and post-natal assessments. As of March this year, 13 local health offices nationally, including Dublin south-west, are using the national caseload prioritisation framework. That assists with providing care to people within the areas in greatest need of services.”
“In response to the very significant concern the Senator and others have raised, especially in her constituency where I have observed this has been a particularly acute problem, we have tried to expedite those posts to areas where child health developmental assessments are most impacted. More broadly, as of March 2025, 83.4% of 9- to 11-month child developmental assessments were completed on time or before reaching 12 months of age. As we are aware, the HSE recruitment pause ended in July 2024. There is no impediment to normal recruitment or replacement of staff within agreed WTE limits. Each regional executive officer will continue to prioritise, recruit and replace staff within his or her approved number as appropriate, including public health nurses.”
“I thank Senator Ní Chuilinn for raising this important topic and again apologise for the problem last week. The Government remains committed to providing continued investment in the health workforce, including public health nurses, and ensuring this incredibly important service is available for those who need it. Public health nurses are employed by the HSE to deliver safe, quality and person-centred community nursing care across a person's life. As of May this year, there are 1,493 whole-time equivalent, WTE, public health nurses employed and a further 27 whole-time equivalent posts provided for in budget 2025.”
“This is an issue for enterprise, social protection and health. GPs are private practitioners. Many of them have contracts with the HSE to provide public services. Services provided outside of these are a private matter. The Medical Council is there to protect the public. Part of this is registering doctors as quickly as may be, and part of it is making sure that doctors operate to a very high standard. I encourage the Medical Council to reflect on the issue Deputy Feighan has correctly highlighted, recognising the impact it may have on employers, particularly small businesses. I assure him that everybody in government takes a strong interest in this.”
“It was very important to conduct the national assessment of insourcing, which I commissioned at the beginning of April because of my concerns, and to publish it. The Deputy has had an opportunity to consider it today. We have to use every lever to implement Sláintecare, including rostering for five over seven days, the public only consultant contract and making the best case possible for as much investment in health infrastructure as this Government can do collectively. That includes elective hospitals and surgical hubs. I understand the surgical hub in Mount Carmel has seen over 1,000 patients; that is my understanding from the CEO of St. James's. I have asked for detailed information on what exactly has been happening and when.”
“It is simply unacceptable and I think we are absolutely unanimous in our perspective on that. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and I have a range of work to do, on which we will continually update Deputies, and they will hold us to account on that. I thank Deputies for the opportunity to discuss this today.”
“In conclusion, let me go back to the essence and purpose of this debate, which is prompted by the desperate and dreadful scenes we witnessed in the recent RTÉ programme, which highlighted appalling deficiencies in care and with respect to people's dignity in some long-term residential care settings in Ireland. Of course, primary responsibility absolutely lies with the individuals who committed those actions, and the organisations that worked in a way that enabled or facilitated them, or did not intervene or address them. It is also the case that we have to improve HIQA's processes and standards but we must never lose sight of the fact that everybody has a choice about how they turn up to work and how they treat people on a day-to-day basis. Those choices were very wrong in every instance we saw on that RTÉ show.”
“Nevertheless, the intersection of those illnesses with where they live and how they are supported is something we are going to have to concentrate our minds on, while making sure we are using every lever in both the healthcare and social care sectors to support people at home. That is a good thing for people's dignity and for the economics of supporting people, which must also be there. Very happily, these things coincide. I look forward, over the period of this Dáil, to working with all Deputies to try to achieve those different goals.”
“While our commitments in respect of Meals on Wheels, nursing homes and a range of different issues are challenging, I believe they are achievable but I have to reiterate to the House the scale of the demographic challenge that is ahead. We are going to have to think about and work together on it in every possible way. Our population is growing rapidly and it is ageing. That is an extremely good thing. It is fantastic that people are living longer lives in Ireland and that our life expectancy is increasing but it will bring a different challenge for all of us here to be able to support and represent people in an appropriate way. We will have to recognise that people are going to be diagnosed with more illnesses as they age. Again, this is a good thing, as opposed to the alternative.”
“The 2025 programme for Government is, I hope, dedicated, among other things, to the vision of creating a caring society, a compassionate State and one that is funded to be able to do those different things. We are trying to advance a range of actions that will genuinely advance the social care model, and support older people to live a full and independent life in their own homes and communities with appropriate wraparound supports. Another element of that, which is so important, is our increasing use of virtual technology in the healthcare sector more broadly to enable people to get appropriate care as close to home as possible, always with a view to keeping people in their own homes and spaces for as long as possible, recognising all of the different challenges that people have.”
“There is significant investment but that does not mean we do not need to continue to do better, particularly at a time when there is a growing and ageing population. Deputies are already familiar with the measures in the nursing home support scheme known as fair deal. That fair deal scheme will receive Government funding of in excess of €1.2 billion this year, and the programme for Government commits to strengthening the nursing home sector by increasing funding for fair deal. It is important that we continue to work on that. The programme for Government also commits to building more public nursing home beds and that is an absolute priority for this Government.”
“The policy will set out, at a high level, proposed new legislative provisions for the sector. It will also set out a wide-ranging programme of non-legislative measures across our sector to achieve a culture of safeguarding that is fostered and embedded at all levels. More broadly, it is important to reiterate that investing in services for older people is a Government priority and has been. There has been an increase of approximately €1 billion in funding for services for older people since 2020. This year alone has seen an increase of approximately €350 million on the amount secured under budget 2024, bringing the total figure to almost €3 billion in budget 2025. A figure means nothing without a context but, of course, that is €3 billion out of an overall budget of €25 billion.”
“To update the House, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and I met the Law Reform Commission in respect of that yesterday and we looked at some of the detail, thinking and analysis that went into its report as it considered various models of how to get to the point of achieving a policy that is going to be effective, independent and capable of being introduced quickly. We had a good opportunity to tease through some of those issues. I respect the work of the Law Reform Commission, the very considerable effort it has put into developing its policy and the draft Bills it has produced. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and I had a good opportunity yesterday and we will reflect on that as I bring the policy direction to the Government over the next number of weeks.”
“That is especially the case in respect of the ownership of nursing homes and how that has evolved over the last period. The Government is fully committed to introducing an adult safeguarding policy for the health and social care sector, which will provide a framework for strengthening safeguards across all private, public and voluntary services. The policy is at an advanced stage and our intention is to bring it to the Government as a matter of priority. My hope is that would be before the August break.”
“There should be a follow-up measure to check what may be outstanding at that point. I would also expect the same in respect of hospital inspections, a number of which I reviewed this week. Where there are points that need to be followed up, I would prefer to have a real-time assessment of those. We have very strong confidence in HIQA, notwithstanding what has happened over the last number of weeks, because of its institutional experience and the role it has played to date. It is always going to be the case in any developed liberal democracy that we have to assess strongly the institutions we have, even those that have worked very well, and continue to work to improve them, particularly as the circumstances around them change.”
“As the national independent regulator for nursing homes, HIQA and the office of the chief inspector need to use all the powers available to them and to communicate with us about how we can enhance and develop those powers. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, outlined that he and I have met HIQA a number of times in recent weeks to try to further those ends. HIQA has acknowledged the importance of examining its processes and methodology and will undertake a review of the effectiveness of the chief inspector's inspection and monitoring processes. One of the things the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and I identified in particular is the need for more real-time reporting of how that may be done. The update must also be provided in March, for example, if a report is published in March for an inspection concluded in October.”
“Poor care, mistreatment, neglect or any other form of abuse of any person living in a long-term residential care centre is completely unacceptable and cannot be tolerated, nor can it be tolerated in any other setting. I do not wish to repeat what he said, but I acknowledge that in his opening speech the Minister of State outlined a range of actions the Government is taking, which we hope will contribute significantly to improving the nursing home sector and care of older people. I thank him for his always forensic approach to the data he has and for his interrogation of what he believes needs to be done. I have witnessed and, I hope, supported him in that forensic analysis with HIQA and others about the work done to date and what is yet to be done. A fit-for-purpose regulatory regime for the sector is of paramount importance.”
“It is fair to recognise that nursing homes in the public, private and voluntary sectors play a critical role and will retain a critical place in the provision of long-term care and other services. They will remain a vital part of the continuum of care into the future and we have to make sure all the other services are in place so that it is an appropriate part and not an over-indexed part of the continuum of care for older people. I also need to acknowledge the "RTÉ Investigates" programme that was broadcast on 4 June. I echo the words of the Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Deputy O'Donnell, by stating in the strongest terms possible that every nursing home resident deserves and should expect the highest standards of care and dignity at all times.”
“This is an exceptionally important time to discuss this issue again in the House, recognising our collective focus on making sure that people can stay at home for as long as possible, that those who are in nursing homes are safe and have dignity, and that we see a significant change to what we saw in recent weeks. I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion to give us the opportunity to discuss it. To clarify, in opposing the motion, we do not claim there are no challenges in the sector or anything of the kind, but rather we are taking the opportunity to set out the pathway for which we should be held to account in the next number of years.”
“I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for his comments on abolishing the means test for carers. We are systematically trying to get to the point where it has been abolished. I recognise the changes that have been made because what we want to see, as the Deputy said, is people staying in their own homes for as long as possible for their dignity, comfort and connection with their families and because that is the model we want to have. There is a substantial body of work on that, which the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell is leading. I thank him for his work on that.”
“I will repeat some of the things that have been said about recruitment. The numbers are up by 25% over that period. The pay and numbers strategy resulted in a net increase of 2,000 people into the health system, with 2,000 people who had temporary contracts made permanent, 2,000 vacancies and a net uplift of 2,000 people. I will be happy to provide the detail to the Deputy. Nevertheless, we continue to recruit. We have several thousand more people to recruit this year. We are doing our best to meet the targets. I met CORU as recently as yesterday in respect of trying to get people onto the register as quickly as possible to be able to meet many of the therapeutic needs children desperately need.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The area of dental services is a particular concern of mine. We are trying to expand the number of training places for more dentists. We also have a difficulty in the number of dentists offering services on the public side, which is impacting. We are trying to find a range of different innovative ways to get dental services to schools more easily and to make it easier for schools, children and parents to get to dental services. I note the particular point made by the Deputy and the intersection around the particular timing there. I might look for a little more detail from him directly and I will try to find a way to make sure this is not left out.”
“We have a body of work together as a Legislature but we just need to be careful about the experience that they are having as well to make sure that we are reflecting it in a universal way.”
“I would be careful with phrases such as "confidence is on the floor". People are attending Crumlin and Temple Street hospitals today. I was there last week. I have a lot of confidence in the medical team there. I have a lot of confidence in the nurse specialists who listened to my voicemail and rang me back and the service and support I receive. That is the majority experience of Crumlin and Temple Street. There is a very important set of problems that we have to address but the majority experience is positive. I have parents contacting me to continue to make that point about their experience. This is parents and children at very vulnerable moments going in to receive hospital care and they are getting it.”
“I very much respect the Deputy's perspective on that and on the culture piece. I had a good meeting with the new CEO, Lucy Nugent, where I was very clear and reiterated that this is a new CHI for the future with a new executive management team, a new approach and a new culture. She needs that team around her to be able to implement that new culture. She is coming from Tallaght, where there has been good success and where she has a very strong track record in relation to that. I take the Deputy's perspective on the response to parliamentary questions and other matters very importantly and seriously. There is never a difficulty in being forthcoming with information to the extent that it is appropriate legally and from that HR perspective but there is a way in which you can lean in and provide better confidence.”
“While we are trying to get to the issues relating to culture and to governance, I understand the difficulty there for those individuals and CHI's perspective on that. In relation to the legal advice, in general that is a matter for CHI and the committee directly.”
“I could say about the summary that it is CHI's view that this is the best it can do, recognising some of the HR and legal constraints. I want to see the report published in the broader public interest but it is not necessarily the case that in every instance it should be published. In particular, I am concerned that this was a HR report where people who might be constituents of the Deputy, and for whom he might take a protective trade union perspective as well, participated in a process to try to address a significant cultural issue. It would be very difficult for those people to talk about the experiences they had in this HR process and for their comments to be published in the public domain.”
“I do not wish to disrespect the Deputy by repeating those issues he already knows about, but all of those governance changes are being made with a view to supporting the new CEO as she continues to establish her executive team. She needs to implement the recommendations of a range of different reports and at the same time take CHI forward in a constructive and positive way towards the new hospital but also towards the delivery of better paediatric services across this country. On the Deputy's direct question around the Dickson report, my Department received it on Friday, 20 June and is reviewing it. I can engage with the Deputy further on it.”
“On 19 June, CHI advised the Joint Committee on Health that neither Temple Street nor Crumlin hospitals accepted the Dickson report when it was completed in 2017. My Department received a copy of the report on Friday, 20 June and my officials are reviewing it. I will be seeking assurance from CHI that the matters raised in the report have been addressed. In light of concerns raised in relation to corporate and clinical governance concerns at CHI, as the Deputy is aware, I have appointed two HSE board members to the CHI board. We discussed yesterday the changes to the service level agreement, the role of the HSE and the internal audit being conducted by the HSE.”
“I agree completely with the Deputy, and I thank her for that. While I do not have an update for her today - it was yesterday we discussed it - I have instructed my officials to see what can be done, and I will revert to her on it. I have to say Deputy Moynihan has got me. I do not know, and I am going to have to find out. I can tell him about estradot patches and so many different things but I cannot tell him about vets, agriculture and pharmacy. He has got me, and I am going to have to go back and find a proper answer for him. I commit to writing to the Deputy today to make sure that is done. I ask him to please forgive me; I do not know.”
“My vision for it is that is established, is working well and will be expanded as quickly as possible. Pharmacists are trusted and we need to expand this service as much as possible, recognising that will take that pressure off GPs. For an older woman, in particular, a urinary tract infection can be very dangerous. They need to be seen and diagnosed and get medication early rather than wait for a GP appointment. By moving that into pharmacy, it frees up that slot in a GP practice as well. It is a broader expansion and a good thing generally.”
“The first and most important thing is to take the steps forward to get this going. There was an inertia on that, if I may say, until recently. It has now been progressed and there are detailed negotiations to take the necessary steps forward. I would like to see this in place and operational and then be able to expand it appropriately. I have already said, I think, that the list of common conditions should be expanded. It is not going to be enough but it is no harm to get the practice under way as quickly as possible, make sure it is supported by the appropriate regulatory and training environment, and recognise that pharmacists themselves need more support and more pharmacists' assistants and technicians. They are working under pressure in different ways and need to build their own capacity to do this as well.”
“Deputy Ó Muirí asked about GP care. The huge advantage of this is that it will take some of the work from GPs into pharmacies that can be done more easily. From the patient's perspective, I would like a patient to be able to go into a pharmacy, be diagnosed for a simple and common condition of this kind and pay a fee to do so, and get their prescription there and then rather than go to a GP, pay a GP fee, go back to the pharmacy and pay for the prescription. All of that can be taken into one. The intention is that this would be the basis for beginning this, recognising that taking that approach will expand access to healthcare generally, and that patients in the general medical services, GMS, scheme and so on still have that option with GPs but now with, I hope, increased capacity.”
“That service will be the first step in enabling full, independent pharmacist prescribing. It will allow pharmacists in Ireland to treat their patients for common conditions such as shingles, urinary tract infections and conjunctivitis. It will also support the development of new revenue streams for pharmacies. Development of the service is well under way. It is led by the community pharmacy expansion implementation oversight group. That group meets monthly with the aim of developing the necessary enablers for required to establish the common conditions programme. That includes clinical protocols along with the pharmaceutical regulator, new education and training for pharmacists and a package of required regulations. We aim to have all of these in place to facilitate pharmacies to establish this new service before the end of the year.”
“I thank the Deputy. I am a huge advocate for the reform and expansion of pharmacy services and the Government is committed to ensuring people can access as much care as possible in the community including in pharmacy, which will play a very large and expanded role in this. The report of the expert task force to support the expansion of the role of pharmacy was published in August 2024. Its findings provide a framework to inform how we are going to do that. My vision for the future includes pharmacists playing a much larger role in the health service. I am happy now to see the progress being made between my Department and the representatives of the Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, in this regard. The priority focus is the development and introduction of a common conditions service in community pharmacy.”
“If the Deputy would like me to answer, I will do so. The reality is that staffing has increased in Cavan Monaghan General Hospital by 26% but the increase in Monaghan has been 70%, so Monaghan is not being left behind. I look forward to going there and discussing all these issues, including the business cases submitted or not submitted by Monaghan hospital, as I am sure the Deputy already has.”
“Waiting times at Cavan Monaghan are improving a lot. Some 35% of outpatient appointments occurred within Sláintecare wait times compared with 25% in the same period last year, which is an improvement that needs to continue. Some 58% of inpatient day cases occur within the Sláintecare wait times, as do 95% of GI scopes, which is an improvement on 87% last year, and 94% to 100% of those waiting for outpatient, inpatient or day case, and GI scope appointments are waiting 12 months or less. I see progress there. The application is from Cavan Monaghan General Hospital for the replacement of the MRI scanner located at Cavan. That is the application the hospital has made to the HSE.”
“For those admitted to the hospital through the emergency departments, median waiting times are 10% lower than the national average. Cavan and Monaghan hospital has two CT scanners and one MRI scanner, which are located at the Cavan general hospital site. As with all CT scanners, I will be assessing how and when they are used. Cavan Monaghan General Hospital has made an application to the HSE national equipment replacement programme to replace the existing MRI scanner located at Cavan. This project has been approved and works are expected to be completed by the end of this year.”
“The Government is fully committed to the ongoing development of regional hospitals, including Cavan and Monaghan which operate as a single hospital entity, with integrated managerial and clinical governance systems, care pathways and support functions. Since July 2020, significant resources have been invested to meet the needs of patients using Cavan and Monaghan hospitals. The total budget for Cavan Monaghan General Hospital has increased by 30% from €115 million in 2020 to €149 million in 2025. Staffing has increased in the Cavan and Monaghan hospital by 295 people since January 2020. That is an increase of 26%. The budget has gone up by 30% and the staffing has gone up by 26%. Median waiting times for patients attending the emergency department are within 3% of the national average.”
“On the recent dialogue in the Dáil about the cost of living and some of the challenges in the price of groceries and other things, it is a source of great frustration to me that we have expanded eligibility for GP access cards to 430,000 people and only 72,000 of them have taken it up. We have tried to communicate. We will do more to try to communicate, but I ask every Deputy to communicate to their constituents as there are people who are entitled to free GP access cards. We are delighted to pay for them and it would be wonderful if they would take it up.”
“I agree on the delivery of primary care centres. It is difficult for me to speak in general terms about GPs or other medical staff leaving because there will always be a case of someone who has done that. It is not the general trend of what we are seeing. There is clearly work here. There is the opportunity to set up a business and work in one's own practice. There is the opportunity to work in HSE primary care centres and other more directly employed opportunities, that is to work in different ways and there is clearly a need for that. Notwithstanding that, the contracts in 2019 and 2023 were favourable and there is an opportunity to continue to expand practice. There are now direct diagnostic referrals from GPs to try to get GPs operating at the absolute top of their practice and experience. It is very attractive.”
“We need to make sure those people's registration process is triaged and expedited by the Medical Council, there being no reason those people should not be activated to work, as they wish to do and their communities need them to do, as quickly as possible. I have a good detailed list of the number of HSE contracted GPs. It is increasing. It is an option that was clearly identified in the programme for Government. Not everyone wants to set up a business. Some people want to work in a different structure and we are trying to enable more and more of that.”
“What we are talking about is the continued need to expand GP services, as we have pushed more and more services into the community and that is where we want services, such as the chronic disease management programme we discussed, to be delivered. It is the case that the number of GPs is increasing, albeit at different rates in different regions, but we have a particular challenge in rural Ireland. That is one of the reasons there is now a dedicated programme in the University of Galway. It is a specific rural GP programme to address some of the different slightly specialised issues. That is why I met the Medical Council recently. It was to address such cases as those of Irish people who trained in this system and got three or four years' experience abroad, who come back to Ireland and wish to work as a GP immediately.”
“The recent ESRI publication on the future capacity requirements for GP services confirms the need to continue to increase our GP workforce in light of our growing and ageing population. The strategic review of general practice will be completed this year and will provide further recommendations to improve GP capacity and the sustainability of our general practice service.”
“As a result, the number of GPs graduating has also increased and will increase more in the next few years. Evidence of strong interest in GP training and high-retention among GP graduates shows the positive impact of the Government's increased investment in general practice. In addition, recruitment from abroad continues under the HSE and ICGP international medical graduate rural GP programme. Under the programme, doctors work in general practice while undergoing a two-year training programme. Currently, there are 118 such GPs in placement, while a further 18 have completed the course. The number of HSE-contracted GPs has increased by approximately 7% since 2020, although this is a key-target area for growth.”
“General practice plays a vital role in our health service but we need more GPs to improve access to services in some areas. To meet that need, the programme for Government has committed to increasing the number of practising GPs through a combination of increased training places and international recruitment. In part, to attract doctors to practice as GPs here, the Government has significantly increased expenditure on general practice, primarily through the 2019 and 2023 GP agreements. The agreements provide for increased fees for GPs, increased and new practice supports, and new services for patients, including the GP chronic disease management programme we spoke about. The number of doctors entering GP training increased by 80% from 2019 to 2024.”
“A higher number of grade 5 patients are commencing, progressing and completing treatment than grade 4, and I recognise the very serious impact that has, particularly on young people, and the need for timely surgery. I will come back to the Deputy with a complete and full answer.”
“I totally recognise that and I commit today to writing to the Deputy with a full answer on these points. However, as regards the waiting list initiative, there is €8.4 million for this year, provided on an ongoing basis this year to address the primary care waiting lists for children, including in orthodontics. The funding is ongoing rather than one-off and is provided to try to reduce the waiting lists and address increased demand for those services. In the area of orthodontics in 2025, €1.35 million is to be invested in the jaw surgery initiative, while €1.5 million is to be invested in the community-based treatment initiative. Up to the end of May, 128 patients had been transferred to private orthodontic treatment, with 33 receiving jaw surgery under that initiative.”