Results 4,901-4,920 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: It cannot be a point. There is no problem with what is in the regulations. I appeal to Senators. It was not proper, even in the full thrust of the rhetoric in a debate like this, to suggest that the Minister, Deputy Reilly, in signing the regulations last year, had the kind of consequences Senator Daly suggested.

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: That was beneath Senator Daly. It was unworthy of him and unworthy of this House. The regulations are not flawed.

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: The directive is not disastrous.

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: I have a report here from a newspaper in which Senator Daly amplified his view and stated that the Minister, Deputy Reilly, introduced a Bill last year which condemned hundreds to longer waiting times.

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: I think that was unfortunate, and not the sort of tone for the debate that we were entitled to expect.

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: The transposition of the directive was done by way of these regulations. All of the issues that Members state they want to see happen in the future can certainly be debated here and we would rely on the assistance of Senator Darragh O'Brien and his colleagues in improving the regime in the future, but what has been dealt with here is a more confined, highly important but nevertheless...

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: It will not be possible-----

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: Can I make my points, even if I repeat them?

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: Very good. We are happy about that. To come back to this proposal, it went to the European scrutiny committee on 27 January 2009. The directive was subsequently finalised and published at EU level in mid-2010. Following considerable discussion with key stakeholders, my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, transposed the directive into Irish law by means of the...

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: No such motion was placed on the Order Paper of the Seanad last year-----

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: -----and that has to be taken on board. No effort was made. There may have been an effort to recall the Seanad, which seems to have been unnecessary, but no motion appeared on an Order Paper either here or in the other House seeking to annul or set aside the statutory instrument, as was the opportunity afforded to Senators. I am not resiling from what I said earlier about the inadequacy of...

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: No case has been made of any strength in this House or elsewhere that these regulations should be annulled-----

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: -----and no serious argument has been advanced. In any case, Ireland is legally obliged to transpose the EU directive into Irish law, and we would face sanctions if we failed to do so. I accept that the current infrastructure for organ donation and transplantation in Ireland can be improved. However, I firmly believe that this infrastructure must be built on a solid foundation of quality...

Seanad: SI 325 of 2012 - European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012: Motion (20 Aug 2013)

Alex White: I am pleased to have the opportunity to endorse SI 325 of 2012, European Union (Quality and Safety of Human Organs Intended for Transplantation) Regulations 2012, as a comprehensive transposition of EU Directive 2010/53, which sets out a clear legal framework for quality and safety standards in respect of organs intended for transplantation in Ireland. The requirement for an EU directive...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Meeting with Department of Health and HSE: Discussion on Health Issues (25 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I ask Ms McGuinness to deal with Deputy McLellan's question about medical cards.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Meeting with Department of Health and HSE: Discussion on Health Issues (25 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I ask the Chairman to send me a copy of that letter with the names redacted.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Meeting with Department of Health and HSE: Discussion on Health Issues (25 Jul 2013)

Alex White: Deputy Ó Caoláin asked several questions about medical cards, and I will ask Mr. O'Brien or Ms McGuinness to deal with the definitional issue that he raised. The system that we have in place for the allocation of medical cards is based on an assessment of means. It sounds very harsh sometimes to say somebody who has unexpectedly become ill that he or she is outside the limit and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Meeting with Department of Health and HSE: Discussion on Health Issues (25 Jul 2013)

Alex White: Perhaps it is out of date. I am not trying to make excuses but there could be a myriad of different reasons why something happens. The information of the HSE is that when people are contacted, if they engage, there is a very sensitive approach taken where people are given time if they respond with their details of income and so on. That should be the position but if somebody has an...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Copyright Infringement (23 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. I assure her and the House that Ireland subscribes fully to the freedoms, opportunities and the access to information that the Internet provides. A broad and robust set of measures is in place to preserve these freedoms, including the profound protections given to freedom of speech in both the European Convention on Human Rights and the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Appointment of Ombudsman (23 Jul 2013)

Alex White: I thank Senator Bradford for raising this matter. As he and the House are aware, Ms Emily O'Reilly has offered her resignation from the Office of Ombudsman and Information Commissioner with effect from 29 September 2013. I would like to take this opportunity to join with Senator Bradford in congratulating her on her election by the European Parliament as European Ombudsman and to wish her...