Results 8,361-8,380 of 11,299 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I agree with the Leas-Chathaoirleach. This just shows how we all need to be careful when matters are before a court. Every person who is charged is innocent until the matter has been dealt with fully by a jury and it comes to a decision that the person is guilty.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: These are very emotional issues and there are very many tragic cases in which people suffer very serious assault and rape in horrendous circumstances. The law, however, is that where a doubt is created, the person must be found innocent. Unfortunately, we need to be extremely careful about comments in this House, in the Dáil and in the media, in particular when a case is before a jury....

Seanad: Finance Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister. I was becoming a little depressed in listening to my colleague from Sinn Féin. She fails to recognise the wage increases across the country in the past two or three years have resulted in increases for those on lower incomes.We have also brought stability to this country in that unemployment has come down from over 15% to almost 5%, which is a huge change. We...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I would like to respond to the previous speaker by mentioning a big change in healthcare that has occurred in the past two years. There have been increases in the health budget and in the number of people employed in the health service. The cutbacks we had to endure for the first four years after we took office in 2011 are on longer happening. I will mention some figures. The number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentation. Regarding orphan drugs, Ireland is at a disadvantage because of the size of the country and our population. A country with a large population like Germany is able to make progress at a faster rate. I refer to recommendation 13 in our report. We had done an agreement in the past five months and the witnesses are saying there is no evidence that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I wish to make a final point about the supports that should be made available to patients with rare diseases. they have no-one to turn to in many cases. Could there be a better structure for supporting people who could be provided with care but who do not know how to access it? Does more need to be done to provide information to people who are identified as having rare diseases?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: Recommendation No. 13 in the committee's report of February 2018 was to work with other countries on the assessment process. It recommended that the HSE works with other European countries on dealing with assessments to expedite that process. Has anything been done on using the assessment process in other countries to help people arrive at a decision? Has there been co-operation with other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: Can we have a breakdown of the cost of pharmaceuticals on a year-on-year basis by the different areas, whether they are patent, generic or orphan drugs, and if there is variation in different parts of the country? It may not be possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: Why is Mr. Flanagan saying the hospitals are on a manual system? Surely their information gathering is computerised.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I presume part of each hospital budget is the cost of pharmaceuticals for the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I am talking about the overall cost of pharmaceuticals for the entire country for the year, including hospitals. Surely we get a breakdown from the hospitals. They may not have a breakdown of what they are spending it on but they may have an overall cost for pharmaceuticals.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I accept that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Evaluating Orphan Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: The reason I am asking is because it is about getting information out to people. We can all work towards making a savings in one area so another area can benefit. The HSE will not be able to do that unless it can get the information. People are shocked when they hear the figure of €2 billion because it is not information that is known generally. It is important we get that...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Visa Applications (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State for taking time out of his busy schedule to deal with this matter. Over the past number of months, I have come across a number of cases of people working in our health service, in some cases for quite a period of time, who have applied or had members of their families apply for visas to come to Ireland. Recently I dealt with a case where the person is now...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Visa Applications (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State. The answer confirms what I had been told. I had understood it was Mumbai, but the office is in New Delhi. I understand some of the processing of these applications was transferred back to Dublin for a period of time. It is a problem because in the particular family referred to, both adults are highly skilled and work in the medical services in Ireland. They...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: The figures are available for the third quarter of the year and they show that year-on-year employment increased by 3.4%. There is an increase of 14% overall, year-on-year, in the number of people working in the construction sector. It is evidence that the building of residential accommodation continues to increase. Approximately 20,000 new houses will be completed by the end of this year....

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: They want to get replacement accommodation but are finding it difficult. This needs to be examined..

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: We need to deal with it in a short time period.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: That is democracy.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (20 Nov 2018)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister of State to the House to deal with this matter. It is extremely important that there is risk equalisation.It is interesting that the Bill provides for risk equalisation for all persons regardless of age. For example, €3,300 per annum is paid from the fund to support a male aged 80 years or over with private health insurance. In the case of a female aged...