Results 10,221-10,240 of 11,348 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Telecommunications Services Provision (7 May 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister for taking the time to deal with this matter which relates to an area at Courtbrack, which is less than 15 miles from Cork city and approximately four miles from Blarney. There are over 250 houses there but it has inadequate telephone lines and broadband, as well as insufficient access to mobile phone reception. There is a letter from Eircom, dated 15 April, which...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Telecommunications Services Provision (7 May 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister. I wrote to the Department some time ago and I awaited a response on the roll-out of broadband. I fully accept that the Department and Minister have done much work in the area, which is welcome. This area has seen a number of new estates being built and normally we think about water or sewerage services, although we insert no stipulation regarding the provision of...

Seanad: Services for People with Disabilities: Motion (7 May 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank Labour Party Senators for tabling the motion. This has been a good debate, to which I propose to make a very short contribution. On the issue of people with disabilities returning to work, I recently dealt with a case involving a person who lives in an area of high unemployment - the Minister of State will be familiar with the area - and returned to employment for 20 hours per week....

Seanad: Order of Business (7 May 2014)

Colm Burke: First, I join Senator van Turnhout in welcoming the opening of the female genital mutilation, FGM, clinic in Ireland. Interestingly, an Irish person opened the first such clinic in the United Kingdom approximately 21 years ago. The reason it was opened was because a huge number of Somali woman came into United Kingdom and into London in particular and suddenly hospitals there had a new...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 May 2014)

Colm Burke: It is less than in Northern Ireland.

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Report and Final Stages (17 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank Senators John Crown, Jillian van Turnhout and Mark Daly for their work on the Bill. I also thank the Department and the Minister for their work on it. It is welcome that we are using the process in the House to bring forward new legislation. Senator John Crown said it had taken two years for his Bill to come through, but in October 2009 the Minister and I published the Medical...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Report and Final Stages (17 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I fully agree with the amendments the Minister has set out. I welcome making the driver responsible even if someone other than the driver is smoking. In the initial debate I spoke about a driver under the age of 18 who is smoking. The amendments there are very welcome. The amendments deal comprehensively with the defence and ensuring that road safety needs to be taken into account in...

Seanad: End-of-Life Care and Bereavement: Motion (16 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I formally withdraw the amendment. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome this debate and thank the Senators for bringing it forward. As set out in the motion, on average 29,000 people die every year and for every person who dies ten people, directly or indirectly, are affected which amounts to 290,000 people. The motion covers a number of different issues. It is...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: That was the kind of thing Fianna Fáil did, which was totally unfair and not the way to run a health service. Likewise, in regard to-----

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: Fianna Fáil gave medical cards to those earning €5,000 a week. I refer to the lack of planning in the health service. Currently, there are 1,800 people going into hospitals every day for dialysis, while 250 transplant procedures are carried out each year. In Norway there are only 370 people on dialysis because it has a higher rate of kidney transplants. For ten years Fianna...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: We have to engage in long-term planning. I have no difficulty in having a debate in the House on the health service.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: Fianna Fáil gave medical cards to those earning €5,000 a week.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I join in welcoming the Lord Mayor, Councillor Oisín Quinn, to the House. As a former Lord Mayor of Cork city, it is a huge honour to hold that office, whether one is Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cork or Belfast. Those are the only three local authorities that have and office of Lord Mayor. It is ten years ago since I was Lord Mayor . One of the programmes we have in Cork city is that the...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I join Senator Mary Moran in congratulating President Higgins on the superb way the UK visit went. It was a great credit to everyone involved in organising it and the contributions they made. It was well done and was a very good sales pitch from an Irish point of view. I had an Adjournment debate last Thursday on people who are self-employed and claiming maternity benefit. Serious...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Maternity Benefit Issues (10 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: The position the Minister of State outlined is not factual. I telephoned the Department about this issue when the decision was made in the case I raised. Officials informed me that they cannot take into account income from the previous year in making their assessment. The reply provided by the Minister of State does not correspond to the details provided in the letter I received from the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Maternity Benefit Issues (10 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I raise this issue in respect of someone who is self-employed and who claimed for maternity benefit only to find that a set of rules applies to her which seriously affected her. The set of rules seems be different depending on what time of the year the baby is born. If the baby is born on 31 December then there is clear evidence that she comes within the qualifying criteria because the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Chronic Pain Management: Discussion (10 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Chronic Pain Management: Discussion (10 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for their presentations. They provided a great deal of information in what they had to say. I wish to touch on one or two issues. Reference was made to the hospital groups, and from the map presented it is obvious there are some areas of the country where no service is available. Taking into account the new hospital groups, what numbers would need to be employed to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Sickle Cell Disease: Discussion (10 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: The witnesses were talking about maternity units. The two big units that are not included in what the witnesses outline are Galway and Cork. There are 9,000 deliveries a year in Cork. Surely if those two regions could be brought on board, a huge number of screenings will be added just overnight.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Sickle Cell Disease: Discussion (10 Apr 2014)

Colm Burke: Part of that recommendation is about the screening in the hospitals that do not provide it. The southern region includes Waterford, Cork and Tralee.