Results 1,701-1,720 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Financial Statements 2022: Sustainability Energy Authority of Ireland
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8: Performance of Certain Residential Retrofit Schemes (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I want to go back to the housing issue now. In terms of the housing stock, a lot of houses are already very energy efficient but what kind of numbers are we talking about in terms of housing that is not energy efficient, particularly local authority housing?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Financial Statements 2022: Sustainability Energy Authority of Ireland
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8: Performance of Certain Residential Retrofit Schemes (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I know, for instance, that Cork City Council has over 11,000 individual properties. Surely it is easy enough to add up the number of local authority houses and the number that require serious work to be done. Is there a target for the number of houses to be done in 2024, 2025, 2026 and so on? Should we not have targets within each local authority?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Financial Statements 2022: Sustainability Energy Authority of Ireland
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8: Performance of Certain Residential Retrofit Schemes (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: In relation to private property, what kind of numbers are we talking about in terms of units that need to be upgraded in order to provide energy efficiency?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Financial Statements 2022: Sustainability Energy Authority of Ireland
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8: Performance of Certain Residential Retrofit Schemes (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: Where are we with regard to that 500,000 at this stage?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Financial Statements 2022: Sustainability Energy Authority of Ireland
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8: Performance of Certain Residential Retrofit Schemes (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: Then we still have over 400,000 to achieve, so are we talking about trying to get 100,000 done per year if we want to reach our target by 2030?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications
Financial Statements 2022: Sustainability Energy Authority of Ireland
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 8: Performance of Certain Residential Retrofit Schemes (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: There are challenges with regard to getting contractors. Where are we in that regard at this stage? It is a challenge and if we want to progress further, how do we deal with that?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: RTÉ gets substantial State funding. It also collects funding under the licence fee process. It is important that there is full accountability and the decision we have made here today is the correct decision. We want the note to be available to be made public. I refer to the summary but also to our entitlement to see the actual original note as well. While people can say there are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: 262. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to arrange for jobseeker’s allowance to be restored to a person (details supplied) who is currently unemployed, has applied for carer’s allowance and as a result the jobseeker’s allowance was immediately removed, even though 4.5 months later no decision has been made on their carer’s allowance...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: As the Taoiseach is aware, there has been a 40% increase in the population of the country. There has been a huge population increase in the Cork area in particular. The Government decided there would be a new elective hospital built in Cork. My understanding was that a design team was appointed 12 months ago. When the Secretary General of the Department of Health was before the health...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentation and for their work in this area. I will return to the issue of the medical card because I know the income limit not increasing was mentioned. I have dealt with the medical card division and have found it to be extremely approachable as regards dealing with difficult circumstances. Can we get an idea of the number of discretionary cards that have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: Am I correct about there being 1.8 million medical cards in existence or is the number higher?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: So we are really talking about nearly 15%. I have not done a quick calculation of it but roughly around 15% are discretionary cards.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: One of the issues that comes up with regard to medical cards is where someone has a medical condition and is over the threshold but, the only unit providing the kind of care that person requires is with the HSE and he or she cannot get access to it without a medical card. Has this come up quite a bit with regard to particular types of illnesses, where the person needs medical care, but that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: The person has an illness and needs ongoing care but does not qualify for a medical card because of his or her income levels, whereas the level of care that person requires involves access to public clinics to which he or she would not have an entitlement without a medical card.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I met a young man with multiple sclerosis whose wife was working so he was totally over the income limit. Initially, he could not get access to particular treatment unless he had a medical card. We got it over the line. He was refused initially. In fairness to the medical card division, it reviewed it and gave him a card, but this is the kind of thing I am talking about, where someone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: Yes, but he was turned down initially. Many people would have walked away once they were turned down but in fairness to him and through my office, we did fight the issue and, in fairness to the HSE, it came on board. I am concerned there might be others with a similar medical condition who may decide, after being turned down, not to deal with it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I will move on to the second part of the Bill, which is about pharmacists being able to provide medicines without a prescription. Are we not behind the times regarding the way we deal with this? I have a bank card and can go anywhere in the world with it and get access to my bank account. If I go into three different hospitals in Cork, there is a paper file for me in each of them. When...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I know that but say I go into ten different pharmacies and get the same medication from each of them, there is no way the pharmacist can check where I have purchased them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Colm Burke: I am just asking. That is the position.