Results 17,941-17,960 of 18,645 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: What Senator Fitzgerald has said is correct. It is important that Members of this House are aware that the health insurance market is changing, as was witnessed very recently by the purchase of VIVAS by Hibernian. It is important that the VHI is empowered to compete in the market while also ensuring that it does so on an equal footing with its competitors. It is hoped that the Bill will...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: The Bill, when published, provided for the removal of an exemption from section 2 of the health insurance Acts for cash plan type products that also include cover for outpatient and GP services. When the Bill was previously considered here, the Minister advised the House that the change proposed would limit regulation to the minimum necessary to protect the community rated indemnity market...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: I understand they will be subject to the law only if it is indemnity. I believe we had a fairly detailed debate on that relationship. The amendments provide for the amendment of sections 10 and 12 of the Health Insurance Act to ensure contracts that relate to relevant health services only, in other words outpatient-type services and GP services and-or to public hospital daily inpatient...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: The bulk of the amendments to the section improve its layout and structure. While the scope of section 7 is essentially the same as that previously considered by this House, the section has been expanded by the inclusion of the term "or otherwise". It would be undesirable to restrict the manner in which the board may provide insurance financial services after authorisation has been...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: The amendment clarifies that the provisions included in section 8(3) of the Bill shall also apply to the subsidiary established for the purpose of carrying on the board's health insurance business under section 10. This amendment does not encompass the provisions under section 8(1). However, it clarifies further that on establishment the activities of the relevant subsidiary shall be...

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: This amendment was of interest to Senator Fitzgerald. This section was added to the Bill when this House accepted an amendment tabled by Senator Fitzgerald. The change made in the Dáil reflects that it would be appropriate that VHI should report on its membership as opposed to on the overall market.

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: This amendment clarifies the liability of the board and its subsidiaries for any borrowings that may arise.

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: Regarding the Senator's final point it is clearly relevant to competition. It is to make clear that no State aid is involved.

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: This new section is broadly similar to an amendment tabled by Senator Prendergast in this House. On foot of consideration by the Office of the Attorney General, it specifies the orders to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Seanad: Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (9 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and all the Members of the House for facilitating me by deferring the debate by half an hour earlier this afternoon. I thank Senator Fitzgerald for her positive contribution to the debate this afternoon. Senators Fitzgerald and Prendergast contributed to the discussion on the Bill previously in this House. I thank all the Members for their co-operation.

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (8 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Child-care Investment Programme 2006 — 2010 (NCIP), which will invest €575 million over 5 years, with €358 million of this in capital grant aid for child-care services. I understand that the Group in question has applied for €1.112 million in capital funding through their local County Child-care Committee. The...

Written Answers — Child Abuse: Child Abuse (8 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: I have been in touch with the Health Service Executive. I have asked it to expedite the provision of the information requested by the Deputy. As regards the provision of monthly information, the Deputy will be aware that under section 31 of the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive must prepare and submit to the Minister its National Service Plan (NSP) including amongst other...

Written Answers — Regeneration Programme: Regeneration Programme (8 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: My Department currently is examining the education elements of the Vision Statements of the Limerick Southside and Northside Regeneration Agencies, launched in January of this year, with a view to supporting the regeneration strategy set out in the Fitzgerald report to Cabinet. In this regard the Department's Mid-Western Regional Office is working very closely with the Agencies and with the...

Written Answers — Foreign Adoptions: Foreign Adoptions (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: Adoption is a service for children who are in need of a permanent home. My Department and I are of the view that intercountry adoption should be child centred, that is, in all stages of the process the child's interests must be paramount. As such, there are a number of statutory procedures regulating intercountry adoption. All prospective adoptive parents must be assessed initially by the HSE...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006 — 2010 (NCIP), which will invest €575 million over 5 years, with €358 million of this in capital grant aid for childcare services. The NCIP came into effect in January 2006, and aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality childcare supports and services, which...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006 — 2010 (NCIP) which will invest €575 million over 5 years. I understand from enquiries I have made that the service in question applied for interim NCIP staffing funding of €4,800 which was declined last September as their application had not demonstrated sufficient ability to...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 318 to 320, inclusive, together. As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP) under which the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) was introduced in January of this year. The CCSS replaced the previous staffing support grant scheme which was implemented under the EU co-funded Equal...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP) which will invest €575 million over 5 years in developing child care services. The NCIP came into effect in January 2006 and aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care supports and services, which are grounded in an understanding of local...

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: I propose to take Questions Nos. 383 and 384 together. The Deputy refers to the proposed legislation to ratify the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The Convention and the legislation to ratify it is not aimed at preventing intercountry adoptions between countries. The purpose of legislating and ratifying the Hague Convention...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (2 Apr 2008)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), which will invest €575 million over 5 years, with €358 million of this in capital grant aid for child care services. The NCIP came into effect from in January 2006, and aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care supports and services,...