Results 261-280 of 50,064 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: This is a debate, not a question and answer session.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: I just want to be able to say a few words about this, if I may. Two issues were raised by the masters of the maternity hospitals and other obstetricians. One was the impact of the fact that up to 60% of women over 16 attending the hospitals — asylum seekers — were pregnant. That creates pressure on the service. There is also the issue of funding. They also raised the issue of what we...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: The National Maternity Hospital reported that non-national births increased from 1,460 in 2002 to 1,707 in 2003.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: Non-national births at the hospital accounted for over 20% of all births at the hospital in 2003. At Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda, non-national births increased from 229 in 2001 to 688 in 2003.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy is correct.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: Non-national births at the hospital accounted for 20% of all births. The health board specifically approached us following the build up at Mosney. There is a direct correlation between that and the pressures on the maternity and obstetric units in Drogheda. The point is that most people are under no illusion that this nationality issue is a factor in this growth. Let us not deny that. There...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: Let me give the example of the Southern Health Board. There are ten refugees and 545 asylum seekers in the SHB area alone. There are 564 non-nationals who are not refugees nor asylum seekers. There were, therefore, 1,119 births to non-nationals in SHB hospitals out of 6,000. That is a substantial number. Some of them tend to be complex cases. If we have a system in Ireland that is...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Apr 2004)

Micheál Martin: We have done it successfully. The people to whom we have spoken on this issue and who work in this area are in no doubt that one of the great incentives is our unique facility in Europe, whereby one is automatically a citizen in that situation. What we are doing in this amendment is bringing Ireland into line with its European partners. No other European state has this facility. We are still...

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "commends the Government's commitment and concentrated effort to reducing waiting times for public patients and: —notes that some €250 million was being provided to reduce waiting times for patients between 1998 and 2003; —acknowledges the extensive additional resources which have been...

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: Put simply, it is the parties on this side of the House that have increased the health spend by 188%. It might pain the Deputies opposite to admit it but the facts show that it is Fianna Fáil and our partners the Progressive Democrats who have shown the political will to reverse the historical under-investment in our health services.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: The last seven years, since the Taoiseach formed his first Administration, have brought substantial additional spending on health care — on capital projects, on staff and on the day-to-day running of a continually increasing level of services. More and more patients and clients have benefited from the extra resources we have put into our health system. That is the bottom line. More and more...

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: We are proud of this record and we can stand over the level of investment we have allocated to our health services. The question the Labour Party must ask is whether it is proud of what took place on their watch, or was it a case again of Labour wrestling with its conscience, with its conscience losing? As for the Labour Party's criticism of our reform record, we have set out not just a...

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: Work is well under way to make these changes a reality. I also propose to share my time with the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy O'Malley.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: I did not interrupt speakers. We are in a House where the principle of free speech should be honoured and I would appreciate the opportunity to complete my speech. It is important to put the provision of acute hospital services in context. Over the last two or three decades there have been numerous important advances in surgical technology and in anaesthesia. These advances have greatly...

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: I certainly will not. The Deputy should let me finish.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: No, I am not. I am pressing ahead.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: I am putting the information on the record.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: I accept these figures are disappointing news for the Opposition.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: It is not spin. This is the report of the NTPF.

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion. (4 May 2004)

Micheál Martin: The Opposition should go back outside the door with their umbrellas.