Results 3,361-3,380 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I suspect that the people who were in contact with Deputy Kenny have also been in contact with me. As a result of that, I have ordered that the HSE must get the approval of the Departments of Finance and Health and Children before it proceeds to tender on this project. Any information project in the health area which has not already been committed will have to go through a process of thorough...

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: To answer Deputy Rabbitte's first point in regard to my colleague, Deputy Martin, my predecessor as Minister for Health and Children, a hospital information system was being rolled out in a number of hospitals in Cork, Tralee and elsewhere. The cost of that project was going to escalate to approximately €400 million and he put the brakes on it and refused to give any more money towards it...

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: It is a lot better. I told the House last week when I became aware there were issues around the PPARS system. Obviously, it did not go to Cabinet. Every matter——

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The Estimates go to Cabinet. The Deputy knows that, he has been at the Cabinet table. The health boards made the application for the money to put in a payroll system.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: They were given the money. An evaluation is being done both by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Health Service Executive and the HSE will decide at its board meeting in December whether to continue to roll out this system. It will be a matter for the executive having evaluated its requirements and whether this system can meet its needs but among the difficulties, and I want to...

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: That would be normal and it should be the case. I am not aware of the number of individuals from this consulting firm who worked on this project but I do know that the amount of money spent on consultancy in this project and in other projects is excessive. That is why the Government decided today to put a new process in place across Departments in regard to both consultancies and information...

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Hay Management Consultants carried out a review of this matter in 2002 and said at the time, as the Deputy is aware, that what was envisaged in 1998 and 1999 at £9 million would not be sufficient to do what was required and that it would be at least ten times greater than that. The mistake was that a business case was not made for this technology before we embarked on the project.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The regime that was responsible, the health boards structure, has been abolished and Deputy Gormley opposed its abolition.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Deputy Rabbitte may have been aware of all the practices but very few other people knew that we have 25,000 different work rosters. In some areas in the country, people doing the same job work a different number of hours.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: In some areas in the country a holy day of obligation was a bank holiday and bank holiday rates were paid and so on. To expect a computer code to reconcile all of that was expecting too much.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Regarding consultancies, it is the case that as Minister for Health and Children I am accountable to this House for policy, legislative matters and so on in the Department of Health and Children, and the accounting officer for the HSE is Professor Brendan Drumm, whose position we provided for under the new legislation. If I am to answer in this House for the appointment of consultants, I want...

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Deputy Sargent is correct. Alcohol consumption is a serious problem. The issues, however, are wider than banning alcohol advertising.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: In many other countries where alcohol is widely advertised, perhaps even more than here, drinking patterns are very different. Therefore we must deal with many of the cultural and educational aspects of this issue.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: The Government has decided to deal with the advertising of alcohol products by way of a voluntary code. If that does not work we will introduce legislation.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Let us give it a chance and see. We should not be negative. It will work but if it does not we will bring in legislation.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: My colleague, the Minister for Transport, is responsible for random testing but he must resolve legal issues first. Subject to those issues being resolved I strongly support this approach.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Other countries do not have our Constitution.

Leaders' Questions. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: Deputy Sargent makes a strong case for the greater programme in schools in regard to alcohol. The new social and personal health programme aims to help young people develop self-esteem, be more confident and learn to say "no", and to address the role of parents. These issues are important. It is not simply a matter of banning advertising by the industry. If the voluntary code does not work we...

Order of Business. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: It is proposed to take No. 15, Railway Safety Bill 2001 — Report Stage (resumed) and Final Stage. Private Members' business shall be No. 42, motion re Irish Ferries.

Order of Business. (11 Oct 2005)

Mary Harney: I join Deputy Kenny in expressing my sympathy and that of the Government to the families of the young people who were so tragically killed over the weekend. It was an awful tragedy indeed. The broadcasting authority Bill will arrive in 2006. A traffic corps already exists, and the intention is, as more gardaí emerge from training in Templemore, to increase numbers in it substantially.