Results 3,521-3,540 of 11,509 for speaker:Mary Butler

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I propose to take amendments Nos. 11 to 15, inclusive, together. These amendments are consequent on Dáil amendments on Committee Stage. They relate to section 29 of the Bill, which amends the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to allow a small cohort of practitioners to apply for registration with the Physiotherapists Registration Board. The Bill as passed by the...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: This amendment relates to pharmaceutical assistants and was proposed and supported by a number of Senators. It will amend the Pharmacy Act 2007 to provide two new functions for the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Specifically, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland will be required to ensure that pharmaceutical assistants undertake continuous professional development and that they comply...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I propose to take amendments Nos. 31 and 55 together. These amendments are technical in nature and relate to the sections of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 that enable the respective regulators to make rules. The Bill inserts a new subsection (15)(c) into section 20 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007. This section deals with the membership,...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I propose to take amendments Nos. 32 to 34, inclusive, and 56 to 58, inclusive, together. The Bill as passed by the House amends the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 to provide that where subcommittees of the preliminary proceedings committee, PPC, and the fitness to practise committee, FPC, are established pursuant to rules, these subcommittees can...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: Section 36 of the Medical Practitioners Act addresses areas of overlap between the practice of medicine and other health professions. Under existing legislation, where a person holds a dual qualification in medicine and another health professions, for example, dentistry, this section allows them to lawfully practice those areas of dentistry which overlap with medicine without having to be on...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I propose to discuss Seanad amendments Nos. 51, 52 and 62 together. Sections 88 and 89 of the Medical Practitioners Act set out the duty of the Medical Council in respect of education and training for medical qualifications. They require the Medical Council to approve programmes of training and the bodies which deliver the training. However, while the Act is explicit that the council...

Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019: From the Seanad (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: The Bill, as passed by this House, amends the Health Act 2004 to give the Minister for Health the power to designate the HSE as the competent authority to compare the equivalence of non-Irish qualifications with the qualifications assessed for certain health professions. These are professions which are not regulated on a statutory basis but which are regulated for the purpose of the EU...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: As this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mental Health Services (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: The Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), commonly referred to as A Fair Deal, is a system of financial support for people who require long-term residential care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. The Scheme aims to ensure that long-term nursing home care is accessible and affordable for everyone and that...

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Expenditure (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: Before I start, I wish to congratulate Leas-Chathaoirleach on his appointment. It is a significant honour for him and his family, and is well deserved. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I thank Senator Seery Kearney for her question. She has made her points very well in relation to this issue, which has been raised on many occasions in both Houses. I am responding on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, who is unavailable this morning. The disabled parking scheme operates by segregating a proportion of public parking bays for the use...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I assure the Senator that the Department of Transport is very aware of the complex challenges facing the various groups she mentioned today, whether people with physical disabilities that do not directly affect mobility or people with autism or intellectual disabilities and their parents and carers. I take on board the Senator's point, which she made very well, that the primary medical...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Covid-19 Tests (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I thank the Senator for asking this particular question. As today is our first day since the whole country entered into level 3, it is very timely. A comprehensive, reliable and responsive testing and tracing operation is central to our public health strategy for containing and slowing the spread of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Covid-19 Tests (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I thank the Senator again. As I stated earlier, the HSE advises that it is currently meeting all testing demand nationally and across the end-to-end tracing process, with adequate swabbing and laboratory capacity. The HSE has had capacity to conduct approximately 100,000 tests since May, about 30% of which was off-shore. However, over the summer months, it has built laboratory capacity up...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Care Services (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this matter. As she has said, this is an area on which I have worked tirelessly in the past as co-chairman of the all-party committee on dementia. I congratulate Senator O'Loughlin on taking over that role and I know she will do fantastic work.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Care Services (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I am fully aware that Covid-19 has placed significant additional pressures on people with dementia and their families. I recently convened a round table discussion with carers. Unfortunately we had to conduct it online and reduce the numbers involved but I specifically asked to speak to people caring for people with dementia and mental health challenges and particularly to people who were...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Care Services (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I thank the Senator very much. Her points are very well made. In addition to the winter plan, which I mentioned earlier, some €22 million has been provided in the 2020 national service plan for dementia-specific services including more than €7.5 million in funding for dementia-specific home care packages and the extension of the dementia adviser services, with the additional...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Facilities (7 Oct 2020)

Mary Butler: I thank the Senator for his question. It is very timely as we head into the winter months and face the normal challenges we see in our acute hospitals. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on the new 60-bed ward block at University Hospital Limerick. The hospital is a model 4 hospital which provides major surgery, cancer care treatment and emergency care in the region as well as a...