Results 3,961-3,980 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Leaders' Questions (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach says he cannot do this tomorrow. I understand this, but he has been there for nine and a half years. I accept his statement that he did not get the opportunity to watch the programme. However, I ask him to take time out, leave off one of the pub openings or other commitments and watch the programme to see what it is like to be a parent responsible for a child with a chronic...

Leaders' Questions (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: If a person has a chronic illness in another area, he or she has access to the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Why does this not apply here? Why do the parents we saw last night not have some prospect of relief? Why can they not access the National Treatment Purchase Fund? It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to come in here and say that he does not want to deal with the...

Leaders' Questions (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to say that he did not see the programme and that he wishes to talk about the substantive issue, rather than the Minister of State responsible. This is not the first time we have seen this. A week ago, this same man said he thought people in the country suffering from depression were simply experiencing a condition of life. How can the Taoiseach...

Leaders' Questions (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: That is one question to which the Deputy will not get an answer.

Order of Business (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: I ask the Taoiseach about his statement on 10 October. He will remember the press conference on the steps of Government Buildings with the new Tánaiste. The new Tánaiste said at the time "The Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 will, accordingly, be amended. The legislation will be brought before the Oireachtas as a matter of urgency." He then said, if the Taoiseach remembers, "we got away...

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 91: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the location and number of community nursing beds provided to date in 2006 and in 2005; the number of beds lost in the same period; the locations of these beds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41466/06]

Written Answers — Mental Health Services: Mental Health Services (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 115: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress in implementing the recommendations of the Government's ten-year mental health policy, A Vision for Change; her views on claims that human rights are being fundamentally breached by the Government's neglect of the mental health sector. [41465/06]

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (5 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 223: To ask the Minister for Finance his proposals to introduce equity between the treatment for stamp duty purposes of first time buyers of new dwelling houses for personal occupation and those who buy sites of land in order to build dwelling houses for their personal occupation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41270/06]

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: I will deal with the Taoiseach's last point about resources. The budgetary provision for mental health services, as a proportion of the health budget, was 8.96% in 1997. The figure was 8.6% in 1998, 8.21% in 1999, 7.73% in 2000, 7.09% in 2001, 6.9% in 2002, 6.8% in 2003 and so on. The fact in black and white is that the proportion of the health budget spent on mental health services is...

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: The Government is out by almost €8 billion in its projections in terms of budgetary forecast. We will be boasting later today about how much money we have, yet there are parents at their wits end trying to find respite care or an assessment service for their children in these circumstances. The Taoiseach seems to think it is fine that the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, comes in...

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Any man who would say the professionals are manipulating the waiting lists to encourage their sense of self-belief and power, thus leaving parents in the aforementioned circumstances, is not suited to be charge of this area. All the Taoiseach is doing is standing up to defend the indefensible. Once more he is demonstrating no accountability. Will he deal with this problem or turn a blind...

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: I am not going to reply to the Taoiseach in kind. I regret very much that he does not regard this as an appropriate subject to talk about. If he talks to parents, including some of those who appeared on the programme, he will understand why the issue is appropriate for the House to debate. He will also understand that all the professionals have concluded that early intervention is the key.

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: That is exactly the issue in question, even if the Taoiseach cannot understand it. The facts to which I refer are attributable to the HSE and not to me. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, should stay out of it — he is only trying to divert the Taoiseach. Let the Taoiseach think for himself.

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Three thousand——

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: According to the HSE, 3,000——

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: Is Deputy Roche finished? According to the HSE, 3,000 children await assessment, bearing in mind that early intervention is the key. Consider the provision of inpatient child and adolescent beds. It is said that 236 are required while there are 20 available.

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: The areas of greatest need are the areas of least staffing. If this is not an appropriate subject to raise in this House, I do not know what is. If, in two days, the Taoiseach is to accept the resignation or retirement of one of his Ministers of State, could anything be more appropriate than his acceptance, in two days, of the resignation or retirement of two of his Ministers of State? The...

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: In the opinion of the parents who are confronted with the circumstances we saw on television——

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: ——and in the opinion of people charged with mental health services and the professionals and psychiatrists who have written to the newspapers about the Minister of State's grasp of this subject——

Leaders' Questions (6 Dec 2006)

Pat Rabbitte: A majority of psychiatrists——