Results 401-420 of 3,665 for speaker:Seán Power

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: The amendments tabled by Senators Henry and Quinn reflect the current debate within the relevant profession on the most appropriate title. The title "chiropodist" is used in the Bill because that reflects the current more common title by which the profession is known to the public in this country. I appreciate that it is different in other countries. However, I am aware of the discussion...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: That statement is by a man from Carlow.

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: One swallow does not make a summer.

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: I thank the Senators for their contributions. We can agree on one thing, that it is confusing. As debated on Committee Stage, the proposed amendments have significant implications for an important general principle underlying the design of the regulatory system set out in the Bill. The Department has been advised by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel that there is scope for only one...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: The course is accredited, but there are many question marks over the body, and until those are addressed, there will be confusion. If physical therapists as a group are to be regulated under the Bill, they would have to meet the same criteria as the other professions, and currently they do not do so. It is therefore impossible to regulate them under the Bill as it stands and with the...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: As we made clear on Committee Stage, the provision of counselling and psychotherapy services in the public health service has increased in recent years, in line with the significant growth in the provision of such services in the private sector. At the request of the Department of Health and Children, the former group of health board CEOs formed a working group to examine the role of...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: As Senators may be aware, the Department of Health and Children engaged in a process of consultation with the relevant professional bodies in 2000. The document that was agreed on foot of that process, which sets out how the system of statutory registration should operate, forms the basis of the legislative proposals under discussion. It recommends that the chairperson of the health and...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: In keeping with the emphasis placed by Senators during Committee Stage on transparency and appropriate competition, these amendments are designed to strengthen and augment existing provisions in the Bill with regard to the way in which the council carries out its functions. Amendment No. 6 is technical in nature and is required because of amendment No. 7. Amendment No. 7 deals with the...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: As outlined in the debate on an amendment tabled by Senator Browne on Committee Stage, it is accepted that the public interest should be specifically identified as a distinct constituent of the committee of the council including disciplinary committees. These amendments therefore propose that the council and registration boards should have regard to the requirement for appropriate...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: In instances where complaints are made against a registered practitioner it is a matter for the council to establish a disciplinary committee to investigate the complaint. The role of each registration board in the disciplinary process is, following the completion of a fitness to practice hearing, to recommend a sanction to be imposed on a registered practitioner. A registration board has...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: Schedule 3 sets out the qualifications required by existing practitioners to enter their professions. I appreciate the general purpose of the Senators in amendment No. 11 but restricting the membership outlined in Schedule 3 would have the effect of excluding all those practitioners. Restricting the members of the first registration board of each profession to those who hold the...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: It is not considered appropriate that a member of a registration board under the aegis of the health and social care professionals council should be based outside the State. I am conscious that, in more general terms, expertise from abroad may sometimes be helpful. If the expertise of an education representative from outside the State is considered necessary, such a person could be invited to...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: These Government amendments are intended to meet the purpose of the amendments put forward by Senator Browne and Senator Hayes and also to build on the Committee Stage discussion. As the Senators may recall, during the Committee Stage debate my Department undertook to meet with the Competition Authority to discuss the most appropriate means of making provision in the Bill that draft by-laws...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: The maintenance of a comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date register of practitioners which is accessible to the general public is crucial to the effective discharge of the role of each registration board. Amendment No. 21 takes account of the proposals by Senators McCarthy and Henry on Committee Stage that the Bill should provide for access to the register on the Internet and for its...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: These Government amendments are of a technical, drafting nature. On foot of the debate on an amendment tabled by Senator Browne on Committee Stage, it is accepted that the public interest should be identified as a distinct constituent of a committee of the council, including disciplinary committees. While I understand fully the thinking behind the Senators' amendments, I consider amendments...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: Amendment No. 29 arises on foot of an amendment proposed by Senator Browne on Committee Stage. He has had a significant influence on the Bill. As indicated during the debate on the proposed amendment, it is accepted that as it is proposed in the case of an inquiry carried out before a professional conduct committee, it is appropriate that there would be some checks and balances on a...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: I understand the importance of cross-examination where appropriate and the need to ensure that this facility is available where necessary. Section 57(4)(c) provides that at a hearing before a committee of inquiry into a registrar's fitness to practice there shall be a full right to cross-examine witnesses. Section 58(4) expands on this provision by enabling a committee of inquiry to receive...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: This amendment arose on Committee Stage, when concern was expressed that the size of the fine for a person guilty of an offence under section 79 was too small. As was indicated at the time of the Committee Stage debate, an increase in the size of the fine was accepted in principle, subject to further discussions with the office of the Attorney General. Those discussions have taken place and I...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: I take on board what the Senator has said and I will bring the matter to the attention of the Attorney General.

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (27 Apr 2005)

Seán Power: This amendment refers to section 90, which provides for the registration of existing practitioners. Applicants must either hold the relevant qualification under Schedule 3 or completed an assessment of successful competency set by the registration board in accordance with any guidelines issued by the council. In addition, each registration board will have to satisfy itself that each...