Results 5,501-5,520 of 11,285 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (17 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Is there a specific target or time period by which all of these will be dealt with? Ms Graham said that these are privately owned, but it must be remembered that the local authorities received contributions from the builders. Many of the companies involved in building these houses ended up in NAMA, and, therefore, there is no one that these people can come back at. Another issue is that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (17 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Does Ms Graham accept that there is a bit of buck passing going on here? The Department is saying that it is a local authority issue, the local authorities are saying they cannot get the funding, and Irish Water is saying it is not their problem because they do not have any responsibility. Can we get everyone around the table and say that this is the programme for the next four years so we...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (17 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: I want to also touch on another issue, which is voluntary housing agencies buying up housing estates. Whereas a private developer has an obligation to provide a certain number of houses for social housing, when voluntary housing agencies come in, they are buying up entire estates. Then, the person who may want to buy a house there is excluded from the whole area. I have come across a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (17 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: This is a case where developers have received planning permissions for building estates, and they intended selling privately, but housing agencies come in. When a housing agency or a voluntary housing agency buy, it is one transaction. Whether it is for 20, 50,or 80 houses, it is one transaction. It is very attractive from a developer point of view but it is not very good for an area where...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (17 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: I am sorry but I have not seen that happening recently. The situation is that anyone who wants to buy privately has to go 10 miles away to find a house to buy. They are being excluded from the market in the area that they grew up in and went to school and college in because all of these houses are being purchased by the voluntary housing agencies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank Mr. Connolly for his presentation and for the constructive way he has set out the issues. I very much welcome his contribution. One of the issues that is being raised with us by the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society is the increase in the number of young people who are vaping. In 2015, 23% of teenagers used e-cigarettes and by 2019, it was up to 37%, and we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: These are the figures they are quoting. They are quoting figures and they are producing figures from the research that is available to them. They are saying it increased from 23% in 2015 to 37% in 2019. That is a huge increase in the number using e-cigarettes. The figures from the research also showed that people are more likely to use cigarettes if they have been vaping. I know we have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Is Mr. Connolly saying the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society are quoting inaccurate figures?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: The figures have gone up. There is also the issue of flavouring and three states have already decided to ban flavouring. What is Mr. Connolly's view on that, given it looks like this is going to happen across Europe? Some states have already decided this is the way forward. What is Mr. Connolly's view on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: I accept they are not aimed at children but between 2012 and 2015 there were 343 incidents of e-liquid poisoning, of which 42.7% were among children. There were 343 incidents of such poisonings in a three-year period across Europe. These products are not aimed at children, but children have ended up using them. We need to be careful in how we deal with the issue. I accept what Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: It was a study of 1,173,000 adults in the US aged between 18 and 50. The result was 34% were more likely to suffer from visual impairments, compared to those who had never tried e-cigarettes. It is an extensive study. I accept and think everyone here accepts that vaping has helped people to move away from cigarettes but we need to make sure there is adequate regulation because there are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Everyone would agree with that but it is a case of making sure we have adequate precautions so we do not have an increased number of young people using e-cigarettes and moving on to cigarettes. That is what we need to be careful about in drafting this legislation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank the Department and HSE. It has been a challenging two years. I thank everyone involved in dealing with the Covid issue and the challenges posed by it. I want to move on to the here and now and where we go from here with regard to healthcare in Ireland over the next five to ten years. One issue that will occur and already exists is with difficulties in recruiting. I am concerned...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Mr. Watt mentioned retaining people. One issue with junior doctors is that if they come in from outside the EU or EEA, they will not get a stamp 4 visa until they have been here for at least five years. There is a proposal to reduce that to two years. My understanding is that it is now stuck in a logjam between the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and, I believe, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: The reason I am raising this issue is to do with young people also. Many young qualified nurses and doctors traditionally go abroad after having qualified or having done one or two years here. That has not happened in the past few years. Whether we like it or not, a substantial number of young trained people will leave this country. Are the HSE and the Department of Health planning for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: I will move on to capacity in Cork and the wider Cork-Kerry region. I received a telephone call at 10 o’clock last night from a member of a family whose mother had been in the accident and emergency department of Cork University Hospital, CUH, since Sunday night. After 50 hours, this 92-year-old woman was still in the accident and emergency department. There is, therefore, a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: Even as regards identifying the site, the HSE has a 100-acre site at Sarsfield Court in Glanmire. The hospital could be built block by block there into the future. This is about long-term planning to ensure we are not looking for additional space in three, five or ten years. There is 100 acres of land owned by the HSE that is underutilised. Let us at least identify the site so that we can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: It is that kind of delay where-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Colm Burke: -----we lose valuable time. We also have problems in that we have consultants who are lucky to get a half day per week in operating space because they cannot get access to operating theatres. That needs to be looked at and that was done by the gynaecology services in Cork where there were 4,500 on the list. They got time in the Mater Private. The consultants went down there and cleared...