Results 5,661-5,680 of 11,292 for speaker:Colm Burke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: One of the problems is that, during the lockdown, people were not travelling abroad and, therefore, the opportunity to bring in cigarettes by people travelling abroad reduced substantially and, in fact, the sale of cigarette products here went up dramatically during the Covid lockdown. Is the number of people smoking far higher than what the figures are showing in real terms?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: The point I am making is that the huge increase in the sale of tobacco products during the lockdown gives an indication of the number of cigarettes coming in from abroad when people are travelling back and forth, whether to Spain, Portugal, Greece or otherwise. Is there now a need to tighten up the regulations on the number of cigarettes people can bring in when travelling from abroad? For...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Three countries - Estonia, Finland and Hungary - banned the use of flavourings. Have we any lessons to learn from what they did? Did they get it right or are there things we can learn in regard to dealing with this legislation that we should be aware of?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: We want to have the most effective legislation possible so we can assist people and reduce the number of people who smoke, but also reduce the number of people who have to use e-cigarettes.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 319. To ask the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) who was working in a then State funded nursing home until March 2021 will qualify for the Covid recognition payment for healthcare workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12223/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Policy (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 336. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the progress towards achieving the Programme for Government commitment to establish a new national medicines agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12216/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Departmental Meetings (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 337. To ask the Minister for Health the interaction his Department has had with the European Commission regarding the proposed European health data space; his position on the proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12217/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Policy (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 338. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to use the European recovery and resilience facility to invest in digital health infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12218/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Legislative Measures (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 339. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the progress of the health information and patient safety Bill; the provisions it will contain; when it will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12219/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for the presentation. I will open with the issue of checks and balances in the context of our mental health services. If a consultant is working in a hospital, be it in orthopaedics or surgery, there are checks and balances in place within that hospital's structures. In our mental health services, there are no checks and balances. Even if one takes it that a consultant...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: No, I am not talking about non-consultants. I am talking about the checks and balances that are currently in the mental health services. If a consultant is appointed, who reviews the work that consultant is doing? In a hospital structure, there are checks and balances because there are a lot of management systems. However, in the context of mental health day services, I am asking what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: I am sorry for interrupting, but if that system was there, this was a problem from 2016 to 2021. That is five years. How come nothing showed up if that structure was actually in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: But Dr. Young accepts that there is not a structure currently in place. I know we are talking about a non-consultant doctor in this case, but even with consultants, does Dr. Young not accept that there is not an adequate structure in place to cross-check their performance and the work they are doing in the mental health services as they are currently structured?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Can I go back to this particular case in which there was a non-consultant doctor-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Going back to what occurred in Kerry, where there was a non-consultant doctor working for a period, I am asking about the structures and governance of that case. As to the position not being filled, a period of 12 months would not be unusual for a consultant post not to be filled but, in this case, it was running into two or three years. Why was a proper structure not put in place such as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: If the person did not come to give an account and explanation in regard to the programme, the number of people they were dealing with and how they were treating them, surely, that should have set off the alarm bells. We are talking about a period of four years when no one appeared to be in charge.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Was it not the case then of putting in someone who the non-consultant doctor would have been accountable to on a daily or weekly basis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Is it not true to say that the consultant would also have had a very heavy workload in their own area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Was a request ever made for adequate additional support to be put in place for the south Kerry area regarding mental health services? In particular, when the consultant post was vacant for a considerable period, why was a locum not put in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: South Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: HSE (2 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: When there was a difficulty in getting the consultant post filled, was that not the time to review the putting in place of a different structure so that someone was in overall charge? It appears to be the case that no one was in overall charge.