Results 6,361-6,380 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: From what the Minister of State says, my support for the original amendment is growing. She implies that the care plan depends on access to an assessment. It would be daft to allow a couple of bloody-minded patients to gum up the works. I am afraid to say that I am turning against human rights and becoming authoritarian in this regard. She agreed with Senator Fitzgerald that it is vital...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I will be wicked. The State should take a somewhat paternalistic role in this because there are occasions when, to cite Senator Mullen, Mammy and Daddy know best for Mammy and Daddy. Perhaps the Minister of State will consider framing the Bill so that material is not transferred except in exceptional circumstances in view of the additional burden created for the State and health care...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I ask the Minister of State to reassure me that the specified person has the legal capacity to consent. The specified person organises applications, reviews and appeals for people without the capacity to deal with these matters. I do not see how they are empowered to consent to the dissemination of this information. Perhaps the Minister of State can indicate the provision in the Bill which...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I will read the section with interest and I thank the Minister of State for the clarification.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: The Minister has been extremely helpful in directing my attention to section 47, which I have read. There is nothing whatever in section 47 that gives the right to a specified person to provide consent. I will read it into the record because it states exactly what I said earlier. It states: "Subject to subsections (2), (4) and (9) a specified person may act on behalf of another person in...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I strongly support Senator Fitzgerald. This is the core of the issue. The fact that this is not rights based was referred to briefly earlier. This is the get-out cause but it was not put in by the Minister or her Department. We all know that. We know from where it came. This is the Department of Finance at it again, and it is extraordinary. The Minister has correctly invoked humanity....

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I was trying to reproduce the eloquence of Senator O'Toole in his wonderful comment about the flat tyres of the economy, the lack of oil, the need to put water in the engine and so on, which reduced the newscasters on the RTE News to helpless laughter in the studio. I get the impression the Minister may refer this for further legal advice.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I am surprised it is financial.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I simply wanted to say, "I told you so". It is perfectly obvious this has to do with the Department of Finance and it is because it is not rights-based legislation.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: Amendments Nos. 28 and 29 refer to section 30. It is essential that a person carrying out a review of care needs or of financial assessments is independent. The phrase used in the Bill is "suitable person". The Minister of State may agree that in order to be suitable a person should be independent. It is not a great leap of the imagination, or of a draftsperson's pen, to include the...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I welcome the Minister of State's engaging honesty in stating that her principal reason for not accepting the first amendment is that it would require a separate budget. If it creates a charge on the Exchequer that would have been a reason for ruling the amendment out of order. This further highlights the completely chaotic state of rulings on admissibility of amendments. It is daft. Some...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: Send it to him.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I have a final comment. I do not believe the principle of independence has been understood fully. There is a slight narrowing of scope in this Bill that is unattractive. In her speech in the Dáil, the Minister, Deputy Harney, argued that the Bill was centred not on entitlement, but on eligibility. I have made the point that it is not a rights-based Bill but there are certain rights which...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: There is still the question of being judge and jury in one's own case.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I move amendment No. 20: In page 16, subsection (4), line 26, after "Act." to insert the following: "The percentage of the home owed to the Executive should never exceed fifteen per cent.". This issue is about the percentage value of the assets of the person going into the nursing home that should be distrained by the State. How is this estimated? This question of value arises from time to...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: No. The Minister of State made an interesting case and seemed to accept the principle with regard to fluctuations in value, the point in which I was particularly interested. She has made a good case for the Bill as it stands, taking that into account.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I move amendment No. 22: In page 28, subsection (5), line 39, after "person" to insert the following: "and particular regard to the expressed, verbal or written wishes of the person". The amendment relates to the important matter of taking into account the expressed wishes of a person, whether verbal or written. It refers specifically to subsection (5) which states: "If the court is...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I thank the Minister of State for graciously accepting the principle. I am quite certain that she and her advisers will come up with a better wording than ours, but it is important to acknowledge that the Minister of State has clearly accepted two amendments and there will be ancillary material produced which will support the principle of the third amendment so that we are ad idem on the...

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: It is quite confusing.

Seanad: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2009)

David Norris: I move amendment No. 26: In page 41, subsection (1), between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following: "(b) where a person is assessed as in need by reason of categories outlined in section 7(6)(c) reviews will be carried out at a minimum of every 6 months and no later than every 12 months;". This is a simple amendment requiring that reviews be carried out at a minimum of every six months and...