Results 7,201-7,220 of 11,299 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: There is a proposal about people delaying taking up their pension. Will that come in?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: People can opt not to draw their pension until they are 70.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: My understanding, from the State Claims Agency, is that if it settled every claim in the morning, it would mean that from all Departments it would be between €4.2 billion and €4.3 billion, of which €3.8 billion concerns the healthcare sector. In view of the increase of €95 billion for this year, can we get an estimate of a breakdown over the next five years on the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: We have reviewed the whole issue in terms of industrial accidents, and claims for industrial accidents and car accidents over the past ten years. The one area that we have parked and did nothing about, in fact, is medical negligence and we have let that roll on the way it is going. The biggest problem for the State is in fighting any of these claims, or trying to minimise the claims, there...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: Perhaps we could get a detailed memo from the Department on the current number of claims and the timeframes involved. Such a detailed note might be interesting because a very large amount of money is pending. I will move onto a totally different issue. In the report the Minister gave us, he spoke about additional beds and so on. However, I notice that €1.46 billion was set aside...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: Is there not a problem in that there are people in hospital beds who could be discharged but who are not being discharged in a timely manner? I will give an example. The Taoiseach officially opened Heather House in Cork three or four months ago but it is not now being fully utilised.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: No. To deal with that specific issue, I know of people in Cork University Hospital, CUH, who are looking for a bed. This is not a private nursing home but a HSE facility. Beds in public nursing homes are costing €1,600 per week on average whereas the real cost in a hospital is approximately €8,000. Heather House has empty beds and does not have full staffing in place while...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: In fairness, they are. What I am saying is that there is still a problem in that, when some hospitals right around the country try to find a bed to accommodate a person who needs more than normal nursing home care and a small bit of additional support, the nursing homes are not able to provide that because they do not feel they are getting sufficient funding.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: They are costing us quite a lot of money, however. There is now an underspend of €44 million, which is great from the Department's point of view, but, in real terms, an additional cost is being incurred because people are in hospitals for longer. There needs to be a review of how to get people out of hospital beds and into a step-down facility that can provide the level of care they...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: Would the Minister accept that-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: As we sit here, a large number, 300 to 400 people, are in hospital beds when care could be provided for them in a nursing home setting but that is not happening fast enough. Part of the problem is that nursing homes are not able to provide the support they will require because they feel they are not getting sufficient financial support to do so. I am just asking that this be reviewed in...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: May I come back to the Minister regarding Heather House in Cork? There are 60 additional beds there in a brand new building. There were 50 beds but we added another 60, which are not yet fully occupied. All of the hospitals in Cork are under serious pressure and we cannot get patients out.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: In fairness to the HSE in the south and south west, it has acquired the golf links hotel, the Blarney, where it will provide an extra 50 beds. However, I am concerned that, when we finish the building work in March, we will again leave 50 beds unoccupied for a period of time. We could have anything up to 100 step-down beds available but not being utilised. I am a bit concerned about...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: I accept that.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations produced a report which suggests that in Denmark from the date that a drug is approved by the European Medicines Agency, it will be available to people in the country within 176 days. The average time for this to happen in Ireland is 541 days. Orphan drug approval in Denmark takes 249 days whereas in Ireland it takes 870...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: There is a huge delay in the availability of drugs.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (7 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: 6. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the progress that has been made to date regarding the establishment of a new built environment and heat delivery taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61212/22]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (7 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: 7. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the other capital supports that will be provided in order that Ireland can achieve its target for biomethane development of 5.7 TW hours, given that currently the renewable heat obligation scheme is the only scheme in place to assist in achieving these targets but is not due to commence until 2024; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (7 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: 125. To ask the Minister for Health the action his Department is taking to help mitigate against the increasing risk to the supply of off-patent medicines nationwide due to rising inflationary, energy and transport costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61151/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (7 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: 126. To ask the Minister for Health if the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, has expressed concern to him, his Department or the HSE regarding the number of current medicine shortages listed on the HPRA website; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61152/22]