Results 721-740 of 5,906 for speaker:Frank Feighan

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: I too was horrified by what I saw on the "Prime Time Investigates" exposé last night. Perhaps we should ask the Minister for Health and Children to come to the House to explain where the regulators for our health system are. For too long we have relied on "Prime Time" to expose such situations. Some people working in the health boards are paid vast sums to produce reports and to regulate...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: I was.

Seanad: Hospitals Building Programme. (5 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for agreeing to discuss this issue. The provision of a community hospital in Ballinamore was promised 20 years ago and the people of the town are anxious to secure a state-of-the-art facility. Given that the nearest hospital is 17 miles from the town, a new facility similar to a day hospital would be welcome. Has progress been made on this...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: I condemn the savage death of Alan Cunniffe and the young man in Finglas. The instinct in all of us is the sense of the volunteer, to chase somebody who is robbing a post office or a bank. I was in that situation more than ten years ago when a bank was raided beside me and I ran after the armed raiders. When I think now of what could have happened my blood runs cold. I would like it to go...

Seanad: Genealogy and Heraldry Bill 2006: Second Stage (12 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome the Bill, which is designed to regularise the delivery of heraldic services by the State. Up to the point of passing the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997, these functions were performed by the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. When the 1997 Bill was passed, the genealogical office was referred to as a branch of the National...

Seanad: Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage (13 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: The House is united in taking this Bill at short notice. The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism has outlined the successes of the Irish film industry. We have come a long way since "Ryan's Daughter". One can read as many history textbooks as one wants, but there is nothing better than the cinematic representation of historical events. This was exemplified by "The Wind that Shakes the...

Seanad: Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage (13 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: I thought it took our side.

Seanad: Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage (13 Dec 2006)

Frank Feighan: The Minister is wrong.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: Does this refer to opening accounts?

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: Almost 12 months ago I raised my concerns about the decision by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, to merge the partnership and Leader programmes around the country. I mention this because in my own locality, the Arigna Leader programme has been highly influential in ensuring that development was secured for the area. It is said that this is Ireland of...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: How dare the Minister——

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: I want the Minister to come before the House in order that I may ask him how, effectively, he could gag members of the Arigna Leader programme with a confidentiality clause. It is clear that the Government only makes announcements when the news is good. When the news is bad, it gags the people.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (7 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: This does not constitute fairness, openness and transparency. I ask the Minister to come before the House——

Seanad: Hospital Infections: Motion (14 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: I welcome the Minister to the House on a very emotive issue. I wonder whether we ever get matters right in Ireland. Many years ago we had probably the most lax hygiene standards in Europe. From a food viewpoint we did not know what a health worker was. In pubs the standard of cleanliness in toilets, behind the counter and in restaurant areas was very poor. Not that many people died,...

Seanad: Hospital Infections: Motion (14 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: This Government has always stooped to facilitate vested interests. When we had the opportunity under benchmarking to ensure that people did the work for which they were responsible, we shirked the responsibility. I attribute the incidence of MRSA to the fact that despite doctors, nurses and hospital staff working very hard, nobody is responsible, no one has been sacked and nor will they be...

Seanad: Hospital Infections: Motion (14 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: Not all of us have worked in the health service. Many people have died from having contracted MRSA. I am sure there has been a cover-up in that the death certificates of people who have died from MRSA record that they died from other diseases. People have called to my constituency office expressing their concern about contracting this virus. The Government has done nothing to allay the...

Seanad: Hospital Infections: Motion (14 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: No senior worker or administrative staff member who is responsible for the running of a hospital has been sacked. We can talk all we want about this problem but we have not yet tackled it in the way we should have. A total of 8,000 patients tested positive for superbugs in Irish hospitals in 2005 and 6,000 patients in more than 30 hospitals were infected by MRSA. That is incredible....

Seanad: Hospital Infections: Motion (14 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: I also welcome the delegation. There is one rule for the private sector and no rule for the public sector. The sooner we get our act together the better. People must take responsibility and to achieve this, a benchmarking measure should be included. Otherwise, we will continue to fight a losing battle against the problem of MRSA. We are all involved in tackling this. Senator Ormonde...

Seanad: Hospital Infections: Motion (14 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: We should be ashamed of the fact that we oversaw it but we must do everything now to address it. I do not want any person who has to go hospital for an investigative procedure to call to my constituency office in the coming years expressing concern that he or she may contract MRSA. This virus has caused huge anxiety among the public and we must now address this problem.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (22 Feb 2007)

Frank Feighan: In reply to that, I hope we do not have a repeat of what happened last year on O'Connell Street. Irish citizens must behave with dignity, treat our guests respectfully and not go back to events in history.