Results 7,381-7,400 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: The Government is fully committed to the implementation of the principles contained in the Primary Care Strategy and this includes the development of primary care teams and networks. The implementation process at operational level is a function of the Health Service Executive, whose Chief Executive Officer has identified as a priority the development of multidisciplinary primary care...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Let me say at the outset that there is no embargo on the recruitment of staff in the public health service. Nor does my Department set employment quotas at national level for any grade in the public health service. It is a matter for the Health Service Executive, as part of its management of its employment ceiling, to determine the appropriate staffing mix required to deliver its service plan...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department's Health Service Personnel Census collects data on an employing agency basis rather than on a county by county basis. As the Deputy's question relates a human resource management issue which is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004, the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive has been asked to...

Written Answers — Mental Health Services: Mental Health Services (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: As part of the Estimates for health services in 2006, additional funding of €3m was allocated specifically for the further development of neurology and neurophysiology services. This funding was provided to allow the Health Service Executive to further progress the implementation of the recommendations made by the former Comhairle na nOspidéal in respect of these services. Accordingly, my...

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: The numbers of medical card holders in the state as requested by the Deputy are as follows: 1997, 1,219,852; 2002, 1,168,745; and 2006, 1,187,370. The figure shown for 2006 is the most recent figure provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to my Department and refers to the position as at 1 June, 2006. The decrease in the number of medical card holders since 1997 can be attributed to a...

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: I wish to inform the Deputy that such a survey has not been conducted by my Department. In 2004, following consultation with the Irish College of General Practitioners it was agreed to meet short to medium term needs to increase the number of GP trainee places on GP vocational training schemes nationally from 84 to 150, on a phased basis. I have provided additional funding of €2 million in...

Written Answers — Accident and Emergency Services: Accident and Emergency Services (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Tackling the problems that exist in some of the country's A & E departments is the Government's top priority in health. Our objectives are to reduce the numbers waiting for admission, the time spent waiting for admission, and the turnaround time for those who can be treated in A & E and do not require admission. The Health Service Executive has put in place a number of measures to build on...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: I am not in a position, unfortunately, to accept the amendment. Senators made reference to this issue, yesterday, on Second Stage. We do not believe any genuine claimant will be affected by what is being done here. When legislation was proposed in this area in 1995-96, Mr. John Rogers SC and Ivor Fitzpatrick and Company Solicitors, on behalf of the affected groups, put forward the ELISA test...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Some 12,000 people received the product between 1991 and 1994, and of those 139 tested positive. My point on the KL case was that there was no evidence that the claimant received an infected batch of the product or had gone to a GP or other medics in the long period of time that elapsed. Yet on the basis of symptoms that can be related to other diseases, for example fatigue, the claimant got...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Does Senator Ryan suggest that such a person would not have presented with jaundice within 16 weeks of receiving the product? The court made the award in the KL case on the basis that the anti-D was probably given, although this could not be proved, and the person was suffering from, among other symptoms, fatigue. If we accept this basis, potentially everybody who received the product could...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: It is a medical issue with legal implications. There are lawyers in this country who are more than happy to pursue any route available to them. We know about the compensation culture and no fair-minded person would want that to happen. Anybody else in my position who had the information available to me in the context of what has happened would take do the same.

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Is the Senator suggesting they test positive? If they test positive anytime they will receive the compensation. They do not have to test positive now.

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: The Department is aware of the study to which the Senator refers.

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: The State could have appealed that decision only on a point of law. Anybody who goes to the tribunal is entitled to appeal to the court, whether he or she received no award from the tribunal or was not satisfied with the award made by the tribunal. There is a case pending to be heard soon. This Bill does not affect any of those cases. In respect of the 40 persons mentioned by Senator Ryan,...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Yes. The symptoms I mentioned can also be attributed to many other things, as we know. The consumption of alcohol, for example, can cause depression and fatigue and increased liver function. There is no consensus in that regard. I would like to speak about the jaundice issue. We are talking about a woman who has just had a baby and would be in hospital during the period in question. It is not...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: I am not suggesting that. I am saying that is the kind of potential number we are talking about, based on the High Court decision. I am not suggesting that such a figure would be realised. There is no doubt that a large number of such applications could be made on foot of the position in which we found ourselves after the High Court case. We know what happened in other circumstances — we...

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: I said "up to 16 weeks".

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: Senator Ryan and I will not agree on this matter. Does he accept that the tests in question are used throughout the world to establish that blood is safe to be transfused to seriously-ill people? They are tests which are used. The Senator is saying they are not acceptable in the context——

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: That is the reality. There is no consensus anywhere of which I am aware — in Ireland or internationally — that the symptoms to which the Senator refers are associated solely with hepatitis C. While many people have opinions on the issue, there is no consensus on it. Opinions are not sufficient in this case.

Seanad: Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages. (6 Jul 2006)

Mary Harney: I will repeat what I have said previously. If it is the case that as late as 1998 the expert group, which included a representative of Positive Action——