Results 821-840 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Health Bill 2008: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: I listened with amazement to the offerings of Deputies on the Government backbenches. Deputy Aylward has just informed us how delighted he is with the provisions before the House. It brings me back to budget day when this debacle first started. In the forefront of my mind, I have Fianna Fáil and Green Party Deputies, and the two Deputies of the Progressive Democrats as they then were,...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: Why is amendment No. 3a ruled out of order? I do not want to have a row about it but I would like to know the reason.

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: That is not a satisfactory way of dealing with the matter. We are entitled to know why an important amendment is out of order.

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: I appreciate the Acting Chairman has no role in this but we are all big boys and girls here. While the Ceann Comhairle is entitled to rule matters out of order, if a considered amendment on a Bill as important as this is ruled out of order, we are entitled to know the reason. That is not an unreasonable request. I do not want to delay matters but in my experience it is customary to explain...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: The difficulty we are in highlights the exact reason that no Government should ever order Committee Stage to commence half an hour after Second Stage. It is outrageous. Having had nine weeks to progress this Bill, we are being put in this position by the Government. We should not be. This is undermining the role of the House. I am sure the Minister for Health and Children will tell us, if...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: In the letter I received in regard to the amendments tabled in my name and that of my colleague, Deputy Reilly, with particular reference to amendment No. 5o, I am told they must be ruled out of order because they are in conflict with the principle of the Bill. This is directly relevant to section 3, which includes a provision whereby a person who had full eligibility for medical card...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: To be constructive and enable business to proceed while taking account of the point made by Deputies Reilly and O'Sullivan, the issue is that Bills are published with Long Titles that are supposed to detail the principle or purpose behind them. Instead of doing this, however, it has become the practice of Government to detail, as has been done here, references to particular Acts so as to...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: We have started to deal with the substance of the sections of the Bill. It is a strange irony that one of the Government's main political acts in the second last week before the House adjourns for Christmas is to copperfasten the removal of medical cards from people over the age of 70. We should encourage those Deputies on the Government side of the House who are absent to participate in...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: I am concerned about the discrimination against married people as opposed to objecting to——

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: The problem is the Minister is treating a widow or widower worse than a single person and is also treating a separated or divorced spouse worse.

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: The specific arrangements that apply here do not address the position of separated or divorced people. I am not trying to be obstructive. Specific arrangements for means testing are laid down here. They do not address the dilemmas that arise if one is separated or divorced. I am not critical of the protection the Minister is giving unmarried couples, I am merely explaining that an...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: Under this scheme, as the Minister has laid it down in statute, meaning the HSE will have no discretion, the income of a married couple is treated together as one gross sum. As Deputy Barrett correctly pointed out, there is no provision that allows individualisation and as a consequence, an abandoned wife who has an income of only €600 gross can be rendered ineligible for a medical card...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: Is the Minister saying that any medical cards issued under this provision will only have a three year life span and that medical card holders will be required to submit details of eligibility? Can the Minister explain the position of people over 70 who currently have the medical card as a universal right under the existing legislation? This is relevant to widows, widowers, those with a...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: If widows or widowers who are qualified under the scheme for a medical card commence residing with someone else of the opposite sex within three years of the death of their spouse, what investigation will the HSE conduct to determine whether such couples are residing together as friends or as husband and wife? The Minister referred to the Revenue, the State's capacity to check people's...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: The Minister did not deal with the issue of a widow or widower who has someone else come to reside in the home within the three year period. What type of investigation is it intended the HSE will carry out to determine whether they are living together as husband and wife?

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: The person answered "No", I presume.

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: I was interested to hear the Minister state she would have preferred to have left in place a position whereby widows and widowers who already had the medical card would be allowed to retain it under this scheme. I disagree with the legal advice the Minister was given. Based on the provisions contained in the Constitution relating to the family based on marriage there was no difficulty of a...

Health Bill 2008: Committee Stage (11 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: Such a challenge would not succeed.

Children in Care. (16 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: We are talking about children who suffer——

Children in Care. (16 Dec 2008)

Alan Shatter: ——and the Minister of State has a duty to protect them.