Results 901-920 of 1,730 for speaker:Colm Keaveney

Other Questions: Defence Forces Personnel (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: The object of the question is to establish whether the Minister intends to review the 21-year rule for Defence Forces personnel. The Minister will be aware that many women and men are prematurely being discharged from the Army after 21 years' service. Generally, the position is that personnel in their 30s, who have large mortgages, child care costs and established family costs, are being...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Personnel (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: I welcome the Minister's commitment to demonstrate flexibility and I am sure he will agree that continuing in stable employment in one's 30s is generally a good thing. Being discharged from the Army in one's late 30s and not having any employment prospects is not good for one's family or community. Significant flexibility was offered to the chaps in the mess, such as the commandants, who...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Personnel (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: I do not suggest that we should introduce a bogus fitness programme so people can remain within the service. If somebody is fit he or she should be allowed progress beyond the current arrangement of 21 years and retain employment. There is no suggestion that we are asking for something inappropriate to be introduced. All we are asking is for common sense to be considered. There is no...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Personnel (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: Or 16, as is sometimes the case. The Minister met such people last week in Athlone. They are in their 30s.

Order of Business (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: Exactly; we will not discuss it.

Order of Business (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: The programme for Government provides for measures to be introduced to tackle welfare fraud. I congratulate the Tánaiste on the recruitment of additional gardaí to help her in her crusade in that regard. Why did the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, prevent the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, from recruiting additional Revenue...

Order of Business (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: -----and the projected loss to the Exchequer of €150 million-----

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Personnel (18 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: 11. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will amend rules so that privates and corporals in the Defence Forces could be permitted to serve to age 50 and that sergeants could be permitted to serve to age 60; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34558/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: 72. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to issues in the recruitment of counselling psychologists by the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36797/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: The HSE service plan deliberately provides for a time delay in the recruitment of critically important mental health professionals. The object of this question is to establish from the Minister of State what her plans are to accelerate the recruitment of professionals within that sector. One can argue that this is the consequence of the breach of the programme for Government last year when...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: I thank the Minister of State for her response. As she is aware, up to 15,000 children are languishing on waiting lists for early intervention teams. The much-lauded concept of the early intervention team lacks the sort of supports that are required to ensure that the multidisciplinary expertise is there across the disciplines described by the Minister of State in order to give children at...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Health Services Staff Recruitment (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: The HSE service plan was deliberately designed to prevent recruitment. Last year there was a commitment to provide for €35 million in ring-fenced funding for mental health services. That broken promise has resulted in the Minister of State designing a time delay which deliberately prevents the recruitment of staff that would address the waiting lists we have described. In the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Psychological Services (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: 110. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to issues with regard to the recruitment of psychologists by the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36533/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Water Charges Exemptions (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: 116. To ask the Minister for Health the discussions his Department has had with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with regard to water charges and persons with mental health issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36534/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (30 Sep 2014)

Colm Keaveney: 355. To ask the Minister for Health when a hospital appointment will be scheduled in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36630/14]

Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service Provision (1 Oct 2014)

Colm Keaveney: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for coming to the House to listen to my concerns. I am sure she will appreciate the considerable level of concern and disquiet at national and, in particular, regional level about ambulance response times and follow-up capital investment for ambulance services in the west. She should be concerned because a recent HSE report clearly...

Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service Provision (1 Oct 2014)

Colm Keaveney: I am pleased the Minister of State acknowledges that there is more to be done. I imagine the Minister of State is aware that there are over 84 vehicles in the National Ambulance Service that have approximately 350,000 km clocked up on their odometers. When making comparisons we should not suggest that the geography presents a unique challenge. Let us compare the region to Scotland, which...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Investigations (7 Oct 2014)

Colm Keaveney: 122. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a copy of the report issued as a result of a scooping exercise carried out in 2009 to assess the nature of employment relating to 14 ESB meter readers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37670/14]

Order of Business (15 Oct 2014)

Colm Keaveney: The programme for Government, as published in 2011, provided for €35 million in ring-fenced funding for the recruitment of specialist staff to facilitate the successful implementation of the policy document A Vision for Change. As the Taoiseach is aware, that commitment was rowed back on in 2012 and 2013. The expenditure involved was current in nature and its removal has resulted in...

Order of Business (15 Oct 2014)

Colm Keaveney: That is not the answer to the question I asked.