Results 10,821-10,840 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Legislative Reviews (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Kelleher for this question. I acknowledge the Deputy has raised the issue with me previously in the Oireachtas Committee on Health and when we were considering the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act. I acknowledge his interest in the issue and wish to put a little information on the record of the House on the policy rationale behind this when it was originally put in place. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Legislative Reviews (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: That is absolutely not the policy intention, and Deputy Kelleher's assertion in this regard is one of the reasons I have instructed my Department to carry out a review. I have asked the Department of Health to conduct an analysis of trends in private activity in public hospitals since the Health (Amendment) Act commenced in 2013 and I intend then to review policy changes at that stage as...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Legislative Reviews (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I accept the Deputy's bona fides on this but he must also accept that the 2013 legislation came from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report of 2008, which pointed out that there was a significant lacuna in the law, which was making it effectively impossible for up to 50% of any potential charge to be collected by the public health service. We would all share the view that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Crisis Pregnancy Services (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for this question about an important issue which we debated in this House when Deputy Howlin tabled a Bill on this matter that received almost unanimous support. He wanted to make sure that women with crisis pregnancies received accurate and truthful information. We were all appalled by the reporting of Ellen Coyne at the time showing that was not the case and that there...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Crisis Pregnancy Services (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: Of course they do and that is why I am progressing this and why I accepted Deputy Howlin's Bill on Second Stage and why I have initiated the public consultation on regulation of counsellors or psychotherapists. I am very clear that we absolutely should. As a result of that consultation I have received 84 submissions which are being reviewed in the Department as we speak and I have already...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Crisis Pregnancy Services (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: The Deputy's remark about the glare of media publicity is unfortunate. It attempts to divide and be partisan about an issue on which I do not think anyone in this House is partisan. No human being could but have been appalled-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Crisis Pregnancy Services (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I would appreciate if the Deputy did not conflate the timing taken to formulate regulations and pass legislation through these Houses, in which the Deputy and her party have a role to play, with people's genuine responses to sickening behaviour. That is quite an important point. The Deputy is making it sound like nothing has happened, for whatever reasons she wishes. If she actually...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Crisis Pregnancy Services (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: -----the HSE now funds 16 crisis pregnancy agencies and has put in place a framework to protect women and it is a condition of that funding that the framework is adhered to. The Deputy refers to ten years since the Hot Press revelation. I have been in office for ten months and the consultation is done. I will bring regulation to the House within months. We are going to move on this. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Abortion Services Provision (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I think we have significant specific women's mental health issues in this country. As the Deputy probably knows, the National Women's Council of Ireland and Trinity College made a successful bid to host the World Congress on Women's Mental Health, which is taking place in RDS in week. The Deputy is familiar with my position and that of the Government on how to deal with the eighth...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Abortion Services Provision (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I am.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Abortion Services Provision (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: The Deputy may call politicians or previous Members of these Houses cowardly if she wishes but she would hardly call the Irish people cowardly. Whether I agree or disagree with their decision, it was the people of Ireland who inserted the eighth amendment into the Constitution.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Abortion Services Provision (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: Quite frankly, I do not agree with it and we need a referendum on the issue. This was not just dreamed up on the floor of the Dáil but it was passed by the people of this country. It is not for me to discuss the legislative constitutional realities of any other country but the Deputy knows full well that if we want to change the Constitution of this country, we need 50% plus one to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Abortion Services Provision (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: If I started dictating or directing the work of the Citizens' Assembly in any way, the Deputy would rightly be asking what I was doing interfering with the Citizens' Assembly, bringing my own views or those of the Government or anybody else to bear on it. The Citizens' Assembly is chaired by the very eminent Judge Mary Laffoy and I trust it will do its work well. It has heard from an array...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Health Services Expenditure (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I always appreciate Deputies seeking additional resources for my Department and the health service. This Government is committed to prioritising the needs of those requiring health services in determining the annual budget and it will continue to prioritise those needs. This is evidenced by the provision of an additional €977 million in this year's allocation to the Health Service...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Health Services Expenditure (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is asking a reasonable question. We need to continue to invest and reinvest in the health service. We have made progress in that regard and I outlined that with the €977 million increase this year in comparison with the original projected budget from a year before. I am glad the Deputy raised the now deferred industrial action by the Irish Nurses and Midwives...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Health Services Expenditure (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: The era of cuts to the health service and public service pay is over.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Health Services Expenditure (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: Will it take us time to get to where we need to be? Absolutely, but the era of Ministers for Health being obliged to stand in this position and cut health services due to the financial situation is over. We are increasing the health budget and staffing levels and are putting money into waiting list initiatives. In the House later tonight we will pass legislation to provide domiciliary care...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for this important question on outpatient times in St. Vincent's University Hospital specifically. I am absolutely committed to reducing waiting times for patients, both for patients waiting for inpatient or day case procedures and for outpatient appointments. During 2016, there has been evidence of a considerable increase in demand for health services as our...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: My office contacted St. Vincent's University Hospital specifically to ask what measures it will put in place to target the very specific outpatient waiting list to which the Deputy has referred. I have been informed that it is putting in place specialty-specific meetings with the specialties concerned to identify the issues. The "did not attend", DNA, rate is a serious issue in our health...

Other Questions: Hospital Waiting Lists (8 Mar 2017)

Simon Harris: The DNA rate has a bearing. While it is not the only factor, consultants have a certain number of appointments available and when a person does not turn up for an appointment, the slot is wasted. Given that there were 450,000 such incidences, there is an onus on me to expect the health service to put in place methods to ensure patients are reminded of appointments and, ultimately, wait less...