Results 11,641-11,660 of 26,228 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Seanad: Health Service: Statements (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I appreciate the benevolence of my colleague. I acknowledge the Minister's wide-ranging speech, one of the key features of which was the fact that, despite the increase in population, no new acute hospital has been built.One of the features of the Minister's speech was his point about the increase in population but that no new acute hospital has been built. I wish to make two brief points...

Seanad: Health Service: Statements (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: We note Senator Nash's benevolence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank the Chairman for allowing me to participate in the committee's meeting. I have one or two questions to direct to Mr. Woods. Specifically, this is about University Hospital Limerick's accident and emergency department and, more particularly, proceeding to build a 96-bed acute unit on the grounds of the hospital. In 2009, reconfiguration took place. There is context around the need...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is that the national capital review?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: We want the emergency department in University Hospital Limerick to open in May. That is critical. I have corresponded with the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, and spoken to the CEO of the HSE, Mr. Tony O’Brien. I have also spoken at length to Mr. Woods about the 96 bed acute unit, which is also critical. It is good news that the design phase is under way and that we have lost no...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: So it is a priority?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: It involves University Hospital Limerick and the mid-west and the dire need for the 96-bed unit as part of the capital plan to be funded.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: What about the emergency department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: We have since had discussions with the Minister about that and he has given a commitment that if it is ready to open in May, the HSE will look at it. We are at breaking point in Limerick. Whatever numbers we go on, we have the largest number of people on trolleys in any hospital in Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: If it is ready by May with staff in place, will the new emergency department be opened?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: The project date was deferred from March to May. If the project is ready - I am holding the management of University Hospital Limerick to account on this - if staff are in place, if it has been handed over and if it is in place infrastructurally by May, which is what the people of Limerick were promised, will the HSE support the opening of the new accident and emergency department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is the answer "Yes"?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Emergency Department Overcrowding: Discussion (25 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Dare I say it, that is not quite the answer I was looking for. This is a more straightforward answer. The original date was March and was then moved to May. Recruitment of staff is under way. Mr. Woods has visited the accident and emergency department in University Hospital Limerick and knows how dire it is. It is too small and claustrophobic. The reconfiguration took place in 2009....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I wish to raise a number of points with Mr. Beades. Legislation provides that vulture funds must have an agent operating in Ireland and it is the agent who deals with the holder of the loan. I have spoken to customers of Ulster Bank, who were similarly in the GRG group. Some of them have told me that they were directly dealt with by the vulture fund and not by the agent at all. Has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: They would have an agent in place.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: I want to discuss practicalities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Are vulture funds that have not been regulated in Ireland contacting customers directly and not going through the agent? Does Mr. Beades and his organisation have experience and knowledge of that happening?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does Mr. Beades and his organisation know people to whom this has happened? The agent is supposed to be the person that a holder of the loan or borrower deals with, not the vulture fund. Does Mr. Beades know of instances where borrowers have received phone calls and correspondence directly from the vulture funds?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: It is not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business and Banking: Discussion. (26 Jan 2017)

Kieran O'Donnell: My question is relevant from a regulation viewpoint. If the legislation is designed so that the control and operation of the loan with the borrower in Ireland is via an agent, who is regulated for under legislation, but in fact the vulture fund is contacting the person------