Results 1,241-1,260 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Order of Business. (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: ——so the Deputy will appreciate that a day after the decision I am not in a position to indicate when the legislation will be published. I would like to do it soon, however, because we are losing €2.5 million a week in the health service for as long as appropriate legislation is not in place. Obviously, I will have to consult with the Attorney General and with my officials to determine...

Order of Business. (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: No. We intend to do it. There is no secret about that.

Order of Business. (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: We will have to wait and see what happens but the intention was that while the company may apply for a permit, it would thereafter belong to the employee. Most of our employment needs will be met from inside the enlarged European Union and the Minister is considering a green card approach in regard to other skills, but we will have to wait and see. The legislation has not come to the...

Order of Business. (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The heads of the Bill have been passed.

Order of Business. (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The Minister for Education and Science is examining that matter but it is not possible to indicate the timescale at the moment.

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 38 together. The category of person who will receive refunds under the ex gratia payment scheme, in respect of payments deducted from them for publicly-funded longstay care in facilities run by former health boards or private nursing homes, solely by virtue of a contractual arrangement with a former health board, comprises fully eligible persons,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: Under the terms of the voluntary hospitals superannuation scheme, ex gratia retirement benefits are payable to non-pensionable staff in voluntary hospitals. All part-time non-pensionable employees, who did not contribute to a pension scheme, with at least five years service qualify for this gratuity, calculated at one week's pay for each year of service up to 15 years and two week's pay for...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The Health Act 2004 provided for the Health Service Executive, which was established on 1 January 2005. Under the Act, the executive has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes responsibility for the provision of services to people resident in counties Mayo and Galway. Accordingly, my Department has...

Written Answers — Ambulance Service: Ambulance Service (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The report of a consultancy study jointly commissioned by my Department and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland, on the costs and benefits associated with the introduction of a dedicated helicopter emergency medical services for the island of Ireland was published last year and is available on my Department's website. The study concluded that the...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: According to the quarterly health service personnel census a total of 1,939 social workers in whole-time equivalence terms were employed in the health service at end-September 2004. The census does not contain information on employment levels in the health service on a county basis. However, the number of social workers in the Health Service Executive eastern area at end-September 2004 was...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The Health Act 2004 provided for the Health Service Executive, which was established on 1 January 2005. Under the Act, the executive has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes responsibility for the provision of services at Cork University Hospital. Accordingly, my Department has requested the...

Written Answers — Waste Management: Waste Management (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: Figures are not available for quantities of waste disposed of by my Department. However, every effort is made to dispose of waste in an environmentally friendly way. All confidential waste paper is put in colour coded bags and taken away for recycling by a contracted company. Cooked food waste from our staff restaurant is liquidised for disposal. Computer equipment, such as PCs, printers and...

Written Answers — Hospitals Building Programme: Hospitals Building Programme (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The Health Act 2004 provided for the Health Service Executive, which was established on 1 January 2005. Under the Act, the executive has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes responsibility for the provision of ambulance services. Accordingly, my Department has requested the chief officer for the...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: My Department has no role in the regulation of sunbeds or sunbed operators. Sunbeds are not medical devices and are not regulated under the medical devices directive. Existing consumer legislation sets standards for tanning equipment and requires appropriate warning notices to be displayed on the equipment. However, no medical procedure is involved in the use of sunbeds and their use does not...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 51 together. I had a meeting on 10 February with representatives of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and EuroCare International, at which they outlined their plans to provide acute hospital services, including radiotherapy, at a private clinic in Waterford. Estimates on the costs of the provision, commissioning or operation of those...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The Health Act 2004 provided for the Health Service Executive, which was established on 1 January 2005. Under the Act, the executive has the responsibility to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. This includes responsibility for the management of the executive's human resources. My Department has requested the interim chief...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (17 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The information requested is being collated by my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Leaders' Questions. (22 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The Government is anxious to ensure the individuals affected and their families or their estates are repaid as quickly, efficiently and as fairly as possible. As the Deputy acknowledged in the number of questions he asked, this is a complex and mammoth task because we are talking about approximately 275,000 people. Clearly, the Statute of Limitations cannot apply to anybody who was not of...

Leaders' Questions. (22 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: It will be necessary to introduce a Supplementary Estimate this year. Clearly we will need to see the nature of what will be involved this year before we decide when to do that. Regarding the remarks of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, clearly the money that will need to be repaid is money that could be used for other matters. There will be no cutbacks in the Estimate for the health...

Leaders' Questions. (22 Feb 2005)

Mary Harney: The matters that came to light last week are grave and very serious. They fundamentally alter many matters. In the first instance, I congratulate the Garda Síochána in defence of democracy. The Government speaks with one voice on these matters and it is important that it should. The reason for the breakdown in the talks process before Christmas was, as I said in the House, that some were...