Results 1,321-1,340 of 11,255 for speaker:Colm Burke

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Waste Management (8 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I also welcome the Minister of State. The matter I wish to raise relates to the current waste processing facility at Churchfield in Cork which has been in operation for a number of years. In fairness, the operator of the facility has been providing a very valuable service for residents in Cork city and surrounding areas. However, the volume of waste at the facility which is located in an...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Waste Management (8 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State for the reply but I am quite disappointed because this is a facility that cost €48 million and it is lying idle. All that I am asking is that the Department communicates with the city and county councils about the facility in a residential area. The last sentence of the reply refers to giving us control over a valuable resource and the scope to support...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Concussion in Sport: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: Some of the issues that I wanted to raise have been covered, so I will be brief. One of the very precise recommendations from the GAA concerns setting up a task force. Has the GAA been in correspondence with the relevant Departments on that matter, and has it received a response? If a task force involving all the sports organisations is set up, which Department would be most appropriate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Concussion in Sport: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: On the task force, has the Department indicated that it is coming on board on that matter?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Concussion in Sport: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Concussion in Sport: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I welcome all of the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. I apologise for not being here earlier, but there was a vote in the Seanad and a number of other committee meetings were taking place this morning. At the last session, the GAA raised the issue of a task force. I understand it has been in correspondence with the Department of Health on the subject. Is the Department of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Concussion in Sport: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I am sorry to come back on the task force issue, but in fairness, witnesses came in this morning with a very structured set of recommendations. One of the important things about meetings and public hearings such as this is to ensure we get something out of them and follow through. I accept fully that a great deal of work has been done by both the Department of Education and Skills and the...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I join in welcoming Senator Craughwell to the House. Having looked at his CV, I know that he has a major contribution to make to this House and I look forward to listening to him and to taking on board the issues that he wants to deal with in education. He did a very good job in his previous role in the educational sector. I will now raise an issue on the budget. It is interesting that...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I would like to highlight one tax change. One of the messages that has been lost in the budget is that we are competing internationally for highly skilled people, especially in the health sector. We have great difficulty retaining people in this sector and, therefore, the tax changes in the budget are welcome. Many qualified medical professionals are emigrating to Canada, the US, New...

Seanad: Joint Policing Committees: Motion (15 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I apologise for the confusion. I had intended to second the motion but I was not aware that the time of the debate was changed from a start time of 5 p.m. to 3.50 p.m. That was my mistake. I welcome the Minister. I thank Senator Conway for bringing forward this motion, which I welcome. The prevention of crime is not the sole responsibility of the Garda. We all have a part to play. The...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Concussion in Sport (15 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The matter I raise is a follow-up to a presentation to the Joint Committee on Health last week. The GAA made a submission calling for the establishment of a task force on concussion injury comprising representatives of sports organisations, sports medicine bodies and primary and post-primary schools. The main focus of the task force should be...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Concussion in Sport (15 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I accept that Departments are working together on this matter but in fairness to those who made submissions to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children, they pointed out that this is not just an issue for schools but also for all of the sporting organisations. We must make sure that there is one set of rules across the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Mid-term Review of Europe 2020 Strategy: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank all of the witnesses for their comprehensive presentations and the work they are doing in this area. I have a question in regard to the presentation by Councillor Richmond on the lack of engagement. He said there needs to be a greater effort to reach out to potential stakeholders and to construct a municipal engagement with stakeholders in order for the strategy to flourish. What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Preparedness for Ebola Virus in Ireland: Discussion (16 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I thank the Minister for his presentation this morning. I wish to raise three issues. One relates to people returning home from countries that are affected. Is the Minister satisfied that proper protocols are in place for monitoring and dealing with those people when they return home? I refer in particular to perhaps three weeks before the symptoms are identified. What protocols are in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Preparedness for Ebola Virus in Ireland: Discussion (16 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: We have focused on Irish people travelling abroad. What about the scenario of non-Irish doctors coming here to work? Have we put new protocols in place to deal with the issue? It is a fairly remote scenario but we need to keep it in mind. On the first day or first week of January, new people could come in from abroad. New protocols must be put in place to ensure we have all the checks in...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I am concerned about a letter issued by the human resources section of the Health Service Executive, HSE, to all hospitals advising them that an agency doctor can only be employed for a period of two months in a hospital. There is a huge problem because this year over €250 million will be spent on agency staff in hospitals, many of whom are junior doctors. In many smaller hospitals...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: I welcome the Minister. I thank the proposers and seconders of this Bill for bringing it forward. I know there is a lot of work involved in preparing any Bill and explanatory memorandum, and I want to pay tribute to them for doing this. I know both the proposer and seconder are very passionate about this matter and they are using this forum to raise it and to bring forward a debate, which...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: In fairness, we have made a number of changes and have committed to making further changes and ensuring they are properly implemented. Since November 2013, we have transferred responsibility for processing applications to the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, ORAC. New arrangements have been made to include an interview of applicants, an appeal mechanism has been introduced,...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: The commitment is by Easter 2015.

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Colm Burke: Let us look at the issues carefully and ensure the Bill is carefully planned in a constructive manner so that we have a comprehensive scheme in place in the future to deal with this issue. Members who have been involved in debate on direct provision and in highlighting the deficiencies in the system have brought this issue forward and I welcome that. However, it is also important that we...