Results 14,321-14,340 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I listened to Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and I would appreciate if he would listen. That is as a result of better medical interventions. For the first time life expectancy in Ireland is now ahead of the EU average——

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: ——and has increased by three full years, which is the highest improvement in the entire OECD between 1999 and 2005.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Children in Ireland with cancer have a survival rate that is top of the class worldwide. All our survival rates are improving. More people have free access to their general practitioner than was the case in the 1980s when unemployment was three times higher than it is today.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I know people do not want to listen to the facts, but these are the facts. Some 400,000 more people are being treated in our hospitals today than was the case a decade ago.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: This Minister for Finance has been hugely supportive as a team player working with me as Minister for Health and Children.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Deputy Brian Cowen's experience goes way beyond the four Ministries in this country. When he was Minister for Foreign Affairs during Ireland's Presidency of the EU he advanced, promoted and succeeded in getting agreement from the EU that there would be no unilateral intrusion of borders between Palestine and Israel. That was a very significant agreement, agreed in Tullamore I understand....

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: He will use not just his abilities but also his capacity to make tough decisions. In Deputy Cowen we have somebody who is capable of making the right decision——

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: ——standing by it and defending it. That is particularly important at a time when we have enormous challenges and pressures——

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: ——particularly from the differing circumstances arising in the international economic environment, I remind Deputy Sheehan. Today is obviously a very happy time for Deputy Brian Cowen and his family. I know they are here in the environs of this House. Although he is the youngest of the three candidates, he has enormous political insights and a great vision for the country in which he...

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: ——in equity and in ensuring that the resources this country can make available are made available to those who need them most. It is a great pleasure for me and my colleague Deputy Grealish to support the candidacy of Deputy Brian Cowen.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I very much look forward to his election as Taoiseach later this afternoon.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I too would like to congratulate Deputy Brian Cowen on his election as Taoiseach in this House. Shortly, he will begin the journey to Áras an Úachtaráin to receive his seal of office. It will be a very proud journey for him and his family. It is great that he is joined here today by his mother, his wife, Mary, their two daughters and his family. They are perhaps feeling prouder than he...

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I said earlier that Deputy Cowen is a man of enormous ability and intelligence. I have no doubt that as captain of the team, a team to which he has been very loyal——

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I have had the pleasure of working with him for nearly 11 years as a member of the Government. I have found in Brian Cowen somebody who really understands the constitutional imperative of collective Cabinet responsibility. However, it is not just because it is a constitutional imperative. He is genuinely a team player.

Nomination of Taoiseach (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Deputy Kenny mentioned that in this House on a number of occasions Deputy Cowen has spoken about loyalty being a political virtue. He will bring all of that to the benefit of the new Government of which he will be Taoiseach later this evening. He not only has my good wishes but, I know, the good wishes of the vast majority of the people of this country in the challenging and daunting but no...

Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government: Motion. (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I am very proud and privileged to speak as a member of the Government and I thank the Taoiseach for the confidence he has shown in me. I want to deal with a number of issues raised. I was recently travelling from my constituency clinic when I heard a debate on "Saturday View" on the state of our economy. One contributor said that when capital gains tax was halved in 1997, it was the worst...

Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government: Motion. (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: It is in our vital national interest to support the Lisbon treaty, which is about making the Union more effective socially and economically. It is a question of giving the Union a more powerful influence on global affairs. I want to talk mainly about health, for obvious reasons. The policies I pursue, as Minister for Health and Children, are the policies of the Government.

Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government: Motion. (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Those in Cabinet will know that proposals are brought by a Minister to the Government and are either agreed or rejected thereby. When they are agreed, I, as a member of Cabinet with collective responsibility, support, defend and advance them. Being a general practitioner, Deputy Reilly will know that the health service in Ireland has improved dramatically over the past decade. I have a list...

Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government: Motion. (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Deputy Kenny stated today that Fine Gael leaders always put the country first. As a doctor, Deputy Reilly will know about cancer survival outcomes and that we now have a cancer registry whereby we can measure survival rates. It is a fact that the survival rate of people treated in the north west for breast cancer is 25% lower than that pertaining to those treated in specialist centres in...

Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government: Motion. (7 May 2008)

Mary Harney: They will not be the exclusive remit of any single group of citizens. The well-off always can deal with their own health. The challenge is to provide a health service that delivers speedy responses to those who need them.