Results 14,621-14,640 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the committee for inviting me here this morning to discuss opportunities to enhance health service provision through North-South co-operation. At the North-South Ministerial Council, NSMC, health and food safety sectoral meeting in Altnagelvin last month, I said that cross-Border co-operation on health was one of the unsung successes of the Good Friday Agreement. There are several...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: That is 12 questions. If I speak for four minutes on each, it will be a 48-minute answer, which I do not imagine the Chairman wants.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will not be able to answer them comprehensively, obviously, but-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will do my best. There are many questions and to give comprehensive answers to all of them would take up the rest of the meeting, so I will not do that. The Chairman asked about an overarching strategic framework. The North-South Ministerial Council is designed to do that and has identified areas of specific co-operation, namely, accident and emergency services, planning for major...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have done that. I actually launched it. The healthy club project is very encouraging. On the common register for medical professionals and other professionals, that would be extremely difficult. If we were to have common registration in Ireland and Northern Ireland, all the legislation would first have to be aligned just for doctors, then for nurses, dentists and 14 other professions....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I will have to come back to the committee on the questions of orthodontics, oral surgery and oronasal surgery. I just do not have enough detail on those matters to hand. In orthodontics, it is intended to do some outsourcing to the private sector towards the end of the year to try to reduce the waiting lists, particularly for surgery. Some of that is done in the Beacon Hospital already....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: On the issue of alcohol abuse, I do not want to get into the arguments about sport sponsorship. They have been well rehearsed in other committees and the public domain and the committee knows where we are going on the issue. We will not ban sponsorship outright, but we will regulate and restrict it and ensure the regulations in law can be enforced because, to be frank, the current codes of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: If the post cannot be filled, perhaps we could examine doing something in the North if there is capacity there. I add my congratulations to Mr. Mickey Brady, MP, MLA, on his recent election to Parliament. All statistics show an association between low income and ill health which is very much linked to lifestyle including higher rates of smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity and much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Although I am not aware of any plans about stroke services, I can check it out and reply to the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I did not quite follow what the Deputy said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Opportunities to Enhance Health Service Provision through North-South Co-operation: Minister for Health (28 May 2015)

Leo Varadkar: Is this-----

Draft Commission of Investigation (Certain matters concerning transactions entered into by IBRC) Order 2015: Motion (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate this evening and support the proposed terms of reference for the commission of investigation. I welcome it because it is also an opportunity to put some context on how we got this point. As we all know, the Government faced many difficulties when coming into office four years ago, the most serious of which was the perilous state of our public...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances Provision (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances Provision (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy's question relates to service delivery matters and accordingly I have asked the HSE to respond directly to him. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, he should contact my Private Office and my officials will follow up the matter with them.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Prices (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 644, 653 and 702 together. In recent times, the Government has entered into a number of price reduction Agreements with both the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) and the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Ireland (APMI), delivering a number of important benefits, including significant reductions for patients in the cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Data (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: It must be pointed out that perinatal mortality statistics are complex. Reporting on these rates has been hampered by different definitions of stillbirth both nationally and internationally. In Ireland, four difference agencies are involved in the compilation and reporting of perinatal data mortality data. The analysis presented in the Report of the Chief Medical Officer into Perinatal...

Written Answers — Department of Health: State Claims Agency (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The State Claims Agency has supplied the information requested by the Deputy in aggregate format as follows: Year Claim Received No. of claims 2008 88 2009 90 2010 117 2011 128 2012 131 2013 182 2014 126 2015 56 Grand Total 918 *The table reflects the number of claims made under the Speciality of Maternity Services against the Maternity Units in the years 2008...

Written Answers — Department of Health: HIQA Reports (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: The recent HIQA Report into Portlaoise Hospital raises serious questions and issues relating to the appropriateness and effectiveness of managerial actions. These issues will be addressed through HSE internal disciplinary procedures. The investigation being undertaken will be conducted by an independent expert from overseas and will be done in accordance with the HSE's own disciplinary...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff Recruitment (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: One of my priorities for 2015 is the publication of a National Maternity Strategy. This will provide a roadmap to better maternity services. It will ensure that women have access to safe, sustainable, well staffed maternity care in a setting most appropriate to their needs. An extra €2 million has been included in the HSE National Service Plan 2015 to address current pressures within...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Consultants Contract (9 Jun 2015)

Leo Varadkar: I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.